K illing Mister Watson is narrated by a potpourri of characters — ten in all, plus a fictionalized "historian" — who act in the "story" they relate but also stand outside as commentators and reflectors. They include Henry Thompson, Watson's foreman and devoted surrogate son; Richard Hamilton, a Calusa Indian midwife and patriarch of one of the county's most prolific families; Bill House, one of Watson's executioners; and Carrie Watson, his daughter, who exhibits changing perceptions and loyalties, and is an exemplar of ineffective and welldressed feminine morality.

In these narrators, Matthiessen has assembled a cast who, through a series of narrative "interviews," provide access points into the multiplicities of the Watson legend. Along with those who speak directly, the reader is also introduced to a community of coastal farmers, hunters, and fishermen, and a ragbag of oddball types who give depth to the fictional construct. These range...