Where Trouble Sleeps; A Novel

Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1997. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Walker Evans (Jacket photo), and Martin Ettlinger. Format is approximately 5.25 inches by 7.25 inches. [16], 260, [4] pages. Illustrations. Signed by the author on the title page. The work is divided into three Parts: Summer Rain at the Blinker Light; The Man in the Buick Eight; and Just as I Am. Each Part contains several chapters. Clyde Edgerton (born May 20, 1944) is an American author. He has published a dozen books, most of them novels, two of which have been adapted for film. He is also a professor, teaching creative writing. After graduating in 1966, he entered the Air Force and served five years as a fighter pilot in the United States, Korea, Japan, and Thailand. After his time in service, Edgerton got his Master's degree in English and soon after, he also earned a doctorate. He decided to become a writer in 1978 after watching Eudora Welty read a short story on public television. As of 2011 he was a professor at the University of North Carolina. For his seventh novel, Clyde Edgerton returns to the setting of his own childhood to introduce us to the good God-fearing citizens of small town America at mid century--good ole boys, good little boys, little old Ladies with loaded shot guns, and an ancient dog who predicts the weather--and to tell the story of what happened back when rootless amorality met up with deep-rooted moral flexibility. . We all miss the slower pace and simpler problems of the '50s, and no one brings them back better than Clyde Edgerton, a writer described by the New York Times as "Eudora Welty meets Mark Twain." And no one exposes the secrets of self-righteousness more cheerfully than he does. Derived from a Kirkus review: As amiable and charming as all his novels, Edgerton's latest about small-town life brings together his usual cast of drunks, church-going Baptists, and southern eccentrics, all of whom encounter the Devil in the form of a traveling ne'er-do-well. This devilish Jack Umstead (a.k.a. Rusty Smith, a.k.a. Delbert Jones, etc.) even dares to pretend he's Jesus—the true sign of the Antichrist—in deceiving the sick and elderly Dorothea Clark. Neither Dorothea nor her two sisters (who never married and are thus known as the Blaines), who run a chicken- and ice-store, were ever quite right, and they still can't understand why Dorothea went off and married that vulgar Clark fellow, Claude T. of the gold ring and Cadillac. Most of what we learn is through the eyes of little Stephen Toomey, the coddled and asthmatic son of Harvey and Alease, Alease herself a righteous and pretty woman not immune to Umstead's blandishments. Everyone in little Listre, a town that ``looked settled, ripe, timid, kind of stupid,'' is touched by Umstead's evil presence. He seduces the dreamy-eyed Cheryl Daniels, the sister of Stephen's best friend, Terry (Terry is additionally providing a spiritual crisis for the married preacher, Mr. Crenshaw). Umstead also pals up with Stephen's drunk Uncle Raleigh, a vet who lost an arm during WW II. But Umstead bides his time for his big score—he hopes to rob the Blaine Sisters when the next lightning storm comes, since that's when they abandon their home for their sister Dorothea's. Little Stephen, who wants to cuss, drink, and smoke like the men of Listre, is lucky enough to witness Umstead's bloody end. And he discovers that it's a lot more enjoyable than the readings from Aunt Margaret's Bible Stories, a volume that provides parallel texts throughout the novel. Jokes about breasts and flatulence punctuate a lighthearted treatment of good and evil and the simple world of those who are weak but seek salvation. An always enjoyable read.