Bev DeWeese, Mystery Scene
A wise-cracking bank robber doesn’t bother Kansas Sheriff James Early. But the death of Judith Smitts, a nondescript housewife, is a shock. Who would want to kill her? However, Early soon finds out Judith has had an adventurous, violent past—a past that could create lots of enemies.
Peterson has skillfully reinvented a little-used setting—a small Kansas town in the late 1940s/early 1950s that prides itself on its cowboy history. Unfortunately, now most locals struggle just to keep a small farm. However, though poor, they seem satisfied. Their conversation is easy going and their outlook wryly humorous.
Ex-hobo Sheriff Early, after serving in WW II, is now married and owns a small house that is likely to flood each spring. He loves both his pregnant wife and his souped-up Jeep. Overall, he’s a very likeable protagonist who enjoys his friends, including State Trooper Plemmons, who has been known to interrogate people by throwing them in quicksand. But Early does not realize his wife has a serious psychological problem. And now the investigation of Judith’s murder is taking him into a world he knows little about—Zionism.
This historical mystery debut has a lively plot, though I do think a brief encounter with Harry Truman maybe was a bit much. Overall though, with an unusual setting, quiet humor, and some believable characters, this is a very enjoyable read. Recommended.
* * *
Jo Ann Vicarel, Library Journal
When a young mother and friend of James Early’s wife is found butchered in her home, the case becomes personal for the Kansas sheriff. At the same time, his life unravels as his pregnant wife sinks into depression, and he must hunt down the fugitive bank-robbing son of friends. Set in 1940s Kansas, Peterson’s first-rate procedural features a sleuth who works well with a cast of unusual but well-defined supporting characters and who possesses a great deal of moral courage. This intelligent mystery should appeal to readers who enjoy Bill Pronzini and Bill Crider.
* * *
Kirkus *Starred* Review in their 12/15/08 issue!
*A star is assigned to books of unusual merit, determined by the editors of Kirkus Reviews.
Peterson’s debut sends Kansas Sheriff James “Cactus” Early down some perilous paths.
When he returned from World War II, Cactus Early married schoolteacher Thelma Nelson and settled in as sheriff of Riley County. Bedeviled by the bank-robbing son of a local rancher, he’s further shaken when he’s called to the scene of schoolteacher Judith Smitts’s axe murder. Her husband Bill would be the No. 1 suspect if he hadn’t been out of town on railroad business. An investigation reveals that Judith was far from an ordinary housewife. A Jew deeply involved in Zionism, she’d been raising funds for the new state of Israel while conducting an affair with an officer from Fort Riley. Taking a break from tooling his jeep over countless dirt tracks, Cactus catches a train to Kansas City, where casual racism moves him to complain to President Truman and Judith’s parents introduce him to an Israeli diplomat who describes Judith’s active role in the fight for the nation’s independence. His troubles back home worsen when his pregnant wife suddenly shows signs of mental illness and Bill Smitts disappears, his alibi broken, pursued for theft by railroad detectives. With help from several individualistic sheriffs and a hard-bitten state trooper, Cactus slowly pulls his case together even as his own life slips into chaos.
An evocative, idiosyncratic procedural that pairs a lovingly portrayed landscape from yesteryear with a quiet, tough hero and a stable of appealingly down-to-earth characters.
* * *
Maggie Mason, Lookin’ For Books
Book reviewer for Deadly Pleasures
EARLY'S FALL by Jerry Peterson (Five Star, $25.95)
Historical Police Procedural
Rating B+
James Early spent part of his life as a hobo, riding the rails. He’s now riding herd as sheriff of a small Kansas town several years after World War II. Early is married, and his wife is pregnant with their first child.
The story opens with a bank robbery that is foiled by the bank manager locking himself in the safe. The bank robber makes multiple appearances through the book, providing a bit of comic relief.
The bank robbery, though a serious crime, gives way to a much worse crime. A woman who teaches school with Early’s wife has been murdered. It’s a bloody scene, and while the husband has an alibi, the suspect list could grow given the nearby military base. A hobo is even a suspect, until Early recognizes him as a man he used to travel with on the rails. The man has come back to see the child and wife he abandoned years ago.
Early is stunned to learn that the victim had led a very amazing life, working as an agent in Israel. That information could expand the list of suspects, and leads Early to a Israeli diplomat, and even an encounter with President Truman.
This book worked both as a police procedural and a historical novel. I thought the small town Kansas atmosphere was spot on—I have some first-hand knowledge of that. I also liked the bank robber’s appearances.
I’d like to offer a quote by President Truman speaking of why he gets out to meet the people of the United States, speaking of a taxi driver: “Give me two minutes with that man, and I’ll know more about what concerns this country than talking all day to the United States Senate.” That alone should make this book required reading for all members of Congress.
© Jerry Peterson.
