In 1935 Betsy Throckmorton's father lures her from a New York
job with Time magazine back to Claybelle, Texas, with
the promise that she can be the editor of his Claybelle
Standard-Times. Betsy brings along her husband, Ted Winton,
an easterner and Yale graduate to whom she is constantly
explaining Texas. Ted will run Ben Throckmorton's radio station,
KVAT, where Booty and Them Others sing in rivalry with the
better known WBAP Light Crust Doughboys.
In Texas, it's the middle of the Depression and the Drought.
And Prohibition is barely over, liquor still a controversy.
Every city has its hobo camp, and Claybelle has the Star of
Hope Mission. But it is also the time of new oil money, high
living, infidelity, and tangled love triangles. Betsy and Ted
chain-smoke and drink often and long, they wouldn't miss a
Paschal High School or TCU football game, they party at the
Casino on Jacksboro Highway, and dine at Claybelle's Shadylawn
Country Club.
Betsy is a serious journalist though, and she sets out to
change the paper, clashing with the managing editor when she
claims international not state news belongs on page one. She
clashes with the columnists when she tries to sharpen their
leads.
The Texas Murder Machine becomes her big story, when she
suspects that Texas Rangers may be killing innocent young men
to collect rewards offered by the Texas Bankers Association.
Betsy's journalistic determination leads to a personal tragedy
that changes her life forever - and makes her a determined,
relentless newswoman.
Fast Copy is a page-turner that combines romantic comedy
with the best of the thriller genre. But it's much more. Dan Jenkins
captures Texas in the mid-1930s with a clarity that brings it alive,
and his affection for Texas, Fort Worth, and TCU are revealed on
every page. Only a native like Jenkins would include the minute
details of a TCU-SMU game, the new zephyr stainless steel railroad
train, the T&P railroad station, the Fort Worth Cats, and LeGrave
Field. His portrait of Claybelle and its leading society folks is
tongue-in-cheek funny and right on the mark. Texans should treasure
this book for years to come.
_________________________________________________________
Much of this detail comes naturally to DAN JENKINS, who is a Fort
Worth native and a product of Paschal High and TCU. In his early
career, he wrote for the now defunct papers, The Fort Worth
Press and The Dallas Times-Herald, then moved on to
Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest. He is the author
of 16 books, including Baja Oklahoma, Semi-Tough, Life Its
Ownself, and You Gotta Play Hurt.Fast Copy, first
published in 1988, was his sixth novel, tenth book. His newest
novel is Rude Behavior.
After living in New York City and Florida, Jenkins and his wife,
June, have moved back to Fort Worth to be "closer to barbecue,
Tex-Mex, and the TCU stadium."
SALLY JENKINS, daughter of Dan and June, is the coauthor, with
Lance Armstrong, of the best-selling It's Not About the Bike.
JEFF GUINN is the book review editor of the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram.
The Texas Tradition Series Number Thirty.
First published by Simon & Schuster.
