Dead Man Blues by S.D. House

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Dave Hendricks had it all: mayor of a small town on the Tennessee/Kentucky border, he was a big fish in a small pond.  He had a beautiful wife, Janet, nice house, and Victor, a best friend he loved like a brother. And then he found out Janet was cheating on him with, of all people, Victor, and the next thing he knows he’s drunkenly driven a car into the courthouse.

That pretty much ended the political career.  The friendship and the marriage were already toast.

Nowadays Dave lives on a houseboat with his dog Shorty and helps Ray out at the marina.  Then a man is murdered at a nearby fishing camp, and Victor asks Dave’s help.  Victor is the sheriff, but Dave had been sheriff previously and has had experience with homicides.  It’s an uneasy partnership, but Dave finds that the thrill of investigation gives him a purpose he’d lacked since, well, the incident.

The victim, Esau Campbell, is a local man who had been in trouble before, and there are many people who had reason to dislike him, and to dislike his family.  The Campbells are one of the wealthiest families in the area, and most feel they came by their money dishonestly—cheating people out of their property. This means there are suspects galore, and Dave has his work cut out for him finding the guilty party.

S.D. House is Silas House, an award-winning Appalachian author who has decided to try his hand at a mystery.  As expected, the book is well-written, with vivid characters and a good sense of place: a rural area where people tend to have long memories.  A dam was constructed a few years back, uprooting families and changing some ways of life, leaving a sense of loss among some residents. The 1950s setting means that a lot of investigating is done without modern technology like DNA analysis, which I find more interesting than the high tech method.

House is good at red herrings; I thought I had spotted the murderer early on and was a bit disappointed but I was pleased to be proven wrong.  I will say a couple of things troubled me as not being true to the era but again, I might be mistaken.  I did enjoy the book and I hope House will try his hand at a mystery again.

Twilight in Hazard: An Appalachian Reckoning by Alan Maimon

 

Reviewed by Kristin

Twilight in Hazard caught my eye because in 1949 my dad was born in Hazard. Actually, he was born in one of the tiny communities along the Right Fork of Big Creek, about five miles southwest of Hazard. Times were tough then as the coal veins were being tapped out, and times remain tough in 2020s Hazard, as described by Alan Maimon.

Maimon had been a New York Times reporter based at the Berlin, Germany bureau. As he contemplated returning to the United States in 2000, he wasn’t committed to living in any particular geographic area and he decided that he wanted to go somewhere unlike any place he had previously lived. When a position at the Louisville Courier-Journal became available—specifically the Eastern Kentucky bureau based in Hazard—Maimon decided to give it a try.

At that point, the coal companies were looking for an easier way to get coal out of the ground. Sending workers or machines in to hack at veins of coal just wasn’t efficient, and many had turned to strip mining, or mountaintop removal. Of course, this resulted in fewer jobs and the dramatic change of scenery, not to mention water pollution and the occasional rockfall with devastating consequences.

Maimon did not just write another book about a poverty stricken area. He looks at the root causes of the problems of Eastern Kentucky, including the opioid pill mill doctors who were instrumental in medicating and addicting a higher percentage of the local population than the rest of the country. He also looks at local and national political candidates and office holders, noting which ones kept promises and which ones vanished in the wind. He looks at education (and the lack thereof), and how many Eastern Kentucky communities lose a large number of their young people to the outside world.

By the end of Maimon’s time in Hazard and Eastern Kentucky, he was also lamenting the failure of news outlets as papers shrunk in staff, column inches, and thickness. It is an alarming nationwide trend as online sources become increasingly polarized and readers/viewers choose their sources, seeing only what they want to see. Maimon describes the closing of regional news bureaus, physical papers only being printed three times a week, (sound familiar?) and the eventual demise of family owned and even corporate owned newspapers.

I really enjoyed this work of non-fiction. I have read other histories of Hazard and Perry County, but most of those focused on the earlier decades when I still had family living in the area. This is a more up to date work that examines the failures, successes, and hopes for the future for this area.

One for the Road by Mary Ellis

Reviewed by Jeanne

Chicago based travel writer Jill Curtis’ newest assignment is to follow “The Bourbon Trail” in Kentucky, doing articles about the various distilleries and finding out exactly why people want to do this circuit. Accompanied by her photographer, Michael Erickson, they start their tour in Roseville, Kentucky where, as it happens, Jill has relatives.  She hasn’t revealed her connection when making reservations at the B&B, because the owner and Jill’s grandmother had a falling out some years before and haven’t spoken since.  Jill wants to “test the waters”—there aren’t many places to stay in Roseville and she certainly doesn’t want to have to sleep in their car if Cousin Dot still holds a grudge.

As it turns out, things are even more complicated because Dot’s husband Roger owns Black Creek, one of two distilleries in town, both of which Jill hopes to tour and write about for her first in the proposed series of articles set along the Bourbon Trail. After a preliminary visit to the other distillery, Founder’s Reserve, Jill and Michael decide to try Black Creek, despite the owner’s less than welcoming demeanor.  Apparently someone else thought he was difficult, too, because when they get to Black Creek, Roger is very dead and the circumstances look suspicious.

I am a sucker for a cozy mystery, and one set in Kentucky just seemed especially interesting.  I do like books that impart information along the way, and there is a quick tutorial about the differences in bourbon and whiskey and the special requirement for the former. Bourbon is a type of whiskey, but it must be made in the U.S., must be at least 51% corn, and in the bottle be 80 proof.  It isn’t aged as long as other whiskeys and must be aged in new white American oak barrels. (Scotch is another type of whiskey, but it must be made in Scotland, the mash must be made of malted barley, and it must be aged at least three years in second use barrels.  See how interesting this is?  Okay, so your mileage may vary!)

Anyway, I also enjoyed the setting which was more rural Kentucky than big city.  Moonshining is mentioned but without much in the way of stereotyping, which was appreciated.  The characters needed a bit more rounding out, and in good cozy fashion the investigating officer reveals far too much information to a suspect, but I still had fun.

This is the first in a new series, so I’ll look forward to the next stop on the Bourbon Tour.

Nevermore: Robert Kennedy, Doris Duke, Tommy Orange, Kristin Hannah

Nevermore 5/19/20  Reported by Kayla


All This Marvelous Potential
By Matthew Algeo

In All This Marvelous Potential, Algeo retraces Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 trip into the heart of eastern Kentucky to gauge the success of President Johnson’s War on Poverty. The book  provides an interesting new look at the life of Robert Kennedy, and highlights some of the shortcomings such as divisive politics and racial strife that still exist in America today. Our reader recommended this title, and said that the short chapter lengths made it easy to digest.

There, There
By Tommy Orange

This national bestseller, and award-winning novel follows the stories of twelve characters from native American communities who are all preparing for the Big Oakland Powwow. The characters are connected in ways that they may not realize at first, and our reader said it was interesting to follow each of their stories separately until their stories collide around the Powwow event. The voices of these characters tell the stories of the struggles of Native Americans today, and many critics have deemed the novel an instant classic. Our reader acknowledged that the subject matter was heavy at times, but overall this was a very worthwhile read.


The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke
By Sally Bingham

The Silver Swan is a bold portrait of Doris Duke, the defiant tobacco heiress who made tabloid headlines during her time. Much of Duke’s life was unknown until 2012 when a large collection of her personal papers were made available, and the stereotypes that defined her life may not be an accurate picture of the person she was. From scandalous headlines to the revelation that she is perhaps the greatest woman philanthropist in history, Bingham weaves a compelling account of Duke’s life and addresses some of the questions left by her legacy. This story was deemed a well-written, and fascinating read by our reviewer.





Home Front
By Kristin Hannah

In Home Front, Hannah paints a picture of the toll that war can take on modern families as it follows the story of the Zarkade family. With a wife deployed overseas and her husband at home, the effects of war ripple back to the homefront and present unimaginable challenges for both. Our reviewer found this story to be a page-turner and recommends it especially for anyone who enjoys Kristin Hannah’s writing.