cover image A Spider for Loco Shoat

A Spider for Loco Shoat

Damien Wilkins, Douglas C. Jones. Henry Holt & Company, $25 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-4849-0

Perhaps the only fault with this latest frontier mystery by the author of The Search for Temperance Moon is that readers may have to read it twice. Jones weaves so much social and political history into this tale of frontier life in Ft. Smith, Ark., and the territory soon to become Oklahoma in 1907 that readers may find themselves repeatedly distracted by the fascinating tidbits strewn throughout. Oscar Schiller, now a retired U.S. marshal, has lost none of the curiosity and perseverance that made him a dangerous adversary. When the body of tortured and murdered Gerald Wagstaff, an officer of the Logan Mining and Mineral Supply Co., is discovered, Schiller, like everyone else in Ft. Smith, is interested. When deputy sheriff June Abadee and his boss, Leviticus Tapp, offer a solution that contradicts the evidence, Schiller decides to do his own investigation. Wangling a special commission from old friend, U.S. attorney Eben Pay, and enlisting the aid of Joe Mountain, an Osage Indian, Schiller stirs up a nest of murder, fraud and corruption. The mystery is good, the history is better and the characters are a delightfully varied and memorable lot. (Aug.)