The True Detective

This beautifully written novel about residents of an Illinois milltown during the Depression is sometimes a bit sentimental, yet as appealing as an unfolding melodrama can be. The marriage of Jeremy and Deborah Cole has been paralyzed by Jeremy's grief over the death of their infant daughter. They remain together but lead separate lives. He is a steel-worker moved by management's cruel treatment of his fellow workers to support a developing labor movement. She is involved in exploring her relationships with her grandmother and family, including a long-shunned aunt, turned away because she converted to Catholicism. Butler (On Distant Ground is splendid at describing scenerya horseradish field dotted with flowers, for exampleand events, and the novel is pervaded with a wistful sense of loneliness. But as Jeremy attempts to avengesingle-handedlythe workers' problems and Deborah heroically reaches out to renew their marriage, the author yields to an ending that tugs too openly at the heartstrings. (March 13)