SUNSET AND SAWDUST

In an East Texas sawmill town at the beginning of the oil boom, a rape leads Sunset Jones to shoot her husband. He had been the constable of the town, which is still a place of prejudice against women, blacks, and anyone who gets in the way. When she's appointed the new constable by her influential mother-in-law, Sunset takes the job seriously, and all hell breaks loose. Joe Lansdale delivers an effective yet unhurried story that puts the listener at ease while being shocked by the goings-on in the backwoods, where the Klan rules and women had best obey their men, or else. B.J.P. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 07]