Tears of the Mountain

One man stands up against injustice and ignorance in a frenetically plotted if rangy novel from the author of The Islands of Divine Music. The large crowd that arrives in Sonoma County's Santa Rosa to celebrate Independence Day in 1876 contains a charismatic utopian minister, a snooty newsman, harmless libertine professor Elijah Applewood, blow-hard Senator Morris, and levelheaded Jeremiah McKinley, our honorable protagonist, who is led on a wild goose chase as he struggles to discover who is menacing his family. The plot takes a few wobbly turns as Senator Morris is found poisoned in his hotel room—for which Jeremiah's beloved mentor, professor Elijah, is blamed and arrested—and Jeremiah's wife and children vanish. But the biggest trouble comes as Elijah disappears and Jeremiah is accused of assisting in his escape, leaving Jeremiah to prove his innocence before he's hanged. Though Addiego is no high prose stylist ("He was naked and joined to... his wife's back by the effluence of their loving"), and many of the characters read like they moseyed out of an old dime novel, fans of western fiction will appreciate the setting, fast pace, and Jeremiah's sheer moral doggedness. (Sept.)