The Skirt Man Book

PROTAGONIST: Annie Bly, small town reporter
RATING: 2.5

There's something about a small town that seems to appeal to people who are a little more quirky than average. That's certainly the case in Killdeer, New York.
One of the most eccentric inhabitants is an older man named Morgan Mason who is commonly referred to as "The Skirt Man". His nickname is derived from the fact that he wears long skirts rather than trousers. His mode of transportation is a tractor, and he is quite a sight to see as he drives around the town. Somewhat reclusive, his only real social encounters are confrontations with an obnoxious bothersome neighbor. When Mason is killed in a house fire, some theorize that he was a victim of spontaneous human combustion. State trooper Sebastian Bly and his visiting brother-in-law, Billy Nightingale, who is a fire marshal, soon put that theory to rest as they find that the fire resulted from arson.

Generally speaking, having an author who is experienced in the topic that they are writing about results in a work that is very satisfying because of the level of authenticity that comes across as they describe their field of expertise. Shelly Reuben is a certified fire investigator; unfortunately, she spends very little time dealing with the details around investigating the arson. Instead, the narrative focuses on the interactions of the residents of Killdeer. The narrative really came to life when Reuben focused on the procedures undertaken to conduct an in-depth analysis of the fire scene. However, this happened all too rarely in the book. It felt to me that The Skirt Man had the wrong tone for the topic and tried to combine a hardboiled arson procedural with a somewhat flighty amateur sleuth dealing with the eccentricities of a small town.

My main problem with the book was the selection of Sebastian Bly's wife, Annie, as the narrator. Annie works as a reporter for the local paper. Seeing the action from the point of view of Annie was illogical, as she was rarely directly involved in any of the events that occurred. Thus, reporting the various characters' observations and conversations in full detail down to when a person stuttered was implausible.

In addition, viewing the other characters through Annie's eyes was like putting on a pair of rose-colored glasses. Her daughter is a beautiful, supremely talented dancer; her husband handsome and perfect'none of the people close to Annie exhibited any negative traits. The rest of the characters did not have any depth at all. Instead, they each had a role to play'Comic Relief, Hateful Person #1, Sleazy Man #2 and so on. And we never find out much of anything about the potentially interesting character of the Skirt Man until the end of the book.

Reuben is a talented writer, whose prose flows easily. In spite of the issues that I had with point of view and approach, I found her writing style appealing. My expectations from reading the plot summary were that the book would deal with the forensics and techniques used in an arson investigation which led to disappointment on my part. Certainly, the reader who is fond of books set in a quirky small town and a likable amateur sleuth would enjoy The Skirt Man far more than I did.