Bobby and Kam Ruble Black Rosebud

Black Rosebud

Bobby and Kam Ruble

Global Authors, 2003

ISBN: 0972851313

Darin Righter knows that farm life is for those inferior to him. He plans to escape Kidwell, Nebraska and all these losers to attain a luxurious lifestyle envied by the rich and famous. Darin may have illusions of grandeur, but he understands that to achieve his objective he needs funding, which in his mind equates to stomping on people including family to gain easy money.

He begins his quest by accepting an accounting job with the First People's Bank of Sharpin that gives him insider information. Farm Girl becomes a victim followed by Darin's older brother and finally elderly Jefferson Welk. Burglaries and murder occur, but is Darin a Lady Macbeth type willing to break the law to achieve his ambition? Though the rural law chief Simmons will do his best to solve the "Neat Nick" crimes, he is a product of his society in which the color of one's skin led to a hate crime that though two generations removed still lingers in the collective memory of everyone.

BLACK ROSEBUD is a powerful crime tale that provides readers with a slice of rural Midwest. Though exciting, the shrewdly designed investigation plays a support role to the relationships between residents of the county; the audience will feel like a Cornhusker tasting the dust of Nebraska's farming community. Readers will welcome this suspenseful story that uses individual and community de facto prejudice to add depth to the tale. Those who prefer a sleek crime thriller will probably be better suited elsewhere; anyone who takes delight in a minuscule look at people in a community where crimes have happened will appreciate this book and seek its predecessor, HAVE NO MERCY.

Harriet Klausner