Thursday, May 26, 2011

Wecome to John Lindermuth

I visisted with my friend and fellow writer, John Lindermuth, and he has an exciting new book out at the moment. It is a book that is different from his normal excellent thriller/historicals so I invited him to tell us all about it.

As the 19th century winds to a close, Sheriff Sylvester Tilghman of the small Pennsylvania town of Arahpot ponders his biggest problems: finding a new deputy and convincing his true love, Lydia, to marry him. But an early autumn day finds Arahpot’s usual tranquility shaken when a stranger is fatally stabbed.

Upon seeing the victim, Tilghman recalls witnessing a strained encounter between him and Valentine Deibert, an obese man with a wife half his age who had recently moved to Arahpot. The sheriff questions Deibert who denies knowing the victim.

Tilghman is unconvinced, but lacks a connection until the widow arrives in Arahpot. Suddenly Sylvester is plunged into investigating two murders. As he works through an abundance of motivated suspects, Tilghman finds himself in danger. And worse -- Lydia is pushing her obnoxious cousin as a candidate for deputy.

Review: (Use as much or little as you see fit, but please credit Doug)
***** J. R. Lindermuth’s Best Book Yet. Highly Recommended. Review by Douglas Quinn, The Webb Sawyer Mysteries, The Ellis Family Thrillers, Cornelius The Orphan, Historical Fiction/Adventure, and Children’s Chapter Books.http://www.douglasquinn.com).“I was weaned on the great fin de siĆ©cle 19th century mysteries of Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle. Then Caleb Carr gave me the moody and exciting The Alienist and its sequel Angel of Darkness. All of these (even accounting for Sherlock Holmes forays into the moors and English countryside) were urban based. In contrast to the frenetic time-is-of-the-essence rush by these author’s protagonists to solve the crime, in Fallen From Grace, Lindermuth offers up a delicious, slow-paced murder mystery set in a small, rural Pennsylvania town called Arahpot.

“When the sheriff declares that the telegraph is the greatest invention ever for a sheriff, this gives you an idea of the pacing of the story. But this is a good thing, because it allows Lindermuth to spend time developing all of the interesting characters in this interesting and intriguing tale. What I enjoy about Lindermuth’s writing style is that he feels no need to spend time with detailed physical descriptions. Instead, as the characters are introduced and progress through the story, I had a perfect image in my mind of their physical appearance, who they were and what they were all about. This is the mark of an expert writer and I applaud Lindermuth for this skill.

“Sylvester Tilghman, Syl to his friends, is a bachelor who doesn’t do so well in the cooking-for-himself department and is always on the lookout for an invitation to a meal, be it breakfast lunch or dinner. His favorite targets are his girlfriend, Lydia, and her parents, and his neighbors, Dr. Mariner and his family. “That brings me to the other thing I like about Lindermuth’s writing, that being all the little side stories and character interactions he weaves throughout the tale, the most interesting being the relationship between Sylvester and Lydia. Lydia, who Sylvester wants to marry, clearly cares for him. However, she has been putting off his request for some time. The reader is left to speculate her reasons and, at the end of the book, while other town romances resolve themselves, he isn’t able to solve his dilemma with Lydia. During it all, Lydia is foisting her annoying cousin, Cyrus, upon Sylvester to fill a deputy sheriff’s position. There are other distractions, some related to the crimes, some not, that occupy Sylvester’s attention. These diversions add richness to the setting, the characters and the story.”

Buy links:
http://www.oaktreebooks.com/Shop%20OTP.htm


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161009011X/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0S00MQ9KF41Q6E6XHF25&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fallen-from-Grace/John-Lindermuth/e/9781610090117/?itm=3&USRI=lindermuth
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Fallen From Grace (March 2011), Wild Oak
Being Someone Else (July 2010), Whiskey Creek Press
http://jrlindermuth.com

6 comments:

Kathleen said...

Sounds like a terrific mystery. Congratulations, John. Did it take a lot of reasearch to set your novel in the nineteenth century?

jrlindermuth said...

Thanks, Kathleen. It actually wasn't a chore for me. I have a long interest in the period and am librarian of my county historical society so I already had access to much material. Besides, I enjoy research almost as much as writing.

Beth Elliott said...

This sounds like a good read. I'm not a murder mystery fan but can accept it in a western. will look out for this book.

Margaret Tanner said...

Hi John,
Sounds like an exciting read, but your storiesd always are.

Regards

Margaret

margaret blake said...

I am sure you will all love John's latest book. He is such a super writer.

Sarita Leone said...

This sounds like an intriguing story. Wishing you the best of luck with it!

So good to see you here, John.