border life into their stories.
Immigration, drugs and rela-
tionships among Mexicans and
Americans appear in all three
novels, and, in that sense, each
of the three stories is inter-
twined with its setting. But
some of the weaving is tight
and solid, while some is sloppy.
And some of the details are
flat-out wrong.
Best-selling author Nevada
Barr has written a series of mys-
teries in which retired park
ranger Anna Pigeon roams
from national park to national
park tripping over corpses. In
Borderline (2009), Pigeon joins a
doomed river trip through
Santa Elena Canyon. For me,
however, the story and setting
didn’t intertwine tightly. Much
of the tale could have happened
on any river trip through any
canyon in the American West.
And some the details just aren’t
right. Two examples made me
wince. To create danger on the
three-day excursion through
Santa Elena Canyon, Barr caus-
es the Rio Grande to run high
and swift, but the first condition
contradicts the second. The Rio
Grande running at such a pace
would have propelled the rafters
through the canyon in hours,
not days. Later in the story, after
danger and disaster have struck,
Anna Pigeon struggles to locate
the corpse of the murdered
river guide at dusk because the
guide was dressed in, “a dark
shirt and black silk long johns.”
Not exactly the outfit a
Terlingua river guide would
choose to protect herself from
the Texas sun.
Former Marfa resident
Allana Martin does a tighter
job of connecting her plot to
Far West Texas. In Death of a
Myth Maker (2001), she depicts a
Marfa tipping between old and
new. Her female protagonist,
Texana Jones, runs a trading
post in a fictional town very
similar to Candelaria. In con-
trast to Barr’s story peopled
with visitors to Big Bend
National Park, Martin popu-
lates her border communities
with long-time residents and
natives – the single important
exception being the bad guy.
(Isn’t it always an outsider who
causes trouble around here?)
Her details of small-town life
ring true. “That’s how invita-
tions are posted around here.
We post signs at the two places
everyone gets to sooner or later.
Everyone is invited and almost
everyone shows up.” I particu-
larly liked this tiny scene that
takes place in Carmen’s Café as
Texana notices the “glances in
our direction as Marfa made
note of Jake’s arrival and took a
reading on the out-of-town
lawyer.” My single quibble with
Martin’s place setting is the
inclusion of a stop at the Marfa
Lights in the opening pages. It
felt to me more like an excuse
to include this most famous bit
of local celebrity rather a cru-
cial part of the unfolding plot.
Arriving in Marfa about a
decade after Texana Jones,
DeMer’s protagonist opens a
restaurant in a 100-year-old
adobe building (reminiscent of
Carmen’s) with an attached
vegetable garden (reminiscent
of Cochineal). Catering to the
influx of well-heeled newcom-
ers who expect more than tacos
and burgers, Chef Brett serves
barbecue “with a variety of
unexpected Asian-tinged rubs
and sauces, along with elevated
Texas comfort food like chick-
en-fried Kobe steak.” And
because Brett lived in Marfa as
a boy, DeMers can include
details of both old and new
Marfa. Characters range from
the “dishonest rancher, heart-
less womanizer, absent father
and all-round lousy human
being” who was Chef Brett’s
father to the “dot-com zillion-
aires” buying up local ranches
and spending time at the
“organic farmers market (and)
upscale bookstore.”
But does the tale pass my
two-pronged test? Yes, if you
overlook the body count – the
total of people actually mur-
dered around Marfa in the past
100 years is lower than the num-
ber of corpses in Marfa Shadows.
Other than that little detail, the
story intertwines well with the
setting. Only in Marfa in the
first decade of the new century
could a transplanted Houston
chef open an upscale barbeque
restaurant, re-connect with a
now-famous high school sweet-
heart, get entangled in the art
and drug trades, encounter
immigration problems and face-
off with the local small-town
sheriff in the same week.
And the details are mostly
right. From the Food Shark to
Kathy’s Kosmic Kowgirl Kafe,
DeMers cements his charac-
ters’ connection to the locale
with details that ring true,
although I suspect that the Big
Bend Sentinel never paid big
bucks to subscribe to the
Associated Press. John DeMers
works hard to draw a faithful
picture of the Marfa he has vis-
ited so often. All in all, he has
done a good job in getting our
Marfa down on paper.
Now it’s your turn. The next
time you read a book set in the
Big Bend, use my two-pronged
test – intertwined story and set-
ting and accurate details – and
see if it rings true!
Jewelry
Paintings
Photography
Sculpture
Pottery
A co-op gallery representing
Texas artists showing original
fine art and craft.
Old Town Square
N. 5th St. and Sul Ross
Alpine
432.837.7203
www.bbacgallery.com
The Episcopal Church
Welcomes You
Maisie Lee
Scripture • Tradition • Reason
Sunday 11 a.m. Morning Prayer and Sunday School ages 4-12
Wednesday 6 p.m. Contemplative Prayer
Friday 5:30 p.m. Prayers for Evening and the Healing of the World
St. James Episcopal Church • Ave. A and N. 6th St., Alpine 432.386.5307
HARPER ’ S
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tools • plumbing supplies • home & garden
Monday - Saturday 7:30 am to 6 pm
701 O’Reilly Street • Presidio • 432-229-3256
Hand-carved Doors
for Homes and Churches
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See the Marathon Catholic
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for Examples
Contact 432.386.4295
in Marathon
Skinner & Lara, P.C.
Certified Public Accountants
610 E Holland Avenue
Alpine, TX 79830
Phone (432) 837-5861
Fax (432) 837-5516
Cenizo
Second Quarter 2011
25