The Lost Are the Last to Die By Larry D. Sweazy

 Guest reviewer Kevin Tipple is back with his take on this Larry Sweazy novel.  Check out his blog Kevin's Corner for more book reviews and book news, as well as links to topics of interest.

Sometimes a short story takes on a life of its own and becomes a full sized novel. Such is the case with The Lost Are The Last To Die: A Sonny Burton Novel. This read is a sequel to the very good, A Thousand Falling Crows.

It is October 1934 as this novel begins and Sunny Burton is no longer a Texas Ranger. Drought and the Depression have Texas in their two handed grip and men and the land are being crushed alike. Sonny Burton, thanks to the gunshot that ultimately took his right arm, will never be able to do a two handed grip again. His new prosthesis allows him to work the stick on his old model A Ford pickup truck and that makes driving a little easier than it was for a while there though he prefers to stay close to home.

That isn’t to be.

Collingsworth County Sheriff Layton Jones, known to all the locals as “Jonesy” brings word that Billy Bunson has escaped from Huntsville. When Burton was working for the Texas Rangers, he had several encounters with Bunson over the years. The first time was back when Billy was a small child. The last one got the adult Billy put away in Huntsville. Not only is he out, but he took the warden’s pregnant wife with him as a hostage when he left the legendary Texas prison.

Billy took her because the police grabbed his girlfriend. Donna Del Rey was helping in the escape and now is sitting in the county jail for her efforts. He wants to make a trade-- the warden’s wife for his girlfriend. To make sure he got his point across, he sent a piece of one finger. Everyone understands that if he does not get what he wants, he will keep taking pieces off of her until she is dead as is the baby. The Rangers want Sonny to find him. Billy knows that the Texas Rangers would get Sonny to help as nobody knows Billy better than Sonny. Sonny coming to Hunstville to lead the search would be expected and another piece of Billy’s plan.

Sonny does not have a choice and he knows it. He is going to have to go to Huntsville and find out all he can so that he can stop Billy if at all possible. A man who was passing his days waiting for the end is given a reason to do what he does best. Even if he does not want to admit it to himself that being back on the chase and needed makes him feel alive in ways he has not felt in a very long time.

What follows is a highly atmospheric mystery with a lot going on. Author Larry D. Sweazy uses a current storyline in 1934 as well as numerous flashbacks across various other storylines primarily to weave a complicated tale in terms of Billy and Sonny’s relationship. Those various storylines and flashbacks also serve to illustrate the complicated relationship Sonny had with everyone including his late wife, Martha, his son, Jesse, and the Texas Rangers, and others. More than once these storylines also touch on Billy and illustrate his childhood years and more and how, in some ways, his destiny was always pre-ordained as was the destiny of Sonny to this point. Multiple storylines are at work through the book as is the overarching idea of a sort of new beginning for Sonny who has suffered so much over the years. There is a lot going on in this very complicated read and far more than what is described here in this review.

The Lost Are The Last To Die: A Sonny Burton Novel is one of those rare reads in fiction that make you think long after the book is closed. I suspect author Larry. D. Sweazy and this book will be up for a slew of awards next year. No doubt he will collect more than one for this intense and very good read. 

Lesa Holstine very graciously sent me the ARC she had of this for my reading pleasure after she completed her review. You can, and should, read that review here.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2019

Marjorie Trumaine Mysteries by Larry Sweazy

Reviewed by Jeanne

Marjorie Trumaine is a farm wife in North Dakota.  Life isn’t easy at the best of times, what with any number of disasters waiting to take out the crops and the livestock, and these are far from the best of times.  An accident has left her husband an invalid, and Marjorie has taken on work as an indexer to try to eke out a living for them both.  This would be unusual, even today; in 1964, it’s downright odd.  Even with the extra income, Marjorie wouldn’t be able to keep the farm if it weren’t for the help of Knudsen boys, Peter and Jaeger, who do many of the chores.  

When Sheriff Hilo Jenkins turns up on her doorstep, Marjorie knows it can’t be for anything good, but she isn’t prepared for the shocking news that her neighbors Eric and Lida Knudson have been murdered.  Eric was found with a strange amulet in his hand, and knowing that Marjorie is a thorough researcher who can keep a secret, Hilo asks her to try to find out as much information as she can about the amulet.

So begins the first Marjorie Trumaine book, See Also Murder.  Larry Sweazy does an incredible job of creating a believable and relatable character in Majorie and in rooting her in a specific time and place, and he does so with a great deal of subtlety.  He doesn’t beat his readers over the head, but lets the details tell the story: the party line telephone, the disapproval by most at letting the farm dog inside the house, the near constant feel of the wind.  The mystery and its solution seemed just a bit far fetched to me, I will admit, but frankly I didn’t care.  I am enchanted with Marjorie.  She’s a strong, competent woman who loves her husband and the land.  She loves learning and order, and takes pride in her work as an indexer. I’d never given much thought to North Dakota as a place, but Sweazy makes it so vivid that now I want to see it for myself.  The culture is well done.  The population seems largely composed of Scandinavian immigrants and their descendants, which ties in with the Norse symbolism on the amulet, but is also reflected in attitudes and food. I also very much liked how she is drawn into the mystery.  Many amateur sleuths are sort of shoe-horned in on the investigation due to a friend or relative being accused or just out of pure nosiness.  I’m willing to overlook that because, hey, I’m agreeing to the conventions of the amateur detective genre but I don’t need to have the author manufacture many, many explanations for why an amateur is involved. The latter can be annoying.  That is most definitely not a concern for me  in these books.

I actually started with the second book in the series, See Also Deception.  I picked it up on the basis of a review and thought I’d give it a try.  It was my read-at-lunch book, and I could just put it aside if I didn’t like it.  Instead, I was hooked immediately, mostly because of Marjorie.  She’s a fully developed character from the start and someone I would very much like to know.  As soon as I finished that book, I found the first in the series (every bit as good) and checked to see when the next one is due out.  Alas, it isn’t until May, 2017.