Rich on Southern tradition, language culture, and mind-set, this is much along the lines of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, with characters event he most fertile of imaginations would have difficulty creating. Homosexuality, eccentricity, political corruption, and murder. Fortunately, when Mr. Thompson moved to Colorado he brought his Southern gift for story telling, as his writing is instantly enthralling and nearly impossible to put down.