The Reservoir

Historian and debut novelist Thompson mined a treasure trove of documents and background detail for this novel, based on an actual murder and trial set in 1880s Richmond, VA. The book begins like any procedural drama—a body found in the city reservoir, a grisly autopsy, the assembling of evidence—but Thompson creates a backstory for the individuals involved. Lillie Madison, an attractive flirt, toys with the affections of her cousins, brothers Willie and Tommie. Willie is a stoic farmer who defers to his younger brother, but Tommie, an ambitious lawyer, doesn't want to endanger his fledgling career when Lillie becomes pregnant. Did Tommie actually kill Lillie at the reservoir, or did Lillie commit suicide? Thompson masterfully illustrates how a seemingly clear-cut case can be filled with ambiguities. Newspaper coverage sensationalizes Tommie's trial and influences the outcome, while Tommie's lawyers and judges, honored veterans of the Confederacy, already seem like antiquated figures. Thompson puts us in the middle of Reconstruction-era Richmond, a Southern city emerging into modern times.