Upon arriving at the appointed site for the “battle” Paul is separated from his friends but quickly becomes acquainted with Ken Beeman, a local cop who is assigned to be a part of the Minnesota delegation to make sure the interaction is being conducted safely. Paul and “Bee” find themselves quite congenial. Paul is delighted to have a knowledgeable guide through the swampy, difficult terrain. Bee is pleased that his suggestions are taken in good spirit, not disparaged as some “hick cop’s” attempt to show his superiority.

In the midst of the skirmish Paul stumbles, falling in front of Bee. As he does a shot is fired, hitting Paul in the neck, penetrating his carotid artery, and killing him almost instantly. The battle is supposed to be conducted with fake ammunition, but there is no question that Paul was hit with live ammo. The thought quickly arises in Bee’s mind that perhaps he, not Paul, was the target for the sniper. Family feuds are longstanding in this little part of Mississippi and the Beeman clan is not without its enemies.

When Jenny, Paul’s wife learns of his freakish death, she is stunned. Her former lover, John Rane, now a photographer for a St. Paul newspaper, upon hearing the meager details of Paul’s death decides to discover the truth under the guise of doing a photo story on Civil War reenactments. He makes an uneasy alliance with Beeman to figure out just what is going on in the latest attempt to rejuvenate the economy of a small area of Mississippi.

Although the tableau of Civil War reenactments is perhaps unique among settings for a mystery story, it is not the most compelling reason for reading Chuck Logan’s latest offering. It is fairly obvious who the perpetrator of the deed is and perpetrator’s reason even less of a challenge to decipher. What will draw readers to South of Shiloh is the fine sense of place that the author has achieved his vivid descriptions, and his distinctively unique and well developed characters. 

The terrain, the weather, and the local wildlife make it easy to remember that the action is taking place in swampy land in northern Mississippi. There is a beautifully detailed scene in which Beeman hunts and captures a water moccasin. He uses the reptile to convince a reluctant individual to tell the truth as he knows it about a situation. It appears that the witness is sufficiently afraid of the reptile to do exactly as he is told and the climax of the scene is priceless. It is sure to get every reader’s attention.

The two main protagonists, Rane and Beeman are good honest men, but they are not shy about bending the rules for proper conduct to achieve a desired outcome. The interplay between the two is enjoyable. They are wary of each other initially and have a preconceived idea of each other’s personality built entirely on their prejudices of job descriptions and each other’s background. As the story progresses and each man is able to demonstrate his strengths and weaknesses, they begin to trust and appreciate each other. As they teach and learn from each other the reader is able to learn also.

There is a wealth of information about subjects as diverse as piano and learning to shoot a rifle. The ways in which the author is able to connect such subjects will surprise you. It is unclear whether Mr. Logan plans to bring back these characters in another adventure, and, I suppose, difficult to create a new situation in which they would meet, but they are great people and provided an entertaining read. 

--Andy Plonka