Not for Fortune or Fame

Do it for yourself. That was Tom Bouman’s guiding philosophy when writing the novel that would win both a 2015 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and an Edgar Allan Poe Award in the same year.

Accolades, however, were not on the attorney’s mind when he penned Dry Bones in the Valley, the first in a three-part series centering on Officer Henry Farrell. Instead, Bouman was looking for a different kind of story. He had been working in publishing for more than a decade, first as a sales assistant and later as an editor for a wide range of books—including the Hugo Award-winning Ancillary Justice. But he yearned for something more. “Something,” he says, “I wasn’t getting. It was just a logical next step to try to do it for my own benefit.”

So Bouman created Henry Farrell, a one-man police department in fictitious Wild Thyme, Pennsylvania. Or rather, he dreamed him. Bouman had made prior writing attempts, but didn’t make much progress until he heard Henry Farrell’s voice in his sleep. Although Bouman can’t remember what his character said, he vividly recalls the aftermath: “I woke up thinking, ‘I can do this now.’”

Having grown up on a dirt road in Susquehanna County, Bouman was drawn to a rural setting. He began writing Dry Bones in 2011, during the Marcellus Shale fracking boom and rise of heroin in his hometown—elements explored in his novels.

“I knew that 99% of what was submitted would never get published, and that much of what gets published would go unnoticed,” Bouman says. “I had to give up any notions of success and write the book I wanted.”

The success came anyway. Kirkus Reviews called his debut “rural noir at its finest”; The Washington Post dubbed it a “mesmerizing and often terrifying story”; and The New York Times said it was “beautifully written.”

“A lot of artists say it doesn’t matter, but of course it matters in that it makes you feel good and it connects with other people,” Bouman says. “I wrote it thinking, ‘Oh, this will never get published.’ Then, ‘Wait, it is going to? That’s great!’ That’s all I ever wanted. Everything else was a pleasant surprise.”

The first book would lead to a second, Fateful Mornings, about Farrell’s search for a missing woman. The third, The Bramble and the Rose, concerns a mysterious, decapitated corpse. “I love crime novels that have a human propulsion,” says Bouman. “Henry Farrell is grieving a personal loss in the beginning. My hope is that he finds himself, and finds happiness again, throughout the books. That is, more or less, the trajectory of the series.”

Bouman’s daughter was born as he worked on Dry Bones. Living in Brooklyn at the time and wanting to raise a family outside of the city, he knew he’d need work outside of publishing. So he turned to a long family tradition. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncles, aunts, and cousins had all practiced law; and, at age 35, he enrolled in the Dickinson School of Law.

Fateful Mornings was written during Bouman’s time there, and The Bramble and the Rose hit shelves shortly before COVID hit. With each, Bouman followed the same routine: Write at 6:00 a.m. every day, no excuses. “It was tough, but I couldn’t have completed them without that routine,” he says. “These were under contract, so it’s not like I couldn’t uncomplicatedly write them. I wanted to—and felt compelled to—finish the series, and I’m glad that I did.”

Now a partner at Coughlin & Gerhart in Binghamton, Bouman represents plaintiffs in personal injury matters, commercial litigation, trusts and estates, elder law, and guardianships. “It’s very natural to say that I’m an attorney when someone asks me what I do,” he says. “I love writing, but I don’t expect it to sustain my family. It’s something I will do, just not as a career.”

Each night, Bouman enjoys reading with his daughters, Lea, 7, and Barbara, 12. He is also working on a book they can read while they’re still young—“because they definitely can’t read my books now,” he laughs.

This middle-grade novel is a rural-set fantasy, wherein the protagonist and her family move into a home with a connection to the fairy world. Bouman keeps the details close and approaches it in his typical form: not for fortune or fame.

“It’s just something I would have liked when I was a kid.”