Time's Witness [Paperback]

Malone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

Street-smart and straightforward police chief Cuddy Mangum and his refined homicide detective Justin Savile V are determined to keep their town’s cultural, political and racial divisions stable…even peaceful. But when a young black activist is murdered while in the process of fighting for his brother’s freedom from death row, the lines keeping Hillston, North Carolina, in balance start to crumble.

Thrust into a dirty political campaign and torn between his morals and his love for the wealthy and beautiful wife of an up-and-coming politician, Cuddy must uncover the secrets that lie in his own backyard.

From high-powered and elegant country club ballrooms to dark and dangerous bar room corners, Malone weaves a mystery of plot and place where the difference between good and evil and right and wrong sometimes become indistinct.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Malone, who in Handling Sin emerged as one of the most entertaining portraitists of the new South, has penned another leisurely, winning chronicle, this time placing two murder investigations against a backdrop populated with dozens of sharply drawn characters. Narrated by "Cuddy" Mangum, the enlightened redneck police chief of Hillston, the novel unfolds as a tale of multilayered injustice. As protesters seek to win a retrial for a black prisoner slated to die for shooting a white cop, the inmate's brother, a local activist, is slain by a drive-by sniper. Mangum's investigation turns up slime under every rock, quickly growing to encompass his own department, white supremacist hate groups and even the race for state governor. It's an intriguing plot, and Malone doesn't rush it; everyone from a drunken hillbilly to an aristocratic daughter of the Confederacy gets a turn in the spotlight. What keeps the tale from seeming aimless, aside from Malone's deft observations and anecdotes, is his hero, as engaging a tour guide through this peripatetic narrative as anyone could ask.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Michael Malone is the literate and compassionate voice of the new American South. Critically acclaimed as one of the country’s finest writers, his great gift for crafting remarkable and enduring comedies, as he did in Handling Sin, Dingley Falls and Foolscap, is matched only by his ability to deliver riveting suspense and mystery. Now, after a long absence, Michael Malone has returned to the scene of the crime. He has also come home to the South. He now lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with his wife, Maureen Quilligan, chair of the English department at Duke University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570717540
• ISBN-13: 978-1570717543
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #589,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you liked L.A Confidential, March 11, 2002

By 

David Cady (NYC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time's Witness (Hardcover)

When I read Michael Malone's first mystery "Uncivil Seasons," I was most impressed with policeman Cuddy Mangum. His dialogue seemed the most authentic, his character the most fully realized. What a pleasure then to have an entire book told in his voice. And what a book! This is a big, gorgeous, complicated piece of work. Malone weaves so many characters and plotlines and issues together -- and seamlessly, at that -- that it's truly breathtaking. As for the writing itself, there's not one clunky sentence, not one line of false dialogue, not one overblown metaphor. It's all clean, crisp and very, very funny. In short, this is not only one of the finest mysteries I've ever read, it's simply one of the finest NOVELS I've ever read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tough but rewarding, June 13, 2000

By 

Steve (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time's Witness (Hardcover)

Unlike 98% of people who've read Michael Malone's work, I was quite underimpressed by his "Uncivil Seasons" - it was fine as far as detective stories go, but it was a bit too quirky, a bit too unconventional for my taste. So I was not looking forward to "Time's Witness," which revived many of the same characters - I read it only because I love Malone's other work, and TW was the last I had to read. If you can muscle your way through the first 150 pages, grow used to Cuddy (the narrator's) unusual voice, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Malone is a beautiful character writer and TW is as good as they come: the story is interesting, complex and raises some important questions. (While frequently preachy, Malone's first-person technique allows the reader to ascribe the preachiness to the narrator and not so much to the author.) The trial scenes toward the end surpass anything John Grisham has pumped out. A great read; find it if you can (I found my copy on Ebay)

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the best from Michael Malone, April 9, 2003

By 

L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Time's Witness (Paperback)

Malone is an amazing writer. His command of the language, his ability to interweave multiple plots, and, above all, his characterization of people in "the new South" is flawless. Of the Justin/Cuddy trilogy, Time's Witness is by far my favorite. Perhaps that's because the point of view is that of Cuddy Mangum, far more complex than tortured soul Justin Savile, narrarator of "Uncivil Seasons".

An older book that went out of print for awhile and is just now being enjoyed by a new generation of readers, "Time's Witness" covers the controversy of capital punishment, when the criminal is truly not guilty, in a way that Grisham, Turow, and many others are just getting to now. The threads of who actually was responsible for the death of a cop, and later a civil rights activist, are sometimes a little difficult to follow.

But Malone keeps the complex story alive by his references to day to day small dramas, while the large plot unfolds. His phrasing is elegant, and bringing in the funny Martha (Cuddy's dog), the personal lives of cops Nancy & Zeke, and the bond between Cuddy and inimitable attorney Isaac Rosethorn (think Robert Duvall) grounds the reality you look for in a novel, into this fine book.

In particular, the courtroom scenes, near the end of the novel, come to life in a way that many other "legal thriller" novelists would love to emulate. Rising above all is the way Malone brings Cuddy's (and others') beliefs on issues of the day to bear in the story with crisp and believable dialogue. Morally on par on multiple themes in the way that "To Kill a Mockingbird" read, "Time's Witness" is a classic of our times!

Bravo!