Maybe Tom Dooley can lift up his head, but John Foster West needs to hang his.

The old ballad of Tom Dooley was first recorded more than thirty years before the Kingston Trio came along, but it was the mega-hit by the latter which first caused people to look back and try to figure out what had happened to Thomas C. Dula (the correct spelling of his name), murder victim Laura Foster, femme fatale Ann Foster Melton, and their families. Sadly, by the time this was done, all the relevant witnesses were long dead -- and the records of the time almost non-existent. There aren't even proper records of Tom Dula's trial -- just an after-the-fact summary made by the judge and a court employee. It makes it very hard to understand what happened.

Sadly, author West -- a resident of the same area as the characters in the song -- doesn't do a very good job of clarifying. His account was short but nonetheless rather confusing, and is followed by transcripts of the few records that exist -- the best part of the book, but a part that really needs interpretation. And West doesn't really offer it.

West's goal is to show that Tom Dula did not get a fair trial. On this point, I have to agree -- Dula was arrested before anyone could even prove that Laura Foster was murdered, and there is absolutely no direct evidence to link him to the crime. The main witness against him, one Pauline Foster, seems to have been a drunk, promiscuous, dimwit who changed her story in many particulars. There were at least three other people who would have been valid suspects -- none as likely as Dula, but remember, we're looking for proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

The bottom line: West has done more than anyone else to bring forth the scraps of available evidence, but has not assembled it into a whole that really makes much sense. To be sure, history often isn't very clear. But the result really left me wanting more. ( )