When Good Men Die: A Sam Dawson Mystery

by Steven W Horn

Overview

Skeletons in the closet are sometimes best left undiscovered and undisturbed. Enter at your own risk the closet of Hans Rudolf Gottlieb, Depression-era carnival wrestler and former Olympian who has come to the north woods to die. As he moves silently between the brutally harsh and haunting memories of his past, Hans attempts to keep the many secrets that define his life in this epic story of enduring love and tragic consequences. The author of the award-winning THE PUMPKIN EATER: A SAM DAWSON MYSTERY, Steven W. Horn, continues his blend of dramatic, intelligent, fast-paced storytelling. Photographer Sam Dawson, bored with taking pictures of cemeteries and in defiance of his editor, turns his camera toward the elderly residents of a nursing home. "We're going to see some old people," he tells his drooling bloodhound. "It'll be our little secret." But Sam uncovers more secrets than he bargained for and the disturbing truth that the aged are often not who they appear to be. Sam and his "puddle of dog flesh" will be set upon by wolves and humans alike as Sam, the primary suspect in a resident's murder, exposes decades-long secrets to unravel this Gordian knot of a mystery. WHEN GOOD MEN DIE: A SAM DAWSON MYSTERY races toward a shocking conclusion while challenging the reader to consider the sins of their loved ones' past and to ask questions before it is too late. But be careful, you may not want to hear their answers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780983589457
Publisher:	Granite Peak Press
Publication date:	10/29/2015
Pages:	438
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.13(d)

Editorial Reviews

11/16/2015
Horn deftly weaves past and present in his unusual second mystery featuring photographer Sam Dawson (after 2013’s The Pumpkin Eater). Since Sam’s recent coffee table book of images of dead trees didn’t sell, his publisher wants him to return to his specialty, “pictorials of obscure cemeteries.” That directive takes him to Deep Lake, Minn., where he finds an old-age home, Whispering Pines Care Center, next to a graveyard. His efforts to expand his portfolio by photographing the residents are resisted strenuously by Aimee Pond, a nurse who suspects he’s out to scam her charges. She views Sam a bit more favorably after he’s kind to one of her patients, Hans Gottlieb, who wanders into the artist’s motor home. Aimee soon has a more serious problem to deal with when another patient, Sophie Mickelson, is smothered in her bed. Chapters filling in Hans’s backstory, starting with his experiences as a carnival wrestling champ in the 1930s, allow the reader to figure out Horn’s clever plan to fit all the pieces together. (BookLife)

Publishers Weekly

2015-09-14
In this second outing of a strong mystery series, a nursing home murder sparks an investigation into the past of a former circus wrestler and Olympian. Eight years after the events in The Pumpkin Eater (2013), it's 2007, and Sam Dawson is still photographing old cemeteries for coffee-table books, this time focusing on Deep Lake, Minnesota. When he arrives with his vintage Airstream, he decides to take his dog to visit the Whispering Pines Care Center and perhaps snap some photos of residents (he's getting bored with cemeteries). But Aimee Pond, the nursing supervisor, is thornily unfriendly, and the local sheriff is more so, particularly after an old woman is found murdered at the nursing home, putting Sam under suspicion. Interspersed with the 2007 story are flashbacks jumping back and forth through the memories of Whispering Pines resident Hans Gottlieb, who's nearly 100 years old. Hans' son Will knows almost nothing of his father's life except that he worked on the railroad. But Hans has many secrets, including having been a champion athlete and masked carnival wrestler. His curiosity piqued by the mysteries swirling around Deep Lake, and for his own sake, Sam must find answers while also settling the question of what to do next professionally. Horn, in his third novel, again demonstrates the intelligence and complexity of the first Sam Dawson mystery, elevating the story beyond the usual detective business of clues, evidence, hidden connections, and suspects. Many pieces do fall into place at last but more for the reader than for Sam. An intriguing theme pervades the novel: the impossibility of truly reconstructing the pasts of those who become lost to us through time or dementia. Even our own parents are essentially opaque: "At best, we only see glimpses of who they really were," Aimee says. Added to this is our desire to be deceived, which the carnival scenes colorfully illuminate. Horn's characterization goes deep, and he paces events well, saving some surprising revelations for the end. Thoughtful and exciting—another fine mystery from Horn.

Kirkus Reviews