Meet Evers Wheeling of Norton, North Carolina. A semidissolute judge, undistracted by children, hobbies, or a fulfilling marriage, he's moving down the road to nowhere at a furious clip -- until the morning he's confronted by Ruth Esther English, an attractive young woman whose dim-witted brother happens to be up on drug charges.

Within days, Evers is the Englishes' reluctant coconspirator, abetted by his pothead brother Pascal (he of the double-wide trailer) and Pascal's faux-white-trash cohorts. And his suddenly outlandish life includes an interstate treasure hunt, a terrible act of marital vengeance, a sleazy antiques dealer, twice-stolen money, a mysteriously valuable letter, a baffling murder trial, and a love-interest attorney who considers him the poster boy for the sexist and racist legal establishment -- not to mention the alabaster tears miraculously cried by Ruth Esther

Combining high comedy and existential, even spiritual compulsion, Martin Clark has converted every risk he's taken into high-test storytelling that's as fresh as the infant century.