It
is late June 1898 as Sooner Than Gold by J.R. Lindermuth begins.
Hiram Mariner is the local doctor and he has come to fetch Sheriff Sylvester
Tilghman in his newfangled horseless carriage as they both are wanted down at a
mine just outside of town. Nathan Zimmerman, owner of the mine just outside of
Arahpot, Pennsylvania wants both men pronto. Since Zimmerman is technically his
boss, the good sheriff has to go as fast as possible and that means his own
horse is out.
The
ride to the mine was bad enough. Having to go down deep in the mine by way of
the elevator was way worse. Both were required as the situation is such that
the Doc and the Sheriff had to see for themselves.
A
group of miners were working when a rockfall of some sort occurred. All of the
miners survived the initial rockfall. It took about twelve hours to get to the
trapped miners. When they finally broke through to a small group of trapped miners,
Kessler had a knife in his hand and was standing over a man by the name of
Petry. Petry was very much dead.
While
the body of the scene had no obvious wounds, according to Doc, the assumption
by all is that Kessler killed him. Kessler swears he didn’t kill Petry. There
is no evidence one way or the other and until the Doc does his autopsy, all the
Sheriff can do is investigate and put Kessler in a jail cell.
He
does both and a lot more in this very enjoyable western tale. Rich in
atmosphere and setting, this complex mystery has multiple storylines that
tangent away from the primary and generate interesting and rich background situations.
Those deals do not overshadow the complicated main storyline which steady
powers along throughout the book.
The
result is an interesting and very good tale that is part western, part mystery,
with a dash of romance, and a lot more. Sooner than Gold by J. R.
Lindermuth is a very good read and well worth your time. The book is a sequel
to the very good Fallen
From Grace and can be read without reading the preceding book if so
desired.
Sooner Than Gold
J. R. Lindermuth
Oak Tree Press
April 2013
ISBN# 978-1-61009-458-0
eBook
I
have had this book in my eBook TBR pile for years now. I have no idea now how
it came to be in my possession.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2020
Posts
4 comments:
I was excited to see this review because I had almost bought a novel by this author the other day. I haven't read anything of his before. Now I'll probably get the first of the two and read it first. Thanks for your review.
Hold off, as he has said on FB, he now has the rights back and is working to get them back out there.
Great review! Shared on Buried Under Books:
https://cncbooksblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/16/sunday-sharing-15-kevinrtipple/
Thank you!
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