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Art in America

By Joan Hinkemeyer, Special to the Rocky

Published July 24, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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Art in America

* Fiction. By Ron McLarty. Viking, $25.95. Grade: A-

Plot in a nutshell: This quirky novel is the perfect escape from election hype. When Stephen Kearney, a 48-year-old, overweight, failed novelist, poet and playwright is evicted from his New York apartment and then hit by a car, life finally delivers a reprieve: He's offered a three-month position as playwright- in-residence in the tiny mountain town of Creedemore, Colo., where the historical society wants him to write and direct a play about the town's history.

The novel leaps to life the minute Stephen arrives in town. It seems a water dispute has arisen between Mountain Man Red Fields, a transplanted Boulderite whose fledgling rafting enterprise travels on water supposedly owned by Ticky Lettgo (yes, that's right), a colorful, 96-year- old rancher.

When Lettgo shoots at the rafts and Fields files a complaint, the dispute assumes a life of its own.

Soon, the Colorado Liberty Society, organized by a University of Colorado professor "to prod long-legged coeds into the sack," arrives with banners and chants, only to inflame local cowboys - which, in turn, ignites the passions of the artist community and offers an excuse for a corpulent posturing Texan and his bullying son and nephews to brawl.

Naturally, the media fan the flames as almost-melodramatic melees erupt with regularity. Attempting to maintain order is Petey Myers, the local sheriff who left Boston when his police partner was killed, hoping to find peace in this small mountain town.

Amid all this furor, Stephen, attempting to grasp the history and characters of the town, decides to collaborate with a local artist to create a gigantic mural. Ultimately, art triumphs when his play captures the essence of the town and proves an elderly visionary's belief in the "healing, cleansing power of the theater."

Sample of prose: "Creedemore Mayor Ruby Oneratti rushed out of her real estate office adjacent to the ice cream parlor and attempted to calm the crowd, but she stumbled in the street, fell to her knees and tripped up half a dozen members of the Liberty Society who landed on top of her."

Pros: McLarty offers rapid-fire, often humorous dialogue and situations, colorful characters, overall good humor and a keen eye for small- town eruptions.

Cons: The insipid title is lackluster, and the story has an overabundance of subplots.

Final word: Although many of the characters are stereotypes, McLarty's acting background enables him to balance everything with graceful aplomb.