From Watergate to Lamontgate — ‘The Accident Report’
“On the day Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, Ronald Truluck drove the long way to work so he could smoke a celebratory joint.”
So begins Ralph Ellis’s comic novel “The Accident Report” (Black Rose Writing, 2025, 223 pages). A recent graduate of Chapel Hill, Ronald Truluck is a reporter for “The Eagle,” a local paper which only reports the news of the fictional Millerton, North Carolina.
Though he works the police beat, the reality is that Truluck spends most of his time chasing down minor accidents, misdemeanor marijuana arrests and stolen vehicles, most recently a riding lawn mower which the thief drove down one of the town’s streets.
But things are about to change for Truluck. Betty Stokes, a desk sergeant for the police department, first tips him off about a strange accident where a drunk drove a Bonneville into a yard and destroyed a birdbath. The police file no official report of the incident, and after some investigation Truluck discovers the likely suspect is city councilman Lamont Moody. Sensing a coverup and corruption, Truluck launches an investigation, which becomes Lamontgate in his mind, with the hope that if he busts the case open he’ll gain enough of a reputation to move to a larger paper, maybe even the zenith of his aspirations, the Washington Post.
Once embarked on this odyssey of investigation, Truluck gains and loses a girlfriend, befriends a free-spirited female reporter, learns the back alleyways of city government and the good old boy network, and manages to spark chaos all along the way.
“The Accident Report” should delight readers of all ages for several reasons. First, Ellis recreates the 1970s with an array of details. The cars of that decade, the music, the dress, the divisions in Millerton over Vietnam and Watergate: all are here.
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Then there is the comedy, often delivered with droll subtlety. When a hulking cop, Joe Stoneman, pulls Truluck over for no plausible reason other than intimidation, a warning to back off his investigation of Lamont Moody, Ellis has Truluck ask, “Did Lamont tell you to pull me over?” then adds, “Cops didn’t like to answer questions, but Ronald kept asking them. It was a particular mental illness that affected reporters.”
A few pages later, Truluck sets up an appointment for an interview with Moody at his heavy equipment company. They meet in his office, but before Truluck can even begin the interview, “A commode flushed. A door Ronald hadn’t noticed opened and a man in blue work clothes walked out buckling his pants and wheezing, a cloud of internal body odors rolling behind him.”
This is Turkey Stoneman, Joe Stoneman’s brother, who works for Moody and is present as another intimidator. After the introductions comes this paragraph:
“That meant two big guys were looking out for Lamont. Turkey extended a right hand that moments earlier had explored his nether regions. If Ronald shook, he might be contaminated by Turkey’s bacteria. To not shake would cast a pall over the interview. Ronald made a professional sacrifice.”
Ellis, who was born in Waynesville, worked as a journalist for several publications and offers other amusing and accurate comments on reporters and the news business. At one point, after Truluck is beaten up, we read, “Ronald was bruised and sore but would not be denied the satisfaction of writing about the Stoneman brothers’ arrest. Ronald was part of the story, so recusing himself would be the ethical thing to do, but nobody else in the office could write cop news like him. If you had to choose between good ethics and a good story, the story won.”
Here’s a perfect novel for springtime, for reading on the porch or deck, a story that will please readers looking for a well-told quest tale that will keep them engaged, bring some chuckles, and ends with justice done.
Learn more about Ralph Ellis and enjoy his articles at ralphellisauthor.com.
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Summer will follow that springtime, which means young people are out of school, which in turn means they have more time to enjoy some reading. Gladys and Mark Hunt offer some great help in “Honey for a Child’s Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life,” while Hunt and Barbara Hampton do the same in “Honey for a Teen’s Heart: Using Books to Communicate with Teens.”
Both these books have had a long shelf life and sold tens of thousands of copies for a good reason, they offer a multitude of resources, reviews, classics and new titles, and many suggestions on sharing books. The book for teens, for example, includes advice on making books and reading more attractive to young people, and includes suggestions, as the subtitle indicates, on strengthening ties with a teen through shared books.
This summer, set aside some time, connect your kids with some good books, and let the magic begin.
(Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust On Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning As I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
