The Tomato Patch
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A somber feeling crept over me, one that I had been unable to shake ever since I had arrived in the town and seen Bide a Wee. For years I had lived the secure academic life concerned only with deadlines, a function that now seemed trivial. The elation of being free to pursue whatever whim had worn off. For a while after retirement I had found renewed vigor to explore new things and to escape the mundane routine of academia. My travels during the past two years had taken me to many places, and still I had not found contentment. My first impression of Clarendon showed promise for a new life, but after the encounters with Eldon Preston and Bobbie Sue there were serious doubts that I should stay. Still, despite the misgivings I felt, I knew that I would not be satisfied until the details of the Preston affair were known. I sat in the car for a few minutes going over in my mind what Eldon had told me. It was still too early to go to the motel so I started the car and pulled onto the street. I drove west to the levee separating the town from the river and turned north on Main Street. Shortly Bide a Wee came into view. In the gathering dusk it looked even more desolate than it had earlier. There was a slight breeze and the last rays of the setting sun danced through the trees and glinted off the few remaining unbroken windowpanes. Already the sounds of night could be heard. Insects striated into an increasing din, and bats darted about the eaves of the house seeking their prey. Off in the distance behind the house a whippoorwill sang his mournful song. Again, I wondered why I even bothered to stay. A part of my senses said to leave this town, but the challenge of needing to know about what happened compelled me to stay. I paused only for a moment then drove to the motel knowing that I would find out the story this town wanted to hide. I decided to pay a visit to the Clarendon police station early the next morning.
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About the Book
Samuel Preston was murdered and buried in his garden behind Bide a Wee, the home he built by hand for his bride. For fifty years the murder hung oppressive, disrupting life in the small Southern town. An outsider, a retired college professor, looking for some undefined sense of contentment, unintentionally exposes long hidden secrets and guilt fostered by the mistreatment of Preston's widow. In a chance encounter with the dead man's grandson, he becomes privy to a disturbing account of the tragedy. Deceit, lame and revenge result in the deaths of two of the victim's descendents, and the burning of the old house, the grim reminder of the original murder. The Tomato Patch is a tale of remarkable characters: angry eccentric, Eldon Preston, hot-tempered waitress, Bobbie Sue, idealistic professor, Paul Mason, and dark-eyed beauty, Rosemary. Knight skillfully interweaves the events surrounding the murder, and its eventual consequences after half a century of shame and remorse. The Tomato Patch is a page turner that holds the reader spellbound from the dark December night of the old man's death to the final chilling conclusion.
About the Author
Luther Knight, Ph.D., born in Clarendon, Arkansas, is a graduate of Arkansas State College and the University of Mississippi, and is retired from the University of Mississippi as Professor Emeritus of Biology. He has published several articles dealing with freshwater biology, has directed several students to completion of their Graduate degrees, and is the founding director of the University of Mississippi Field Station. His honors include the Mississippi Soil, Air and Water Conservationist of the Year award for 1995. Married to Janis M. King of Malden, Missouri, he has two sons, Scott and his wife Kathy, and Charles, and his wife, Sara, and two grandchildren, Brad and Anna. He now lives in Oxford, Mississippi.