I worked with Dave Sturm for many years, in a newsroom where he -- with his wry sense of humor and an easygoing acceptance of the daily turmoil that surrounded us -- was one of the rare pillars of sanity. (He might be surprised by that appellation, but it's true.) He even contributed a number of book and movie reviews to this site (check them out here) back in the day, and he ended up leaving the newspaper many years before I did -- which is to say, he proved to be the smarter of us, it turns out. I hadn't seen him for many years when I heard the sad news of his death.

Then I heard he had published his first novel not long before his untimely demise -- a shame about the timing, because I'm sure he had more books in him -- and I knew I had to read it. Welcome to Breezewood is an imaginative book set mostly in south-central Pennsylvania -- particularly around Breezewood, an unusual stop along the Lincoln Highway -- and criss-crosses through time.

The book's protagonist is Harold Worthington, a government worker who's on the run from the FBI after he tries to sell secrets to a foreign power. A blow to the head knocks him off his feet ... and right into 1933, where he encounters a pair of unsavory bootleggers and plays harmonica with blues legend Robert Johnson. Another blow lands him in the midst of the Underground Railroad, pre-Civil War, where he meets abolitionist Harriet Tubman and, eventually, interacts with former slave William Parker and slave-owner Edward Gorsuch, and finds himself at the heart of the Christiana riot. He also meets a beautiful Quaker named Elizabeth Baker, who works with Tubman to lead escaped slaves migrating north, and she more than anything else might hold the key to Harold's redemption.

The story bounces through time like a pinball, and at times the boundaries between eras overlap -- such as a scene where British troops from the American Revolution face Confederate soldiers and a motorcycle gang at the Gateway Travel Plaza, or when he crosses paths again with Robert Johnson, now touring by bus as a leading hip-hop artist.

It's hard to guess where this inventive tale will lead you, and you won't know where you're going until you get there. I very much enjoyed this too-brief opportunity to be reacquainted with Dave's clever ingenuity. Welcome to Breezewood is a quick read, but I think you'll appreciate the journey.