The city of Memphis is a character in its own right in the novel, LAST BRIDGE TO MEMPHIS. Even though I only spent a couple of years of my TV news career there, the town leaves an indelible image on your soul long after you’re gone.
So it’s no surprise I’ve painted Memphis with romantic, if mysterious and sometimes haunting brushstrokes throughout the story.
You can guess from the title of the novel that there’s a bridge looming large. In fact, a trio of bridges lurk over Tom’s TV station, one of which eventually plays into the climactic scene.
Bridges to Memphis. Harahan on the right.
Early in the story, here’s how our narrator sets the scene of the crime, so to speak:
Its bridges defined Memphis, every bit as much as the river they spanned. Down the Mississippi streamed the cotton, the blues, the fragrance of barbecue. And across that river flowed many a dreamer hell-bent on big plans in the big city. No doubt those same bridges carried many away, broken.
And I was next.
Why is Tom afraid he’ll be the next to be cast back across the Mississippi? Because he’s about to be chewed out for going off-script from the scene of a brutal incident he himself witnessed. By contradicting the police version of events live on the air, Tom has placed himself in the crosshairs of his boss, public opinion, and one rogue cop out for blood.
Tom has also drawn the attention of the town’s favorite son, Elvis Presley, also a witness, who spends his time nowadays shadowing the police . He’ll soon show up, under the alias of Danny Fisher, with a few choice words of warning for the reporter: “Be real careful whose shoes you’re steppin’ on.”