| A Fine Dark Line | |
| Author: | Joe R. Lansdale |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Novel |
| Publisher: | Subterranean Press, Mysterious Press |
| Pub Date: | 1 June 2002 |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardcover)(Trade Paperback) |
| Pages: | 412 |
| Isbn: | 1-931081-66-2 |
| Oclc: | 51583529 |
| Preceded By: | The Bottoms (2000) |
| Followed By: | Sunset and Sawdust (2004) |
A Fine Dark Line is a 2002 novel by American writer Joe R. Lansdale. The story is set in Dumont, Texas, in 1958. This novel was issued as a limited edition by Subterranean Press and as a trade hardcover and a trade paperback by Mysterious Press. Both hardcover editions are now out of print. A trade paperback was published by Mysterious Press on October 1, 2003.[1]
The story is told through the eyes of Stanley Mitchell, a thirteen-year-old boy, the younger of two children. The Mitchells are the owners and proprietors of the only drive-in theater in Dumont. Stanley discovers a tin box containing a collection of troubled love letters that ultimately lead him to a burned-out house, the mysterious deaths of two young women and various secrets that the Dumont leaders would prefer remain buried. Stanley's ally is Buster Smith, the projectionist at the drive-in theater, an elderly black man whose attempts to drown his demons in alcohol are doomed to failure, but who has a depth that only Stanley is aware of. In attempting to solve the mysteries of the deaths of the two women, Stanley exposes himself, his family and his friends, to danger.[2]