REVIEWS
"Man in the Meadow is an engaging mystery novel in which a tired detective interacts with a plethora of unreliable witnesses, hoping to solve a murder. In Roger Groening’s absorbing mystery novel Man in the Meadow, nothing is as it seems.
Arnold is enjoying a baseball game when Clayton’s body is discovered in the woods. Though Clayton, a Russian defector beloved by few in Northford, might have been targeted by any number of people, his death is at first ruled a suicide. Arnold remains suspicious—not only because Clayton was poisoned, shot, and covered in cheese.
Arnold’s investigation relies more on deduction than forensics. Although an autopsy is performed and its results determine the course of his case, most of his time is spent in conversation, extracting information from others. He interviews Clayton’s wife, Natasha; Clayton’s brother-in-law, Alexei; and Clayton’s lovers, Sheila and Janet. Even Ken, the mayor, is spoken to. Because Arnold is convinced that most of his interviewees are unreliable witnesses, he also spends considerable time untangling the truth from half-truths and outright lies. He and others engage in a constant tug-of-war that is both tense and engaging.
Arnold is a compelling hero. His sarcastic sense of humor and dry wit keep him interesting even when he’s alone; both lead to humor in his conversations too. Indeed, banter becomes a cornerstone of the novel, and several other people share senses of humor that are similar to Arnold’s. They form a quirky whole, and questions about their possible participations in a murder loom. And their town is immersive and charming, both representative of small towns in general and disarmingly peculiar.
As the mystery behind Clayton’s death unravels, the novel moves toward a satisfying conclusion. Several questions are retroactively answered and a few minor mysteries are solved. Still, there is a sense of open-endedness and the sobering impression that such open-endedness is inevitable. This is compounded by a sorrowful, bittersweet situation for one person in the book’s conclusion."
Arnold is enjoying a baseball game when Clayton’s body is discovered in the woods. Though Clayton, a Russian defector beloved by few in Northford, might have been targeted by any number of people, his death is at first ruled a suicide. Arnold remains suspicious—not only because Clayton was poisoned, shot, and covered in cheese.
Arnold’s investigation relies more on deduction than forensics. Although an autopsy is performed and its results determine the course of his case, most of his time is spent in conversation, extracting information from others. He interviews Clayton’s wife, Natasha; Clayton’s brother-in-law, Alexei; and Clayton’s lovers, Sheila and Janet. Even Ken, the mayor, is spoken to. Because Arnold is convinced that most of his interviewees are unreliable witnesses, he also spends considerable time untangling the truth from half-truths and outright lies. He and others engage in a constant tug-of-war that is both tense and engaging.
Arnold is a compelling hero. His sarcastic sense of humor and dry wit keep him interesting even when he’s alone; both lead to humor in his conversations too. Indeed, banter becomes a cornerstone of the novel, and several other people share senses of humor that are similar to Arnold’s. They form a quirky whole, and questions about their possible participations in a murder loom. And their town is immersive and charming, both representative of small towns in general and disarmingly peculiar.
As the mystery behind Clayton’s death unravels, the novel moves toward a satisfying conclusion. Several questions are retroactively answered and a few minor mysteries are solved. Still, there is a sense of open-endedness and the sobering impression that such open-endedness is inevitable. This is compounded by a sorrowful, bittersweet situation for one person in the book’s conclusion."
─Foreword Clarion Reviews
"You would be hard-pressed to find a novel with a more colourful and unique cast of characters than the ones that inhabit the pages of Roger Groening’s Man in the Meadow. Roger weaves together the lives of the residents in the fictional community of Northfield Saskatchewan to create a story that is at times quirky, tragic, humorous, and informative.
I don’t know if I’ve ever read a murder mystery where there are so many suspects each with a very credible reason for wanting the victim dead. We get to know all of them bit by bit as Roger teases open the door to their lives and relationships. Readers are kept curious by the ever more complex web that has entangled so many of the possible suspects.
Although a criminal consultant brought in on the case says that discovering the truth about the murder will hurt more people than it helps, readers can be reassured that before Man in the Meadow ends they will find out what really happened and have their curiosity which has been so skillfully engaged throughout the novel satisfied."
I don’t know if I’ve ever read a murder mystery where there are so many suspects each with a very credible reason for wanting the victim dead. We get to know all of them bit by bit as Roger teases open the door to their lives and relationships. Readers are kept curious by the ever more complex web that has entangled so many of the possible suspects.
Although a criminal consultant brought in on the case says that discovering the truth about the murder will hurt more people than it helps, readers can be reassured that before Man in the Meadow ends they will find out what really happened and have their curiosity which has been so skillfully engaged throughout the novel satisfied."
─MaryLou Driedger, author of Lost on the Prairie and Sixties Girl
"Man in the Meadow is filled with inventive, unusual characters, scenes, and complications. The small prairie city of Nothford provides characters who shape-shift from suspect to patsy to accomplice and back to suspect, feeding a mystery lover’s desire for organized confusion.
As much as readers will grow to enjoy the sizable roster of evermore complex characters, it is the witty, frank, and soothsaying narrator we come to admire and trust the most. Not satisfied with simply filling in the expositional blanks with details and cause-and-effect red herrings, the narrator goes beyond the usual job description. Truisms, complicated observations, and savvy lifeview come through. This savant narrator gives us an intuitive feel for the place and the people-the sinister, the well-muscled, the balletic and the sanguine.
Baseball, small town smarm, spies and their insecurities, a city population with enough libido to stimulate half the province, and the throaty rumble of glasspack classic car mufflers all contribute to this unforgettable murder mystery."
As much as readers will grow to enjoy the sizable roster of evermore complex characters, it is the witty, frank, and soothsaying narrator we come to admire and trust the most. Not satisfied with simply filling in the expositional blanks with details and cause-and-effect red herrings, the narrator goes beyond the usual job description. Truisms, complicated observations, and savvy lifeview come through. This savant narrator gives us an intuitive feel for the place and the people-the sinister, the well-muscled, the balletic and the sanguine.
Baseball, small town smarm, spies and their insecurities, a city population with enough libido to stimulate half the province, and the throaty rumble of glasspack classic car mufflers all contribute to this unforgettable murder mystery."
─Mitch Toews
Mitch Toews is a Manitoba writer and frequent contributor to journals, literary contests, and anthologies. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Toew’s debut collection of short stories arrives in October 2023: “Pinching Zwieback” (At Bay Press).
A murder mystery thriller set in Northford, Saskatchewan - a small town with big secrets, & one where international intrigue is lurking in the background. Man in the Meadow starts with an unpleasant find: most corpses are, but Clayton Dalrymple was unpleasant before he was a corpse and now it’s Sergeant Arnold Powell’s problem to solve.
With a suspect list as long as the menu at the local Dickey Dee and seemingly everybody with something to hide (be it love affairs, a secret KGB past, or a suspicious fondness for hard Italian cheese), Arnold will have to work hard to uncover the truth; and fast if he’s to get the case solved before Inspector Sanders arrives from Ottawa, bringing with him a talent for throwing a spanner in the works.
Set against a backdrop of low-simmering community resentments, in a town where everybody knows what you did this summer (& that winter at a Siberian lake), Man in the Meadow crackles along at pace. The author manages a fine balance, carefully rendering characters and relationships with high quality writing, but without sacrificing well-crafted suspense and tension, ahead of a final, satisfying conclusion. Readers will find all the thrills of a classic murder mystery plus the high standard of writing one expects of literary fiction. It’s a difficult balance and the author has nailed it here.
We follow Arnold’s investigation step-by-step, experiencing his growing frustration with witnesses who never seem to be telling the whole truth, (as well as a tangible feeling of indigestion from questionable dietary choices). Will Sergeant Powell get his perpetrator before Inspector Sanders arrives with political orders from his superiors? Or before the cheeseburgers at the Dickey Dee exact a greater toll?
With a suspect list as long as the menu at the local Dickey Dee and seemingly everybody with something to hide (be it love affairs, a secret KGB past, or a suspicious fondness for hard Italian cheese), Arnold will have to work hard to uncover the truth; and fast if he’s to get the case solved before Inspector Sanders arrives from Ottawa, bringing with him a talent for throwing a spanner in the works.
Set against a backdrop of low-simmering community resentments, in a town where everybody knows what you did this summer (& that winter at a Siberian lake), Man in the Meadow crackles along at pace. The author manages a fine balance, carefully rendering characters and relationships with high quality writing, but without sacrificing well-crafted suspense and tension, ahead of a final, satisfying conclusion. Readers will find all the thrills of a classic murder mystery plus the high standard of writing one expects of literary fiction. It’s a difficult balance and the author has nailed it here.
We follow Arnold’s investigation step-by-step, experiencing his growing frustration with witnesses who never seem to be telling the whole truth, (as well as a tangible feeling of indigestion from questionable dietary choices). Will Sergeant Powell get his perpetrator before Inspector Sanders arrives with political orders from his superiors? Or before the cheeseburgers at the Dickey Dee exact a greater toll?
─Mark Bilsborough, a writer and reader living in the United Kingdom.
