Sunset and sawdust Book

I've always found Joe R Lansdale's Hap & Leonard stories highly enjoyable, with their mixture of humour & great dialogue. This stand alone novel, set in 1930's Texas, isn't quite as good as that series but it's still pretty entertaining.
There are some pretty violent scences, but that's no surprise to readers familiar with Lansdale's other work. His characters are as well drawn as ever, but the novel seems to lose itself midway before it returns with the energy of the first half.