cover image CROFTON'S FIRE

CROFTON'S FIRE

Keith Coplin, . . Putnam, $21.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-399-15112-5

Coplin's debut novel soars well above most humdrum historical fiction, borne aloft by graceful prose, compellingly likable characters and a spirit of heartfelt humanity. West Point graduate (class of 1874) Lt. Michael Crofton begins his military career in earnest at Little Big Horn when he's sent over a nearby ridge to see what's going on with his commanding officer, Gen. George Armstrong Custer, and Custer's 260 troopers. ("We all disliked Custer, a braggart, a malefactor, a hound for glory. But, oh, the man cut a figure on horseback.") After a hairsbreadth escape from Crazy Horse, Crofton, the polar opposite of Custer in all ways except courage, embarks on a life of action and adventure. After being shot in the chest by a French whore he's attempting to rescue, he sees action on the steamy shores of revolutionary Cuba, shoots his way out of a Ku Klux Klan siege, toils behind a desk in Washington, D.C., and ends up fighting alongside gallant British comrades in the East African Zulu War. In combat as in life, Crofton always acquits himself with honor. Along the way he finds love, acquires an unusual bride, meets a gallery of luminaries (Generals Grant and Sherman among them) and lives a full and satisfying life. Author Coplin supplies his unassuming and modest hero with enough self-deprecating humor and honesty to keep him from being too unrelentingly perfect. Readers accustomed to more formulaic shoot 'em ups may find the novel less than riveting, but those who care about fine writing and a satisfying story will find all of that and more in these pages. (Jan.)

Forecast : Putnam is pitching this as a cross between Little Big Man and Lonesome Dove by way of Elmore Leonard. While the comparison is not inapt, Coplin's tale is a smaller version of the vast landscape depicted in either of those two books.