Cannibal Plateau

Less a novel than a historical inquiry, this shaky debut about two modern-day amateur historians probes an unusual 1874 case of multiple murder and cannibalism in the rugged mountains of southern Colorado. Wise loosely shapes thin fiction around his real interest, the guilt or innocence of Alfred Hammit (aka Alfred Packer), a low-life drifter convicted of killing and eating five companions on a mining expedition. Now, 120 years later, two writers with time on their hands, decide to write a book about the case. The Hammit Massacre intrigues David Walton and Jack Fuller, both as mystery and as a marketable idea for a book, and the more they dig (literally and figuratively) the more curious the case becomes. Despite the pair's increasing excitement and interest, however, the reader will quickly see that they are on a trail to nowhere. The details of the Hammit crime are interesting, but the two writers uncover nothing new. Their efforts generate little suspense and no spark, leaving the buddies to debate the virtues of the tacos at their favorite hangout, the Pine Cone Cafe, while a modern subplot involving a shady local businessman, a played-out gold mine, an unlikely miner and a sloppy murder only adds confusion to an already plodding story. (Nov.)