Though Sylvester seems to be contributing to the health of the community, his personality makes him unpopular. Even his own sons are just short of joyous when he fails to return home one night after closing up his restaurant. His daughter Karen is alerted to his disappearance by her mother who phones her with the news that Sylvester had failed to return home.

Karen contacts Jeremiah Spur local resident and retired Texas Ranger. Spur takes Karen’s concern seriously but has major problems of his own. His beloved wife has become sick enough to require hospitalization. The diagnosis is food poisoning caused by a relatively common strain of e. coli. She spends the night in the hospital and seems to be responding to the antibiotics prescribed when she takes a turn for the worse.

The state health department sends an inspector out to investigate, but since only Spur’s wife and the young daughter of a litigious lawyer are the only victims, the inspector is hesitant to pursue a nationwide alert. He thinks the cause is local. Spur thinks the disappearance of Sylvester and his wife’s illness may be related, but if not, he aims to get to the bottom of both mysteries.

James Hime evokes the memory of life in a small Texas town with all of its characters with a capital C. Those readers who are familiar with such a situation will no doubt empathize while others may hearken back to Lorne Greene and other TV serials of that ilk. The sense of place and atmosphere is pronounced in this novel which will appeal to some while irritate others.

Underneath the façade of small town life there are some legitimate concerns voiced by the author. The very real threat of food poisoning especially to young children should be taken seriously. In addition while Sylvester may be a despicable human being, he has a legitimate right to his invention. That anyone could justify absconding with his idea because he was such a mean spirited individual is unconscionable. There is an underlying theme of big business battling against a small unknown with a good idea.

In between the portrayal of a small Texas town and altogether too real concerns that face us in the modern world are several humorous diversions into how readily rumors are passed around in small communities and perceptions of Texas from those of European heritage.

While the tone of the novel is heavy on the good old boy flavor of small town Texas, the author does have some more important messages to convey to his audience.

--Andy Plonka