The Colonel's Tale

Dassas Cormier was getting ready to celebrate a family Thanksgiving when the news of an accident involving his sister and her traveling companion, Colonel Gilmore forces him to travel from their home in Marshall's Bayou to Lake Charles to assist them. When Dassas investigates the incident things just do not add up. When they are followed back to Marshall’s Bayou he is certain there is more to the tale than he has been led to believe. Now Dassas must pick out fact from fiction in the Colonel’s tall tales before a murderer falls another victim.

This reviewer got more than just a couple of chuckles out of THE COLONEL’S TALE. Colonel Gilmore is quite a character, weaving more fiction than fact in his tales of adventure, in this wonderful book by Ms. Baker set in the early 1900’s. Gilmore is not above stealing other people’s adventures and making them his own. This is a unique character that can be very annoying to many of his audience members, but amusing to others, this reader included. Unfortunately Dassas is in the first category, and rightly so. He is trying to reason out why danger has followed them to their little hometown and he can not believe a thing the Colonel says. Dassas is the local law. Mostly he deals with petty stuff, but has known his share of big cases before coming back to his hometown of Marshall’s Bayou. This character is a fairly young man, yet seems very wise beyond his years. This reader connected with him very quickly as Ms. Baker has done a wonderful job penning this lead character.

THE COLONEL’S TALE is a quick read. The storyline flows smooth and is an interesting tale of intrigue and mystery. The characters are believable and are well penned. Dassas has much family near by and the author has done a superb job in creating and detailing each and every one in a way that does not confuse the reader or convolute the tale. This reviewer was very delighted with this book and has no problems recommending it to readers who love books written in this genre of this era. Enjoy!

December 2006