The Reservoir

Thompson (America's Historic Trails) fleshes out the bones of an actual 1885 murder case in his solidly entertaining first novel. When the body of a pregnant young white woman is found floating in a Richmond, Va., reservoir one cold March morning, she appears to have taken her own life. After she's identified as Lillian Madison, Police Justice Daniel Cincinnatus Richardson arrests Tommie Cluverius, Lillian's cousin, for murder. In flashbacks, Thompson reveals the links between Lillian and Tommie, an ambitious, mercurial fledgling lawyer, and Tommie's older brother, Willie, an earnest, steadfast farmer. Lillian is attracted to both, but falls for Tommie, who has his eye set on a more advantageous marriage. A tense trial ensues in which Willie is forced to measure his devotion to his brother against the various versions of events related by Tommie. The strong period setting lifts a somewhat prosaic tragedy. Author tour. (June)