Spotlight: Thomas Goodman

Hi all! I’m looking forward to contributing to the Heroes, Heroines, and History blog. I’ll be posting tidbits I’m finding in my research on Texas life and culture from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The research helped me as I wrote my first novel, and it's helping me as I write my second novel now.

I write early in the mornings before the office opens at the church where I serve as a pastor. I am a graduate of Baylor University and Southwestern Seminary in Texas, and I hold a doctorate from New Orleans Seminary. I have served as a pastor in Louisiana, north Texas, and overseas in Grand Cayman before becoming the pastor of Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas (www.hillcrest.church). I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Diane, for 45 years and counting. We have two sons. I enjoy scuba diving, fly fishing, hiking, and puttering around my wood-working shop.

My debut novel is closely based on a Texas true crime. I first heard about it in the 1990s, when I served as a pastor in the county where it all took place in the 1920s.

It’s called The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery.

Here’s the back cover copy:

 

When Santa Claus enters a Texas bank just before Christmas in 1927, no one expects him to pull a gun.

 

The fake white beard hides his identity from his neighbors while he and three others take everything. But their easy heist goes sideways fast when armed lawmen and citizens assemble to claim a new reward for dead bank robbers.

 

Taking hostages, the gang forces a path through a frenzied and bloody shootout, setting the whole Lone Star state on their trail.

 

One bandit dies in the getaway. One is executed in the electric chair. One swings from a rope in a mob lynching. The last man finds a life he always hoped for … if only he can keep it.

 

Closely based on a true crime, The Last Man is a gritty Prohibition-era Western novel filled with flawed characters and second chances.

 

As grim as this story sounds, I was attracted to it because of the conversion of the true-life “last man” during his prison stay, and the substantive life-change that resulted.

 

I was thrilled that the book received a 2024 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America and a 2024 Will Rogers Medallion Award.

 

Here’s a photo of me with Craig Johnson, who also received a 2024 Spur Award for his latest book in the Longmire series:

Here’s a photo of me with Jane Kirkpatrick, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Will Rogers Medallion Awards. Many of you probably know Jane for her Christian westerns.

At my website (click here), you can listen to the first chapter of the audiobook and find out where to get the book in all formats.

 

I have a free book on my website called “The Santa Claus Bank Robbery in Photos.” It’s filled with images of the real characters and places that my novel is based on. Click here to find out more.

 

I’m working on my second novel now, and it is also based on a Texas true crime from the early twentieth century.

 

While The Last Man is my only work of fiction so far, I have several nonfiction books out as a part of my work as a pastor. My most recent project is a series called Bible Portals. The digital format of the first book of that series is permanently 99 cents, so check it out!

 

 You can find all my nonfiction books at my Amazon author page (click here), including a fun Christmas devotional about the four “Christmas carols” of Luke’s Gospel.

 

I write a weekly devotional newsletter on Substack called “Winning Ways.” If you want a quick shot of encouragement from the Word each Thursday, check it out here.

 

I look forward to sharing with you interesting glimpses into Texas life and culture from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. See you soon!