I did my dissertation on the Scopes "Monkey" Trial, so I had no problems passing the quiz on the back of "Reaping the Whirlwind: A Trent Tyson Historical Mystery." I am overly familiar with the details of the trial and the various incidents that Rosey Dow works into her story, and have visited Dayton several times. Of course, my interest in reading "Reaping the Whirlwind" is because of my interest in the bizarre-yet-true trial of John Thomas Scopes, and my judgment of the book ends up being more from that perspective than from that of the mystery elements.
The story begins in Dayton, Tennessee on a rainy Monday evening in the spring of 1925 when the chess game between Deputy Sheriff Trent Tyson and Dr. Adam St. Clair is interrupted by a concerned neighbor calls to say that Mrs. Ida Johnson is not answering her door. An investigation discovers that the woman has died, apparently of a heart attack. But then the medical examiner finds that the woman was poisoned by tansy weed. Did she take some by accident or was the old woman murdered? When the next person shows up dead with the same symptoms, the answer seems obvious. But there is no obvious connection between the victims and the more Tyson investigates their lives the less sense it all makes. Meanwhile, the town is gearing up for the Scopes trial as William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow, H.L. Mencken and a horde of others descend on Dayton. None of these famous people become part of Tyson's murder invesigation, so Dow is able to stick to what they actually said instead of having to make things up for them to fit into the main plotline.
Ironically when I started reading this book I kept wondering when we were going to get to the trial (the meeting in Robinson's Drugstore where they hatched up the idea for the trial does not take place until page 136) but once the trial was underway I kept thinking that Deputy Tyson was spending too much time at the trial given that there is a serial killer running loose in Dayton. The Scopes Trial is basically the backdrop for the last third of the book, but you know that there has to be some sort of connection, albeit indirect, between the idea of prohibiting the teaching of evolution and these murders. However, the link is not obvious, so I doubt you will see the ending coming.
Dow does a good job of picking highlights from the Scopes Trial, both in the courtroom and on the streets of Dayton, to include in her novel. She pays attention to the speech on admitting the scientific testimony by Dudley Field Malone, which I greatly admire and which Scopes called the dramatic highpoint of the trial (and not the celebrated cross-examination of Bryan by Darrow). Malone is usually largely ignored in accounts of the trial, so every little bit of giving him his due helps. Dow's perspective on the trial and the subject of evolution is made clear in the materials before and after the story, but those beliefs do not intrude on the story, especially since there are characters reflecting both sides of the argument being played out in the Rhea County Courthouse.
The Author's Note at the front of the book makes it clear that Trent Tyson and Dr. Adam St. Clair are fictional replacements for Dayton's constable and one of the town's doctors, and lists the people who were actually in Dayton in the summer of 1925. Of course the victims and Tyson's family and friends are completely fictitious. The back of the book includes three appendixes that provide an excerpt from Bryan's undelivered address, evolutionary proofs offered by trial experts with refutation, and Bryan's questions for Darrow and his replies that appear in the press after the trial. Most unusual for a work of fiction but appropriate in this case, Dow also provides a Bibliography of the books she used for details about the trial and an Index that allows me to look up all of the books references to Dudley Field Malone or whatever (or whoever). So if you picked up this novel because you like historical murder mysteries, do not be surprised if you feel the urge to find out more about the Scopes Trial when you are done.
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