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Books
for December 2007
SALAMANDER
COTTON
by Richard Kunzman
South African author Kunzmann clearly establishes
himself as a major league talent with his second book (after
2006's Bloody Harvests) to feature Johannesburg DI Jacob
Tshabalala. Investigating the savage murder of Bernard Klamm,
an elderly mining boss with an extensive collection of child
pornography, Tshabalala quickly learns that Klamm is survived
by his long-estranged ex-wife, Henrietta Campbell, and that
the couple lost their daughter decades earlier to another
killer. When Campbell asks the inspector to recommend a
private investigator to delve into that old crime, Tshabalala
taps a retired officer and friend, Harry Mason. Mason soon
becomes the book's central focus as he travels to the isolated
site of Klamm's asbestos mines to uncover the solution of
both murders. With surprising ease, Kunzmann evokes South
Africa of both the 1960s and the early 2000s while building
a richly textured police procedural around a twisty but
plausible whodunit. Not many authors, let alone new ones,
have succeeded as Kunzmann has in creating a three-dimensional
world, peopled with memorable characters.
THE
REBELS : SONS OF TEXAS
Seven-time
Spur Award winner Kelton has always been a masterful western
storyteller of tales rich with historical detail, vivid
characters and sharply defined plots. Here he concludes
the Sons of Texas trilogy with the strongest entry, set
in the mid 1830s. The Lewis family—brothers Andrew,
Michael and James, and sister Annie—are foreigners
in a strange land, raising their families and farming while
Mexican and American cultures, politics, racism and tempers
simmer over the possibilities of rebellion and independence
from Mexico. During these years, the Lewises must deal with
outlaws, the Mexican army, trouble-making American politicians,
a slick smuggler and their continuing feud with the thieving
and back-shooting Blackwood brothers. When war does come,
the Lewis boys and one Blackwood go off to fight in bloody
battles at Velasco, the Alamo and San Jacinto , and not
all come home. Historical figures—Sam Houston, General
Santa Anna, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett—have cameos
and add depth and color to this superb saga of the Lone
Star State .
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