In Shelly Reuben's Tabula Rasa sequel, The Skirt Man, the small, remote town of Killdeer, NY is turned upside down after the mysterious death of Morgan Mason, a local farmer…that wears a skirt. During a night when the entire town was celebrating at a local ballet benefit, Morgan Mason, aka The Skirt Man, was discovered dead in a burned down house. Seldom does this town encounter any news like this, so as anyone would imagine, everyone is dumbfounded. In fact, this discovery is so outrageously new that the residents chalk up this death to "spontaneous human combustion." The aforementioned farmer is the quintessential weirdo of the town: he's a haggard old man that warrants more than a few stares; he stutters; he travels everywhere with his only companion, his dog; and his only means of transportation is his tractor-never mind the skirt he wears. One of the town's residents offers his description of the deceased, "You didn't have to know the Skirt Man to know him… Him and his dogs. Driving into town every few days on that tractor. Different dog every fifteen years or so, but not so as you'd notice. He wasn't a sociable man. He'd nod politely enough if you said hello. But he didn't talk… because he stuttered. If that television guy hadn't seen smoke, could have been days, maybe weeks before anyone found him. I don't think he had a friend in the world. Still, I miss him. A lot of people around here will." That is the brilliance of Reuben's mystery novel. She is able to successfully turn an unlikable man into something more. She can make the reader long for the eccentric (think Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking). The captivating story will suck the reader into the lives of the town's residents. It'll show the reader what the complexities of fire and arson investigations are like. In addition, one of the many twists in the novel will show how love can be mysterious (and deceiving!). This exploration of vanity, greed, honor, curiosity, deception, and love, shows how people can be motivated (or unmotivated) in their lifetime. The constant peeling of the onion that is The Skirt Man, keeps its readers intact until the very last page-which will fast approach in this gripping novel. The novel's narrator Annie Bly, and the rest of her family and local residents, unravel the mystery of the untimely and unexplained death of the Skirt Man. The guilty member(s) that is (are) revealed at the end of the novel, shows how motivation is integral to happiness in life. In this particular novel, the fire that burns is the result (pun intended)
We Didn't Start the Fire
The Skirt Man by Shelly Reuben
Published: Monday, May 15, 2006
Updated: Friday, February 13, 2009 04:02
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