"Sometimes when you obtain compensation to illustrate the obvious you feel a bit like that Missouri lad who avoided whitewashing that fence."
 |
Kidnapping, Murder, and Management by Lynn Dorrough Trafford Publishing
book review by Michael Radon
Presented as a series of letters of cousins corresponding across the continent at various stages of their business careers, Kidnapping, Murder, and Management imparts wisdom about moving along the economy from local to global levels. Dividing up the in-depth discussion on interest rates, liquid assets, and credit are tales of family life on a farm in Arkansas, and how shared experiences can shape two lives differently. Set across the 1970s and 1980s, Dorrough’s "novelized" cousins have a formal manner of writing that reflects their collegiate experiences as educated, well-read individuals despite their Southern rural upbringing. Aside the business talk is regular discussion about romance, mid-life crises, natural preservation, world religions, and the effects of technology and education on the world.
Without many specific details about the personal lives of the two cousins, the passing of time needs to be inferred through the changes in their lives and the world around them, but the concept is never confusing. What appears as a simple selection of letters between two mutually respecting family members actually manages to provide a crash course in business administration and general workplace strategy. Heavy on the management, the titular kidnapping and murder in the story is more a reference to the stories of odd workplace behavior and life away from home. Part entertainment and part informative nonfiction, Lynn Dorrough's experiences fill in the details and illustrate to the reader locales ranging from classes at Vanderbilt to banking in the oil rush of Alaska.