The Viewless Winds

by Murray Morgan

First published in 1949, this novel paints a dark, fascinating picture of a small Pacific Northwest coastal lumbering town during a time of social unrest and union activity. The story centers on the murder of a union leader's wife, and is based on the unsolved 1940 murder of Laura Law in Aberdeen, Washington. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1990

About the author

Murray Cromwell Morgan

Reviews

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: a dark, fascinating novel. A fictional account of an actual, unsolved murder of a union leader's wife in Aberdeen, Washington.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a mystery buff addicted to real murder mysteries from an historical genre and those of local notoriety.
This is my second read by Morgan - Skid Road - being the first. Real Seattle History.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and actually reread it as soon as I finished the first read!
Not only was the real life story of Laura Law intriguing but Morgan's writing made it fascinating and historically accurate.
My mother's family of Croatian/Austrian heritage, immigrated to Montesano, Grays Harbor County, WA in 1910 (our family still resides there today strong in logging industry and community.) My mum was also born there and grew up in the 30's, the oldest of five siblings. Her father held various jobs during the depression with the poverty, despair, union struggles, flooding and incessant rains as part of their day to day life. Union dominance and struggles were very much a part of the family as my grandfather worked as a miner, logger and fisherman.
I found the characters believeable and fascinating. It was hard to put the book down because it followed the history I heard as a child; the facts related to an unsolved murder in an area I'm very familiar with by an author who brings facts to print. I imagined putting real names to some of the characters from the logging and fishing towns of Grays Harbor County, WA.
Lastly the author wrote his factual story while living on Maury Island - southern part of Vashon Maury Island, WA., where I live today.
Cj

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1949, this is a fictional story set in the fictional town of Cove, but is based on the town of Aberdeen in Washington State, and is a fictionalized story of the actual murder of Laura Law in 1940. An interesting look at this specific era, time, and crime.

[Gregg Sapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1949 by a Northwest newspaperman, novelist, historian, and social critic, this book was re-released in 1990 by Oregon State University's "Northwest Reprints" series. Based upon an unsolved murder in the logging town of Aberdeen, WA, it re-imagines the circumstances in a fictional coastal town of Cove, OR amid labor, class, and ethnic strife. The corporate bosses want to pin the crime of the victim's husband, who happens to be a union organizer. The union mobilizes to defend their man, despite his odd behavior. In this novel, there are dirty cops, political cronies, corrupt businessmen, confrontational proles, plenty of reprobate drunks, and a skeptical journalist whose integrity will only persuade him to step so far onto a limb. The reader, however, knows from the beginning who did the deed, so the events that unfold are like a reverse morality play where seeing to it that justice is done is really in nobody's best interests.

[EB Fitzsimons · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great view of small town life, and lumber and union politics in Oregon in the late forties. I thoroughly enjoyed it.