Is it possible to Be a rescuer when you live among the lost?
Killing Silence
#1 of The Loser Mysteries
Loser sleeps on the streets of Richmond, Virginia, washes up in gas station bathrooms, eats when an opportunity comes along, and spends her waking hours in front of the local drug store, watching the world pass by while speaking less than thirty words per day.
When a child is murdered and Loser finds herself in the company of the prime suspect, can she pull herself out of her own pain to help catch a killer? Her investigation is hampered by her inability to hold a normal conversation and her inner demons.
Why should anyone believe her anyway? She is Loser. A nobody. A freak who can barely speak.
Every street person has a story, and Loser is no different. Her past haunts her present. Loser has good reason to avoid the police...and it goes way beyond loitering.
Excerpt
“Are you okay, lady?”
The voice comes from above me, and I look around in confusion. I don’t know where I am, don’t know what time it is. I don’t know anything.
Two teenage girls hover over me, their skinny bodies wrapped tightly in spandex, leather, and denim, all liberally studded with metal. They are concerned, though, their faces serious.
I want to assure them that I am fine, although the concrete is cold beneath me and my elbow is raw from its rough surface. It’s not like me to cause people worry, but I cannot make myself speak the words. It is as if my jaw is wired shut, my tongue made of lead. I shake my head and try to look composed, but I feel the tears on my cheeks. A downward glance at my hands and clothes reveals the reason for their concern. I am filthy. My plain black dress is rumpled and muddy, my stockings are snagged and torn, and I have lost a shoe.
How did I get here? For that matter, where is here? I glance at my surroundings, which after a moment, I recognize. Monroe Park. That explains nothing, only brings more questions. How long since Marta’s death, the last clear memory I can muster. I want to ask the girls what day it is, but nothing comes out. They look at each other uncertainly. Even sounds for my sorrow are missing. Silent tears, mute grief.
“Janie! What are you doing?”
They turn as two young men approach, each carrying a take-out bag from Burger King. One looks like a Kid Rock wanna-be, right down to the hat. The other is handsome and carries himself as if he is well aware of it.
They stop a few feet back from where the girls stand and I crouch. I can smell fries, and my stomach reacts with a lurch of hunger. How long since I have eaten?
“Get away from her. She’s probably got bugs.”
One of the girls takes a step away. The other, Janie, stands her ground. “She’s crying. We thought she needed help.”
“She needs help, all right,” Handsome says. “A shower and detox, for starters.”
“She looks cold.”
“There are places she can go. Janie, people like her don’t really want help. They just want your money so they can buy more booze or whatever.”
“C’mon,” the first boy says. “We got breakfast, but we gotta eat it before class. Old Lady Mason won’t let us bring food in.”
The boys move off, confident that the girls will follow.
One of them does, but Janie stays behind, apparently reluctant to leave me on the cold sidewalk. With a glance at her retreating friends, she pulls out her purse and removes two one-dollar bills. “You can get something on the dollar menu,” she says with a tentative smile. When I do not reach for the money, she sets it on the ground in front of me. “I hope you feel better.”
She hurries to join her friends, who have turned to see why she is not with them. As soon as they see her coming, they turn away, no longer interested in the derelict by the Stonewall Jackson statue. Kid Wanna-be opens a bag and starts handing out food as Janie rejoins them.
I hear the rustle of paper as they unwrap their sandwiches.
Handsome discards the bag, casually dropping it on the grass of the park lawn. I wonder if there might be a stray fry left inside.
I watch them go, dimly aware of what they think I am: a loser.
They are one hundred percent right.
Professional Reviews
Reviews by T de V-Killing Silence
Peg Herring’s KILLING SILENCE was a delightful departure; in the first
few pages, I felt that pleasurable anticipation when you’ve just become
enmeshed in a story you know you’re going to love. Yet from the
subtitle, you might not think so; these books are called The Loser
Mysteries. My aged mother-in-law looked at the cover and said she
wouldn’t like to read that book but I’m going to have to tell her that
she’ll enjoy it very much.
Loser, the unnamed protagonist, is in touch with the most basic
necessities of life. The story she tells is immediate and direct. We
learn she’s got some trauma in her life, but it takes a while for the
whole story to come out. The story is beautifully told—little dropped
crumbs which pique our interest until bam! there was no way I was
putting the book down for anything short of disaster.
Trouble befalls other people and Loser is put in the uncomfortable
position of wanting to help them. It’s a difficult task and we’ve met
her support group—other losers. But, Loser is game to try. There’s a
little girl in the story who will just tug your heartstrings.
KILLING SILENCE is a wonderful, comfortable, well-told tale.
Buried Under Books
Once in a while, I come across a book that can only be called an unexpected gem. Killing Silence is one of those wonderful surprises. In many ways, it’s a standard mystery but Peg Herring has crafted a novel that is much more than just “standard”.
Tucked in with the mystery of what happened to this child that Loser barely knows is her more personal mystery of who committed a terrible crime in her past, a crime that drove her from a normal life into the streets, and here is where this author’s work takes a step up. I’ve always felt badly about all the people who are homeless but I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so much understanding of how some of them come to such a pass. It is Ms. Herring‘s own compassionate writing of Loser’s existence that made that possible .
“Loser” is, of course, a nickname, one that she bestowed upon herself, and she had some very painful reasons for doing so. One trait that really sets her apart from you and me is that she allows herself only a very limited amount of speech and yet she manages to communicate quite effectively. When she decides she has to ferret out the truth about this death because she simply doesn’t believe the logical suspect could have done it, her quick mind comes to the fore and the reader learns that there is much more to this homeless derelict than you might expect. Her mission is full of twists and misleading behaviors but Loser is determined to get to the bottom of what has gone on in a very dysfunctional family.
The author has a quite effective way of telling the story of this current crime as well as the one that has had such an impact on Loser. The storyline easily drifts from one to the other and back and the reader can see how the earlier crime preys on Loser’s very being and, yet, we also see how she is perhaps coming back to life because of her need to do what is right. What’s even better is watching the her develop the beginnings of connections with people like Verle and the adorable Bryn despite her best efforts to keep others at arm’s length.
Plot and character development are both masterfully handled by this author but setting also was in the forefront for me. The book is set in Richmond, VA, and having an author choose one’s hometown has two primary effects on the resident reader. One is a sense of coolness, a tiny bit of pride that others will get a taste of my town. The other is a quite natural inclination to look for the mistakes the author has surely made and, in fact, I did find one that’s fairly significant but, let’s face it, only to Richmonders or those who have lived here in the past, perhaps for college. There were also a few very minor slips, such as calling a particular street a boulevard rather than an avenue but I bring that up only because I want to point out that this author has done a fine job with her setting with remarkably few errors. A reader who doesn’t know this area can rest assured that the visual pictures created by their imaginations based on Ms. Herring‘s words are quite accurate.
Note: If you have a strong aversion to reading about bad things happening to a child, you may want to skip this book but you should know that the crime is treated with full consideration for readers’ sensibilities. The murder is handled quietly and largely off-page and I was not overly distressed beyond the great compassion I felt for the innocence lost.
It’s pure serendipity that I just finished this book in time to have it be my last review for 2012 but I’m delighted to say it will be on my list of best books read in 2012. I can hardly wait for Loser’s next book, Killing Memories, due out in April 2013. I’m so glad there won’t be an endless wait.
P.J. Coldren, reviewer
“Killing Silence has an unusual protagonist, one that I want to know more about. Her self-imposed limitations must have a meaning; her backstory should explain it. Peg Herring creates characters that readers care about and stories that keep readers listening. How can anyone self-named Loser solve a murder? Why would anyone give a homeless woman any information? Herring takes her character to places Loser never imagined she'd go. It looks to be a very interesting journey and I'm along for the ride.
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