Article archive / December 1, 2014
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 16. Source pages: 12.
The author of FM127, the 93 year old Louis Leon, my uncle, is a most interesting man. A combat engineer for the Army in WWII, he was involved in every campaign from Normandy to the Elb River. He graduated from Texas A&M with a civil engineering degree, and worked for one of the large engineering firms with international reach, Fluor Corporation, rising to become Vice President and Project Manager. At age 70, he entered a 4-year course in novel writing at Rice University. He was married for 68 years to his beloved wife, Fannie. FM127, published by iUniverse in 2012, was his third published novel.
The Farm To Market (FM) roads are a system of connecting routes from rural areas to market towns built and maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation in the 1940s. The FM system is credited with helping Texas rise to mercantile prominence after the War. Using FM127 as the title, Leon evokes a rise to money and power by his heroine, Caroline Morgan, a beautiful and powerful woman accused of murdering her husband. The real problem was caused when a low- level Texas gangster, Gambretti, sets up operations for money laundering, gambling, and prostitution. Morgan strikes back, arranging to use the sheriff’s forces to counter Gambretti.
This is a story about money, power, and corruption, but the people with money and power aren’t necessarily the bad guys. Leon thoroughly understands how money and power work, and how communication and back-dealing on the golf course or while eating steaks are effective means of handling transactions. His clear understanding creates the authenticity in this story.
Readers are treated to real back-roads Texas politics (“all politics is local”), which I found far more interesting than the stereotypic episodes of Dallas. Businessmen and women, judges, lawyers, and reporters populate this novel. There are no psychologists in it, but Louisiana psychologists will appreciate the straightforward analysis of motivation and self-interest, and will certainly understand how money is used to get things done, for good or bad.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.