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Rozette, Montana, Detective Novels
Big Sky Blues
Even in a small town, street rules apply. That means you handcuff everybody. Even the dead and dying. When two cops spend hour after hour together on the street, policing the bleak hours between midnight and dawn of a Montana winter, they live by street rules. They also get to know things about
each other. Sometimes, they know more about their partner than about themselves. Or think they do. Often, they become lifelong friends, until something happens. And something always happens in those bleak hours.
How do you treat a friend who kills a man to save your life? Rescues you, the world proclaims, from a situation that you had under control? And if you are that friend, how do you deal with somehow who is ungrateful for the favor? How do you deal with the judgment that you made a foolish mistake, and someone else had to pick up the tab so that you could go home to your family? So that he could go home to a stark room and his memories of a war the whole country wants to forget?
How do you keep going on the street—and at home—after the daytime hours turn bleak, too?
each other. Sometimes, they know more about their partner than about themselves. Or think they do. Often, they become lifelong friends, until something happens. And something always happens in those bleak hours.
How do you treat a friend who kills a man to save your life? Rescues you, the world proclaims, from a situation that you had under control? And if you are that friend, how do you deal with somehow who is ungrateful for the favor? How do you deal with the judgment that you made a foolish mistake, and someone else had to pick up the tab so that you could go home to your family? So that he could go home to a stark room and his memories of a war the whole country wants to forget?
How do you keep going on the street—and at home—after the daytime hours turn bleak, too?
- GenresMystery
230 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1988
About the author
Robert Sims Reid
7 books2 followersRobert Sims Reid is the author of seven novels, including The Red Corvette and Wild Animals . He was also a police officer for twenty-five years. Born and raised on a small farm in Central Illinois, he settled many years ago with his wife and daughter in Missoula, Montana.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 16, 2013
This excellent police procedural, published in 1988, was the first book from Robert Sims Reid, another one of those writers who, sadly, has not received nearly the acclaim that he deserves.
Set in the fictional town of Rozette, Montana, it features Ray Bartell and Paul Culp, two patrolmen who are partnered together several nights a week. Bartell is the more quiet and thoughtful of the two and serves as the department's hostage negotiator on those rare occasions when such services are needed. Culp is a veteran of the Vietnam War and carries his share of memories. Both men are fairly tight-lipped and each keeps his own counsel, which may explain why their partnership succeeds.
Like a lot of other cops, Culp is divorced. Bartell is married to an attractive wife named Helen. They have a teenage daughter who does not get along with her mother, and Bartell's relationship with Helen has reached a point where they're basically drifting along, without a lot to say to each other.
On most nights, the life of a patrolman in Rozette is deadly dull and amounts to responding to the occasional false alarm, rousting homeless people who are squatting where they are not wanted and generally watching for trouble that rarely happens. But then one night, Bartell and Culp are making their rounds and discover a small fire in an abandoned building. Their investigation into the seemingly minor incident suddenly turns explosive in a way that neither Culp nor Bartell could have anticipated and which will change their relationship and both of their lives forever.
Reid, who was himself a police officer, captures brilliantly the tedium of the job and the sudden moments of frantic action and terror that can punctuate it. His cops sound and feel authentic, and he plumbs not only the nature of their jobs but the effects that the job can have on their lives outside the department. James Crumley, no slouch himself in the crime fiction department, describes Big Sky Blues as "Perhaps the finest police novel I've ever read." High praise indeed from one of the masters.
Set in the fictional town of Rozette, Montana, it features Ray Bartell and Paul Culp, two patrolmen who are partnered together several nights a week. Bartell is the more quiet and thoughtful of the two and serves as the department's hostage negotiator on those rare occasions when such services are needed. Culp is a veteran of the Vietnam War and carries his share of memories. Both men are fairly tight-lipped and each keeps his own counsel, which may explain why their partnership succeeds.
Like a lot of other cops, Culp is divorced. Bartell is married to an attractive wife named Helen. They have a teenage daughter who does not get along with her mother, and Bartell's relationship with Helen has reached a point where they're basically drifting along, without a lot to say to each other.
On most nights, the life of a patrolman in Rozette is deadly dull and amounts to responding to the occasional false alarm, rousting homeless people who are squatting where they are not wanted and generally watching for trouble that rarely happens. But then one night, Bartell and Culp are making their rounds and discover a small fire in an abandoned building. Their investigation into the seemingly minor incident suddenly turns explosive in a way that neither Culp nor Bartell could have anticipated and which will change their relationship and both of their lives forever.
Reid, who was himself a police officer, captures brilliantly the tedium of the job and the sudden moments of frantic action and terror that can punctuate it. His cops sound and feel authentic, and he plumbs not only the nature of their jobs but the effects that the job can have on their lives outside the department. James Crumley, no slouch himself in the crime fiction department, describes Big Sky Blues as "Perhaps the finest police novel I've ever read." High praise indeed from one of the masters.
July 21, 2013
Not a mystery but a police crime story that sounds all too real. This is like Joseph Wambaugh meets Thomas McGuane-it's got a very pensive, solemn, serious and literary feel to it. A very intimate look into the life of partners and the effect it has on marriages. Reid effectively captures the action and the "boringness" of life in a small town in the American West. This has a lot in it: bums, media interface, hostage situtation, negotiating, Vietnam War.
July 8, 2019
This was a terrific police novel. Not a whodunnit or typical police procedural, but what seems to be an authentic story about the relationship between two partners who work the late shift in a small Montana city. Most of their work is routine, but sometimes, unexpectedly, shit happens, and things change. I think this one will remain with me for some time. 4.5 stars
April 1, 2023
Robert Sims Reid’s big sky Blues is not like any other police procedural that I have ever read. Instead, it is just like a real police novel would be written. Reid was a policeman for twenty-five years and now resides in Missoula, Montana. The setting of the book is a fictional town named Rozette, Montana, located not all that far from Missoula. James Crumely, author of The Last Good Kiss, said of big sky Blues, “Perhaps the finest police novel I’ve ever read.”
Ray Bartell and Paul Culp are patrolman partners several evenings a week. The cold winter months can be very monotonous for a policeman in Rozette. There are the occasional bar fights, few domestic disturbances, a few traffic stops, and an abundance of moving the poor homeless along their way. The spring and summer see a lot more action than the cold winter months.
Culp and Bartell seem to be very compatible partners, and they have been together for a long time. Culp is a Vietnam Vet who saw action and is no stranger to killing. Culp is also divorced as many policeman are. Bartell is more formative and thinks a while before he speaks. They talk very little yet they have been partners so long that they believe that they know one another very well. As a team, they believe that they have things completely under control. But, encountered situations can change this fast. Viewpoints on what actually happened may have a completely different perspective if the patrolman are separated by distance.
The Culp and Bartell relationship is put to the test and the different views eventually break up the team. It is a sad situation, but it is the necessary thing to do. Both men contemplate and re-contemplate the incident. Each has plenty of time to re-hatch the incident as each saw it.
Culp wanders off on his free time to get away whereas Bartell is stuck at home with his wife and daughter. The incident still consumes him and his behavior changes. His daughter and his wife do not have an ideal relationship and this only adds to the deterioration of their marriage. Culp and Bartell who were once such good friends are on opposite sides of the fence now and neither one is happy about it.
Robert Sims Reid has written an excellent and very realistic police novel with big sky Blues. This is the way real small-town police life would be. big sky Blues is an in-depth character development study. The characters described in this book are the most important element. The reader will not see eight people killed, but they will get a realistic look at the small-town policemen.
Ray Bartell and Paul Culp are patrolman partners several evenings a week. The cold winter months can be very monotonous for a policeman in Rozette. There are the occasional bar fights, few domestic disturbances, a few traffic stops, and an abundance of moving the poor homeless along their way. The spring and summer see a lot more action than the cold winter months.
Culp and Bartell seem to be very compatible partners, and they have been together for a long time. Culp is a Vietnam Vet who saw action and is no stranger to killing. Culp is also divorced as many policeman are. Bartell is more formative and thinks a while before he speaks. They talk very little yet they have been partners so long that they believe that they know one another very well. As a team, they believe that they have things completely under control. But, encountered situations can change this fast. Viewpoints on what actually happened may have a completely different perspective if the patrolman are separated by distance.
The Culp and Bartell relationship is put to the test and the different views eventually break up the team. It is a sad situation, but it is the necessary thing to do. Both men contemplate and re-contemplate the incident. Each has plenty of time to re-hatch the incident as each saw it.
Culp wanders off on his free time to get away whereas Bartell is stuck at home with his wife and daughter. The incident still consumes him and his behavior changes. His daughter and his wife do not have an ideal relationship and this only adds to the deterioration of their marriage. Culp and Bartell who were once such good friends are on opposite sides of the fence now and neither one is happy about it.
Robert Sims Reid has written an excellent and very realistic police novel with big sky Blues. This is the way real small-town police life would be. big sky Blues is an in-depth character development study. The characters described in this book are the most important element. The reader will not see eight people killed, but they will get a realistic look at the small-town policemen.
October 14, 2021
I read this book because a reviewer I respect, who really knows his stuff, recommended it. I suspect it is a better book than I think. It was recommended as a "procedural" and I believe that it is very accurate in how police forces do their work, how they think, and the challenges they face. To me, it was a slog. I didn't really relate to the characters, nor their concerns. I was not entertained, neither was I inspired. The book had the grit of reality but did not hold my interest.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews