Synopses & Reviews
In Wild Thyme, Pennsylvania, secrets and feuds go back generations. The lone policeman in a small township on the sparse northern border, Henry Farrell expected to spend his mornings hunting and fishing, his evenings playing old-time music. Instead, he has watched the steady encroachment of gas drilling bring new wealth and erode neighborly trust. The drug trade is pushing heroin into the territory. There are outlaws cooking meth in the woods, guys Henry grew up with. When a stranger turns up dead, Henry's search for the killer will open old wounds, dredge up ancient crimes, and exact a deadly price.
Review
"A tough, edgy thriller that asks hard questions about the destruction of our environment, our local communities, and our families. Readers of smart literary thrillers are going to love this novel. I wish like hell that my name were on the cover." Wiley Cash, New York Times best-selling author of A Land More Kind Than Home
Review
"Raymond Chandler said that Hammett took murder away from the manor houses and gave it back to the people who actually commit it. Tom Bouman continues that tradition. Bouman's story is deceptively simple, layered with history, bearing the promise of lightness, of redemption." James Sallis, author of Drive
Review
"Tom Bouman is a remarkable new voice in contemporary fiction. is a tightly crafted piece of rural noir that seems pulled from the earth itself, a profound look at the dark corners of rural America. Readers of Daniel Woodrell and Donald Ray Pollock will find much to love." Steve Weddle, author of Country Hardball
Review
"It's a mystery, yes, but it's also a love story between a man and the land and people he knows like the back of his hand. is a gorgeous, lived-in novel, and Bouman's turns of phrase are chest-clutching in their beauty." Hannah Pittard, author of The Fates Will Find Their Way
Review
"So smooth it's as if it was written on spring water. Shadowy, swift, impossible to put down. I was enraptured. Any justice and this writer will soon be a major star." Joe R. Lansdale, author of Deadman's Road
Review
"Officer Henry Farrell is a shy man, but in his own ways just as ornery and tough as the cast of rugged characters who inhabit his Pennsylvania woods, where the mysteries are as old as love and grief. A rural cop with a keen intelligence and a wounded heart, Henry's the right man to unearth the secrets of D. Tom Bouman's debut novel is one you won't want to miss." Ed Falco, author of The Family Corleone
Review
"[An] outstanding debut... Henry's growth from a grief-stricken widower to a lawman with an inner resolve fuels the brisk plot, as does an evocative look at a changing landscape." Publishers Weekly, Starred review
Review
"Bouman's debut shows rural noir at its finest: a poetically written mystery about a man struggling with his inner demons and an area of great natural beauty few had heard of before the natural gas boom." Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Synopsis
When an elderly recluse discovers a corpse on his land, Officer Henry Farrell is drawn into a murder investigation that might tear his sleepy community apart. Tom Bouman's chilling and evocative debut introduces one of the most memorable new characters in detective fiction and uncovers a haunting section of rural Pennsylvania, where gas drilling is bringing new wealth and eroding neighborly trust.
Synopsis
When an elderly recluse discovers a corpse on his land, Officer Henry Farrell follows the investigation to strange places in the countryside, and into the depths of his own frayed soul.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2015 Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller and Winner of the 2015 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.
About the Author
Tom Bouman is a former book editor and musician who lives with his wife and daughter in northeastern Pennsylvania.