Hagan's Trial and Other Stories

Darkly comic, deeply ironic, these stories are a compelling chronicle. Wintner's eccentric (to say the least) characters and circumstances, in settings from South Carolina to Paris, southern Indiana to Los Angeles, are arranged in three sections: ``Animals,'' ``Love'' and ``Animal Love.'' The collection opens with the metaphoric title story, in which Hagan, a weimaraner, goes on trial for murder after he plays a little too rough with a French poodle. The trial is accompanied by heavy media attention and ever-present politicians searching for the spotlight. Although ``Snapdragon'' is ultimately about two cousins who enter a retired, half-blind racehorse in the annual cup, it starts with the two carefully watching marked-down pork. ``It's a known fact that if you buy grocery store pork marked down twice for quick sale, unwrap it and circle it and leave it on the kitchen counter, it will move out of the circle in less than an hour.'' In another story, ``Cousins,'' the county coroner describes a local murder and comes close to realizing that it probably involves his own family. Closing out the collection are two touching stories of devoted cat owners. Wintner has a masterful touch, drawing his readers into each life with wit, irony and traditional storytelling of the sort you'd hear rocking on an old front porch. Author tour. (Apr.)