Art in America

April 21, 2008
Ambitious and consistently charming, this overstuffed third novel by the author of The Memory of Running
is brimming with gems of richly observed smalltown life. In Creedemore, Colo., a land-rights dispute pitches locals against one another and attracts national media attention. Into the fray arrives Steven Kearney, a prolific New York author of unpublished novels, poems and plays, who has been invited by the Creedemore Historical Society to write and direct a play dramatizing the town's history. Steven's relocation sparks a colorful fish-out-of-water story populated with cowboys, environmental activists, hordes of reporters, performance artists, ecoterrorists and bona fide outlaws. Keeping the peace is sheriff Petey Myers, whose recollections of (and occasional conversations with) his slain partner provide some of the novel's finest moments. Sparkling, at times hilarious dialogue keeps many—perhaps too many—subplots moving. The depth of characters like Steven and Petey is contrasted by some of the minor characters, who can come off as stereotypes. Still, readers will root for the residents of Creedemore as they alternately divide over a trial and come together to stage the new play.

Starred review from June 1, 2008
This is the third novel (following The Memory of Running, 2005, and Traveler, 2006) by veteran character actor McLarty, and the third times the charm. Unpublished author Steven Kearney loses his apartment andhis girlfriend all in one dreadful week. So when he is offered a paying position to write a historical play for the town of Creedmore, Colo., it seems as though his luck is about to change. But he arrives just as a bitter land dispute breaks out, pitting old-time rancherTicky Lettgo againstnewcomer Red Fields. Kearney, urged on by the leader of thelocal historical society, who believes that art will heal the town, wrestles mightily with hisown insecurities about his talent to produce his masterwork. McLarty works the whole spectrum here, from the hilarious banter of old cowpokes tothe halting romance between the playwright and a mural artistto theincredibly moving moments when the town sheriff, still grieving thedeath of his old partner, invokes the late cops street wisdom.A bighearted, wildly entertaining novel from a writer whojustgets better with every outing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)