Dale Hopper and Vernon Cord manage to earn enough money as bar singers at the Blue Buzzard Saloon to cover their monthly expenses, but not enough to bankroll their dream trip to California where rumor has it that a couple of free-spirited, guitar-pickin’ dudes like themselves would have a field day with the abundance of young women who called California their home. They apply for temporary landscape worker positions at the Oklahoma County Zoo, figuring they would do whatever was asked of them for a quick three months to have sufficient cash in their pockets to finance the trip.

Their first assignment at the zoo requires working in an undeveloped parcel of the zoo’s vast acreage where they are to dig up as many hackberry trees as they can for future relocation. Not a very exciting job, but Hopper and Cord don’t mind—it’s just temporary work. When one of the zoo workers gives warning that this area of the zoo is haunted, Hopper and Cord brush it off. When another worker tells them the story of Sir Lawrence Alimony, a dwarf-sized man from the 1800s, and his partner Pete McGuire being killed in these parts by a band of outlaws who were after Alimony’s family treasure, they become a little curious, enough to entice their roommate Nozetape to dig into the history of the legend. Then, when Hopper and Cord find an interesting, old boot entangled in the roots of one of the hackberry trees, one that could be the size someone of Alimony’s diminutive stature may have worn, they are driven to find the so-called treasure.

The zoo staff is comprised of a compelling assortment of characters, each with a purposeful role in the story line, even though for some, Michael W. Hinkle keeps his audience wondering who’s a good guy and who’s not. He brings each one to life with careful attention to specific, unique personality traits and an appropriate amount of history. Each one is beautifully flawed with either a minor imperfection, a fatal flaw, or something in between. Hinkle is skilled at probing into the inner lives of the characters, portraying them as real, living people who provide subtle hints about possible directions the plot may take. Impressive are the relationships Hinkle develops among characters, particularly between Hopper and Cord. The duo’s dynamic interactions reveal much about themselves and often serve as a catalyst for their actions. The way their relationship develops throughout the story begets an elevated level of authenticity. The fact that their relationship is not perfect adds to its believability. ALIMONY’S TEASURE never stalls—each scene serves to move the story forward. The content is kept fresh throughout the narrative, and the plot is continually escalated with characters driven to achieve goals at any cost.  This is a well-written, skillfully-edited novel that is destined to engage a wide variety of readers.

Author Michael Hinkle takes an historically common plot—searching for buried treasure—and with an inventive mixture of captivating characters, suspense, humor, the FBI, and zoo animals, creates a truly original and intriguing story line in ALIMONY’S TREASURE.

~Florence Osmund for IndieReader