Blind Spring Rambler

In 1923, Bill Edmonson, an inexperienced detective, and his veteran partner, Frank Grant, journey to the mining town of Blind Spring, West Virginia, to investigate the murder of a Scottish prospector, a crime for which an Italian coalminer is sentenced to die

In Douglas's second novel (after Shawnee Alley Fire ), such historical events as President Warren G. Harding's Teapot Dome Scandal provide a richly detailed background. When young William Edmonson, bored by lectures, aborts his college career and joins a New York detective agency, he discovers the whole world is his classroom and not all its lessons are kind ones. It's 1923, there are just "Forty-eight states in the old U.S. of A.," and in one of them, West Virginia, an Italian coal miner has been sentenced to death for a five-year-old murder. However, as a deputy-sheriff puts it, "There's folks around that sides with the dago." Frank Grant, a smoker, a cusser, a drinker and a seasoned detective invites Edmonson onto the case with the words, "Pack a trunk's worth." The veteran shares little more information as they ride the rails to Blind Spring, W. Va., a mining town where union men and strikebusters are embroiled in tense pre-strike antagonisms. After Grant turns up dead, Edmonson must come of age quickly and solve two murders or stumble into a similar fate. Douglas's absorbing, well-paced story satisfies with a strong sense of place, well-drawn characters, and some surprises at the finish.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In June of 1923, veteran New York private detective Frank Grant and his inexperienced young partner Bill Edmonson are asked to investigate a murder in the coal mining town of Blind Spring, West Virginia. At the client's request, Grant has concealed the details of the case even from Edmonson. When Grant is killed shortly after their arrival, Edmonson is left to solve both murders, all the while dodging the suspicions of the local authorities, the company bosses, and the miners. This is a well-crafted and entertaining mystery that subtly evokes a sense of historical time and place without resorting to nostalgia. Edmonson's fallibility makes him an engaging and believable hero one hopes to meet again. Lonnie Beene, West Texas State Univ. Lib., Canyon
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.