Call Down the Thunder

Set in Depression-era Kansas, this colorful, character-driven crime novel from Kalteis (Zero Avenue) pits desperate small-town folk against racists and thugs. Life is looking bleak for farmer Sonny Myers—his wife, Clara, has run off with the last of their savings, the farm isn’t producing anything, and the bank is repossessing everything purchased with his mortgage. His friend Handy Phibbs has suggested robbing the local bank, with Willis Taggart, the owner of Happy Mustard’s, a failing traveling show, as their driver. Willis also has a loan shark and his goons to deal with, while Handy and Sonny have had run-ins with the White Knights of the Great Plains, a hood-wearing, cross-burning group of hate mongers. Clara returns in the company of Eugene Cobb, a self-declared rainmaker, in time to inadvertently help Sonny, Handy, and Willis pull off the bank heist. Kalteis does a fine job of scene setting; the reader can practically smell the horehound candy at the general store and feel the grit in the air at Sonny’s farm. Fans of historical crime fiction won’t want to miss this one. (Oct.)