First, though, I thought I would respond to the reviewer’s comments. In reviews of my other westerns, it is sometimes observed that I write westerns that do not fit the mold or that I write westerns that depend more on character than on plot, and I think those are fair descriptions. One reviewer said I write what could be called literary traditional westerns, and I think that describes me fairly as well. I try to fulfill the expectations of the genre, but I also try to do something within those parameters. Perhaps I do it more effectively with one novel than with another, but that is what I am up to, and I think the present reviewer is on track. One way to get an understanding of a not-very-difficult novel such as Death at Dark Water is to ask, what is this character looking for, what is his arc in the story? I think the answer to that question is pretty well spelled out.

Comparing my novel with a Henry James short story is a pleasant touch, and it is not the worst thing that could be said about character-driven fiction such as the novel at hand. However, I do think the reviewer will grant that Devon’s visits to Ramona are an improvement on Henry James’s asexual characters and that there is a little more in the story line than (as has been said of James) the drama of an afternoon walk and the tragedy of a broken teacup.

As for why I named it Death at Dark Water, I did so because the ranch where much of the action takes place is called (as the reviewer notes) Rancho Agua Prieta, or Dark Water Ranch, which is clearly explicated in the main part of the novel and which is clearly reinforced in the last words of the novel. Both deaths in the story take place on the ranch, so I thought the title was integral to the action. Also, the idea of dark water figures into what some readers might call the figurative or metaphorical aspect of the book, as the town is called Tinaja (which means a natural water tank), and there is a bit of attention directed toward water troughs as well as toward the artesian pool from which Rancho Agua Prieta takes its name. What the figurative meaning might be is up to the reader to think about or to overlook. At any rate, I thought I’d answer the question.

My thanks again to the reviewer and to the commentator for their interest in my humble little book.