LIT

A book burning leads to murder in this comedic mystery.

Sandlin set his cult-favorite novel Skipped Parts (1991) in fictional GroVont, Wyoming, and he returns to the small town in his latest novel. This one opens with Kasey Cobb, a 49-year-old man who owns a coffee kiosk called the River Runs Through It Espresso Shack (one of many literary references in the novel), coming across a book bonfire in front of the local library. The son of the pastor responsible for the book burning tries to shove Kasey into the fire, but he’s saved by Judge Joubert, a delusional local novelist with an ego the size of Grand Teton. (The son isn’t as lucky, falling into the fire himself.) Kasey and Judge book it to Kasey’s cabin, where they learn that Judge’s house, containing his latest manuscript, has been burned down; not long after, the firebug pastor is found dead near the remains of Judge’s house, a copy of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon beside him. Judge becomes a suspect, as do Kasey and Darla, the librarian on whom he’s nursing a crush. Sandlin is no stranger to oddball characters, and there are a ton of them here; he doesn’t engage in mockery of any of them except the book banners whom he clearly loathes. (“Anyone who reads a book is better than anyone who doesn’t,” Kasey opines.) The book can feel a bit heavy-handed, but Sandlin isn’t going for delicate satire here, just wacky fun. And his humor remains intact: At one point, Kasey reflects that his two employees “give me the comatose stepfather treatment most of the time.” Mystery fans with a love of the quirky will find much to enjoy here.

Think Kinky Friedman, if he lived in northwestern Wyoming.