REVIEW: 'Bootheel Man' is educational, entertaining

Sure, Morley Swingle has a pretty good gig as a county prosecutor.

But if for some reason he should tire of his legal career, Swingle might just find a rather successful career as a full-time author.

With his third book, "Bootheel Man," the second in his legal series about Cape Girardeau history starring the young private practice lawyer Allison Culbertson, Swingle cements his place as Southeast Missouri's resident wordsmith.

At 423 pages, "Bootheel Man" isn't a novella, but it reads like one. The story flows, as does the style, making it a quick read for even young readers.

The authors who influenced Swingle echo in the pages -- the style shows hints of the kind of pulp writing of authors like Louis L'Amour and Elmore Leonard. Not that this style is a bad thing. Swingle makes it work by telling a compelling story, flavored by current events mixed with the history of the area's native peoples.

Realism dominates the writing in "Bootheel Man," as does a wealth of descriptive language in every scene.

Sure, local readers will be pleased to see all the references to Cape Girardeau landmarks and institutions. Sometimes their inclusion comes at the expense of the strength of the fiction -- after all, wouldn't a newspaper name like River City Examiner flow a lot better in a fiction novel than Southeast Missourian? But Morley knows his audience, and he knows that using the real places and media outlets in Cape Girardeau helps readers picture the action even more.

After all, though they are fictional, the events in "Bootheel Man" and its predecessor, "The Gold of Cape Girardeau," take place in a city we live and work in.

Sometimes it seems Swingle relies too much on Cape Girardeau's scenery in telling his story -- maybe a few too many references to the city's name or the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge -- for the book to be enjoyed by someone not from the area. But only sometimes.

On the whole, "Bootheel Man" is an engaging story -- educating readers about police investigations, ancient history and legal strategy while providing hours of entertainment -- written by a skillful author.

Swingle may be getting as good at this book business as he is as a prosecutor.

Maybe his next call will be from a New York publishing house.