Synopsis
In a novel about murder and its consequences in a small Southern town, a local policeman uses his understanding of the dark passions that sometimes guide the human heart to investigate the brutal slaying of his colleague. 50,000 first printing.
Reviews
With this breakthrough novel, Pearson offers the best of several fictional worlds. Fans of his work ( A Short History of a Small Place ) will welcome the serpentine, jack-in-the-box literary style that has rocket-launched him to a special planet in the cosmos of hilarious Southern storytelling. Those readers and others who savor more traditional writing will enjoy the sturdy murder-mystery foundation that cradles the rococo word choices and eccentric cast of characters here. After the unnamed narrator--a policeman on the force of a sleepy South Carolina hamlet--discovers the first murder victim (also a cop), readers meet a sideshow of assorted and memorable eccentrics whom Pearson portrays with an empathy for human nature in all its protean manifestations. There is, of course, darkness in any story involving violent death, and he deftly weaves into this amusement the passionate roots of crime. Further, he reveals a generous compassion for the victims and their families, through characters whom a less sensitive writer might dismiss as crude and unfeeling. Pearson's heightened control of plot, pacing and structure in this particular work mark a mastery of craft and maturity of vision for a writer already recognized as an American original. 50,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A police officer is found brutally murdered in a small southern town, his head so disfigured by bullet wounds that he can only be identified by the distinctive smell of his hair tonic. A fellow officer vows to find the killer. Accompanied by a whisky-addled sidekick who functions as a backwoods Dr. Watson, the investigator assembles clues, interviews suspects, proposes and discards theories, and in the process paints the portrait of an entire community. Part of the considerable humor of this novel derives from its hilarious dichotomy of form and content. Pearson's meandering prose style, full of folksy digressions and extended reminiscences, is completely at odds with the hard-boiled, no-nonsense approach a murder investigation would seem to demand. A few paragraphs into the book it is clear that "whodunit" is not really the issue. Another strong performance from the author of A Short History of a Small Place (S. & S. , 1985).
- Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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