Schlussel's Woman by John Richard Lindermuth

Schlussel's Womanby Anonymous

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September 14, 2007: Schlussel?s Woman has much the same atmosphere as the 1971 movie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. The plots, locations, timeframes, and characters are, of course, different, but the foggy essence of that classic film permeates John Lindermuth?s novel of historical fiction. Many of the same elements of a morality play with flawed characters are present in both works. Mr. Lindermuth has researched the chosen time and place of his period piece effectively, and the author?s use of mood and language brings the story to life. The plot surrounds the murder of the magnate of a tiny pioneer town in rural Pennsylvania in 1830. Isaac Schlussel had built a gunpowder factory and the town surrounding it in coal mining country. The book explains how he had acquired the business, and his wife, through somewhat less than honorable means. Yes, Isaac considered Nan one of his many possessions. Schlussel is shot in the opening of the book, and the author tells the story through a series of flashbacks of the wounded man?s life. Schlussel?s Woman concludes with a nice surprise ending, but the storyline to reach that point is more about character development than exciting action. The reader might be reminded a bit of a more recent movie, Cold Mountain, in which the plot builds slowly through the interplay of the characters. John Lindermuth is a mature writer who has composed a quiet little mystery for mature readers.