Laurie Loewenstein is the author of the best-selling novel, Unmentionables. An Ohio native, she currently lives in Columbia, Maryland.
Set in Vermillion, Okla., in 1935, this superb series launch
from Loewenstein...beautifully captures the devastation of the land
and people in the Dust Bowl.
--Publishers Weekly, STARRED reviewThis richly detailed historical
mystery brings the Dust Bowl to life, with the hardscrabble farms
and semirural community barely coping with the losses of farms and
local businesses. This evocative first volume in a new series
should appeal to readers of Larry D. Sweazy's Marjorie
Trumaine mysteries or Donis Casey's Oklahoma-set Alafair
Tucker books. Fans of narrative nonfiction, including Timothy
Egan's The Worst Hard Time, the book that inspired this
work, may also want to give it a try.
--Library Journal, STARRED reviewSelected as a Great Group Reads
pick for 2019!Included in the New York Public Library's 12 Days
of Bookness/12 New Works of Fiction Loewenstein movingly describes
the events and the people, from farm eviction auctions and hobo
villages to Dish Nights at the movies. She vividly brings to life a
town filled with believable characters, from a young woman learning
her own worth to the deputy sheriff figuring out where his
loyalties lie. This warm and evocative novel captures a time and
place, with well-researched details shown through the lives and
circumstances of one American town.
--Kirkus ReviewDeath of a Rainmaker is far more than a murder
mystery set in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. It is a poignant
recollection of the desperation of farmers whose land, livestock,
and household are in foreclosure, a stunning description of a dust
storm that leaves imaginary specks of dirt on the reader's neck, a
sensitive rendering of tough times and their toll on the psyche.
Some books have such fine character detail--McCance's choice of a
Common Sense Traveler's Notebook, suitable for a professional
lawman, not a 'CCC pity case, ' for example--and complex, nuanced
storyline that the reader naturally slows down to savor the
experience. This is one of them.
--Historical Novel SocietyReaders will be completely absorbed in
the lives of Loewenstein's characters who epitomize the
extraordinary resilience of small-town folks caught in the throes
of the Great Depression...Loewenstein manages to connect an
enticing murder mystery with riveting historical fiction that
places the reader directly in the dusty shoes of her
characters.
--Reviewing the EvidenceLoewenstein is establishing herself as a
master of nuanced historical fiction, especially when it comes to
the political infighting and swirl of intrigue around small
communities in the early half of the 20th century. Loewenstein is a
talented researcher with an eye for the historical detail, but also
a gifted storyteller capable of breathing life into a wide cast of
characters. For historical fiction readers, this is an author to
watch.
--CrimeReadsIf you liked The Dry by Jane Harper or love
historical mysteries with strong settings, try Death of a
Rainmaker: A Dust Bowl Mystery by Laurie Loewenstein.
--Vernon Area Public LibraryThis story visits the plains where
the wind blows mercilessly and gives old and young dust pneumonia
that most don't survive. It's not an easy life here, and finding a
murderer isn't easy either...If you like historical mysteries, this
will be a good one for you.
--Journey of a BooksellerJust like in her first novel,
Unmentionables, Laurie Loewenstein offers vivid storytelling
and a fine eye for evoking small-town life in America's
heartland.
--Reading the PastI've always been fascinated with the lives of the
little people during the Great Depression and Dustbowl. I
understand, I think, how economically our country was driven to
this time but I want to peek into the windows of the people who
live in their everyday houses in their anywhere towns trying to
hold on for one more day that I'm interested in. Laurie Loewenstein
has parted the curtains for us in Death of a Rainmaker.
--Denice's DayThe compassion Etha and Jennings feel for their
neighbors and for the young vagrants pushed out by families unable
to feed them permeates this excellent series opener.
--Stop, You're Killing Me!Laurie Loewenstein's vivid Death of a
Rainmaker is at once an engrossing yarn, an elegant inquiry
into human desperation, and a portrait of Depression-era America so
searingly authentic that the topsoil practically blows off each
page.
--Louis Bayard, author of The Pale Blue EyeReading Death of
a Rainmaker is like slipping through time right into a 1930s
black-and-white movie. Suddenly you live in Jackson County,
Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl, and you know what the cinema,
hardware store, and courthouse look like. The townspeople are your
family, and you care so deeply about what happens to them that you
can't tear your eyes from the pages of this book. It's odd for a
story about a murder to be gentle and generous, but this one is. I
fell in love with everyone in town--except of course those who
turned out to be trouble. Laurie Loewenstein has a knack for
writing the early twentieth century. I sure hope this is a series,
because I'm smitten.
--Robin Oliveira, author of The Winter SistersAs if the
black blizzards of the Dust Bowl weren't worrisome enough for an
Oklahoma sheriff and his spunky wife, in Death of a Rainmaker
Laurie Loewenstein piles on even more troubles: a murder victim's
corpse buried in a sandstorm, an array of possible perpetrators, a
small community already fractured by secrets and swirls of
distrust, and a contentious election in which the sheriff's honesty
and competence are on the ballot. Like the storms themselves, the
plot powers its way across the landscape and seeps into everything
it encounters.
--Dayton Duncan, author of The Dust BowlDuring one of
America's most devastating periods, the Depression-era Dust Bowl, a
huckster is murdered as a dust storm hurtles toward a small
Oklahoma town. What follows is an authentic tale of the
drought-stricken southern plains, and a lovingly and eloquently
told murder mystery. It is not only the unfolding plot and the
metaphorical obscuring of truth by dust, but Loewenstein's
masterful prose--with its tender language and skillful
resonance--that will captivate readers and keep them enthralled.
Death of a Rainmaker is both a gripping tale of murder, and a
glimpse into resilience and love in a time of savage loss,
scarcity, and fear.
--Leslie Schwartz, author of The Lost ChaptersWhen the wind
comes sweeping down the plain in Death of a Rainmaker, Laurie
Loewenstein takes your breath away. Her haunting and vivid prose
deftly describes the opening chords of a dust storm that left
families sick with dust pneumonia or dead broke. In this gripping
tale of a sheriff searching for a killer in a dying town,
Loewenstein rounds up characters with true grit, cunning, and
kindness.
--Mary Kay Zuravleff, author of Man Alive!Death of a
Rainmaker is a jewel of a novel. The scenes and characters are so
vivid and alive that you forget that the Internet and interstate
roads haven't been around forever. Loewenstein is a born
storyteller who writes scholarly based page-turners. Overlaying it
all is the rainmaker's story and death. It's a read you won't
forget.
--John Bowers, author of Love in Tennessee
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