THE RESERVOIR by John Milliken Thompson, 2011.

Based on a real murder case that occurred in Richmond, Virginia, in 1885, this novel quite ingeniously puts the reader right there, involving them in the events and the characters' lives from the very beginning of the narrative. On a chilly March morning in 1885, young Fannie Lillian Madison's body is found drowned in a reservoir near Hollywood Cemetery. It is soon revealed that the victim was also bruised on the head and pregnant. Investigation soon brings to light Lillie's somewhat checkered past, including her unsavory family life, and leads to the main suspect, Thomas Judson Cluverius, a young, ambitious lawyer from King William County. It was common knowledge Tommie was involved with Lillie, as well as with pretty Nola Bray. And furthermore, Tommie's older brother Willie, a quiet farmer, had been in a relationship with Lillie before Tommie. As clues are uncovered concerning that cold night's events, Tommie is charged with the murder, and the city is in the throes of excitement over the trial. But is Tommie guilty? Was Lillie's death a murder or was it suicide? Was someone else involved? Of what importance is the little watch key? And the torn letter? Tommie keeps changing his version of events, so much so that it's questioned by those around him as to just what is truth and what is not.Thompson, with straightforward storytelling, moves the narrative along, doing a credible job of presenting the known facts, as well as filling in gaps with creative imaginings, allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions. Using available documentation, including contemporary newspapers and court records,Thompson provides riveting courtroom scenes, with numerous witnesses and lawyers taking stage. His characters, like Aunt Jane Tunstall, Howard Madison, William Crump and Colonel Aylett, are all real people, and imaginatively brought to life in the course of the story. Set against the backdrop of rural, peaceful King William County and the prosperous city of Richmond, just twenty years after the Civil War, Thompson's story is an excellent rendering of a case that captured the public's imagination during those post-war days. Well done, as both an historical novel and a crime suspense story. It would make a for a good book discussion.