Customer Reviews

Smoke

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I am familiar with a lot of William Sanders' fantasy and alternate history, but SMOKE was the first mystery of his that I read. The main character is Hosea Smoke, a Cherokee woodcarver who's selling his art work at a week-long Native American Cultural Festival at a small college in Oklahoma. Hosea finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation when he discovers one of the other exhibitors dead in his trailer. Power and influence, campus cops (one of whom is Hosea's nephew), and Cherokee customs all come into play to complicate Hosea Smoke's life.

I love the way the story unfolds as the pieces of the mystery fall into place. What was really special for me as a reader, though, was that about halfway through the book, I realized that I was matching faces and voices from my past with the characters in SMOKE and watching the action as much as I was reading the words. Sanders writes about real people in real situations. I've been in these settings, overheard these people talking, and seen them doing what they do.

I like it when a book comes alive for me like SMOKE does. It's been a good book to pull out and reread just for the sheer pleasure of it, straight through from the beginning or just going through and chuckling again at the favorite bits. My husband loved this mystery, too. Normally, our reading tastes differ, but we definitely agreed that this book's great.

This seems to be quite a departure for William Sanders. I have read several of his other books and was expecting something very different. The "Taggart Roper" mysteries that he used to write, while not really "hardboiled" in the Spillane sense, contained a good deal of violence and physical action (which he does very effectively) and so did his science fiction and fantasy novels that I have read.

"Smoke", on the other hand, has only a couple of violent scenes, and these rather understated except perhaps for the climactic scene and even that is handled with restraint. Don't misunderstand, this is not a "cosy" mystery by any means, but it is much less violence-and-action-oriented than Sanders' previous works. In fact it is the only book of his I've ever read in which the hero doesn't kill anyone.

That is not to say this is a dull book. On the contrary, it moves very well and sustains the reader's interest all the way through. In part this is because of the fascinating background. I will never again be able to visit one of those "Native American Arts and Crafts" exhibitions with the same eyes, or without laughing to myself.

The characters, too, are a delight. Particularly the Comanche artist, Buster Tenbears, whose ruminations on the common hangover ("Amazing what a large object the human head is") are classic. And there is a rich oil family that makes the Ewings of "Dallas" look like the Cleavers.

This isn't a mind-blower like Sanders's "Ballad of Billy Badass", but as a good enjoyable read for a quiet night at home, it would be hard to beat.

I'm familiar with a lot of William Sanders' fantasy and alternate history, but SMOKE is the first of his mysteries that I've read. The main character, a Cherokee woodcarver who's selling his art work at a week-long Native American Cultural Festival, finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation. Power and influence, campus cops, one of whom is a nephew, and Cherokee customs all come into play to complicate Hosea Smoke's life.

Sanders is a wonderful writer, and I loved the way the story unfolded as the pieces of the mystery fell into place. What was really special for me as a reader, though, was that about halfway through the book, I realized that I was matching faces and voices from my past with the characters in SMOKE and watching the action as much as I was reading the words. I know these people. I've been in these settings, heard them talking and seen them doing what they do. Sanders writes about real people in real situations. I like it when a book comes alive for me like SMOKE did. I just finished the book last night, and I'm already rereading it, just for the sheer joy of the experience.

This isn't Sanders' first mystery by a long chalk, and it shows; he constructs a framework character by character and clue by clue with an ease that's misleading. The milieu here is an Indian Art exhibition and sale, and Sanders skillfully delineates this rarified world well enough that even a "yoneg" art-illiterate like me can understand it clearly.

I won't go into the plot except to say that it involves the conflict between real Indians and those who just wish they were Indians, and the resultant jealousies and resentments that can build up into an explosive situation. Our hero, a wood carver, is drawn reluctantly into the role of detective, banging up against campus security, real police, and his own antagonism against the victim.

With most mysteries, it's enough that they're a pretty good read. With the better ones, you're left wanting more. With the best, you can't put them down until you've not only read them through to the end, but have gone back to see where the clues SHOULD have led you had you been as smart as the protagonist. With _Smoke_, William Sanders has written one of the best.