Death in West Wheeling

First Sentence: The back of Grandpa Ross's house faces down a south slope that's been cleared of pines an' brush. Acting sheriff Homer Deters is told that a teacher, Roger Devon, at the mission school has gone missing. Before long, the count is up to three people missing, two unidentifiable bodies--one being bones only--and a less-than-forthcoming ATF agent. The actual full title of this book is "Death in West Wheeling by Homer Deters (Not to be confused with that Greek feller who wrote war and adventure stories) as told to Michael Dymmoch." That should give you some feel for this absolutely delightful book told from the protagonist point of view entirely in the local vernacular. While this may bother some, I found it added to the richness and authenticity of the story and sense of place. It's a short little book at 182 pages. The writing is very clever and full of subtleties, twists and turns and humor that made me laugh out loud several times. Yes, there could have been greater development of the characters and there were a couple holes in the plot, but I so enjoyed the experience of reading this book, I didn't mind. Michael Dymmoch's Jack Caleb/John Thinnes Mysteries are favorites of mine yet I completely disliked her time-travel book so I wasn't certain what to expect from this. Happily, I found this a thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining little read.

There are some incredibly funny scenes in this book, especially the chicken-truck scene pictured on the cover. One quibble: the book clearly describes the chickens as white, repeatedly, yet the cover portrays brown and grey roosters. However, since the cover is what first drew my attention to the book, it clearly did its job, so the fact that it's not quite accurate is probably irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. An important thing to note: the author of the book is Michael Dymmoch; the protagonist is Homer Deters. Depending on which edition you're looking at on your screen here, you may see Deters listed as the author. If not, disregard this paragraph; they've fixed it. The book is a bit thin, both in size - fewer than 200 pages, even in an undersized hardcover - and in some of the holes in the plot. These aren't fatal flaws, though, and the shortness of the book means you can finish it in only a couple of evenings or lunch hours. I won't give away the plot, which has some unexpected twists, but here are some of the bits of the book that I liked: * The question of ownership of snakes in West Wheeling. * How Homer first met Nina. * The character names - sometimes a bit obvious, but several are good for a laugh, especially Merlin. * In amidst the redneck dialect, designed to sound somewhat ignorant (the dialect grated on me after a while), the throw-away lines such as "Rosy-fingered dawn was stealin' the cover of night when my pager went off..." (Perhaps you remember the name of the blind poet who used that phrase? Stuff like that keeps a reader on his/her toes!) Within the mystery genre, there's a tradition of portraying rivalry between local police and state, police and private investigators, everybody else in law enforcement and the FBI... Dymmoch gives this some twists, with Homer and the state police getting along OK; the feds still come in for flack, though, especially ATF. All in all, a good read, decent plot resolution, nice sense of atmosphere. If it's the first in a series about Homer Deters, though, I hope Dymmoch will lay off the dialect just a bit in the next volume.

In West Wheeling, Illinois when Pine Ridge Missionary School teacher Roger Devon vanishes; Acting Sheriff Ajax "Homer" Deters investigates. Before he can learn what happened to the teacher, three more people vanish, no connections to one another or to Roger seem obvious; at least none that Homer can detect between local troublemaker Ash Jackson, pregnant teenager Angie Boone, and ATF Agent John Peters. After seeking advice from stroke victim Sheriff Rooney, who is unable to communicate, Homer widens his inquiries especially when the remains of a person are found in nearby Goode Swamp and a second "jawless" corpse is on the highway. His efforts are deterred when a circus tiger escapes and a major pile up ties up the center of West Wheeling. However, the biggest nuisance to solving the case occurs when Peter's ATF peers invade the small town; needing help Homer turns to his friend moonshiner Rye Willis and the woman he secretly desires postmistress Nina Ross. Homer keeps this complex police procedural together with his superb investigation and his desire for the postmistress (though he is in denial for much of the tale). The inquiry into missing people that turns into a multiple homicide investigation is made more difficult by the ATF agents who stomp on anyone including the sheriff that gets in their way as they search for one of their own. Though using civilians seems wrong even if Homer desperately needs their help, readers will enjoy this fine murder mystery. Harriet Klausner