Waldie once again celebrates the simple pleasures of rural Montana, returning to the fictional town he depicted in his debut short story collection (Travers Corners) for another set of cozy tales. Travers Corners is a one-street burg with a handful of stores and a 360-degree panorama of spectacular scenery, where fly fishermen and travelers regularly mix it up with the locals. "It Ain't Over till the Fat Man Sings" follows Jud, a craftsman and river guide, who sees his romantic fortunes briefly improve in midlife when he meets a sweet, sexy Wall Street CEO who entices him into a one-night stand during her short visit. Jud fades into the background in "Invisible," which chronicles the arrival of the village's first African-American resident, who quietly integrates the town by building a small but very successful furniture factory. A somewhat more sentimental effort is "Your Name in Lights," a modern parable about a famous actress who is stranded in Travers Corners after a car accident. She finds herself doing a lot of thinking about her priorities when she's exposed to the openhearted generosity of the town's denizens, who rescue her wounded dog and shelter her from the paparazzi. Waldie reprises the friendly, optimistic narration of his first collection. Sometimes he crosses the line from folksy wisdom into treacly homilies, but on the whole this well-crafted sequel more than measures up to the standards set by its predecessor. (Dec.)
Forecast:Fly fishermen and fans of homespun fiction are the target audience for this follow-up collection. The former may be familiar with Waldie from his work for various sporting journals.
