I have never been a fan of the western novel....until now. I just discovered Loren D. Estleman and what a treat! This guy does western landscape better than Zane Grey, does gritty realism as well as Walter Mosley and adds historical characters and verisimilitude like E.L. Doctorow.
Page Murdock is a 40-year-old Montana U.S. Marshal until he seemingly resigns his post to become part owner of the Apache Princess saloon in San Sabado, New Mexico, the "City of Widows". On the road he incurs the enmity (and pistol whipping) of Sheriff Frank Baronet and when he arrives he finds an unexpected third partner in the saloon -- his former lover Colleen Bower, also known as Poker Annie. Estleman's prowess as a detective story author is evident and Mordock's first person narrative is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler. The mystery is only slowly unveiled as the book unwinds in short, memorable chapters filled with vivid characters including Governor Lew Wallace (author of Ben Hur) Geronimo and town marshal Rosario Ortiz. Ortiz appears to be a slovenly widower, the father of 11 children, whose primary duties have been building privies and shooting coyotes to keep them from disturbing the Catholic services attended by "Las Viudas", a sisterhood of widows left behind by blood feuds, marauding Apaches and a hard land. Once again, appearance is not always reality.
This book has great authenticity and damn few anachronisms. At one point a character "snaps the hammer on the chamber of a Hawken." In 1881 the muzzleloading Hawken plains rifle was already a collector's item and its hammer falls on a percussion nipple, not the chamber of a cartridge gun. On the other hand Murdock is armed with a five-shot English Deane-Adams revolver for which he must reload his own ammunition adapted from 45 Colt cases. He carries a Winchester but others rely on the Springfield, Remington Creedmoor, Henry end the El Tigre Mexican Winchester copy. His horse, a claybank, hates him because it somehow knows he will cut its throat on the Jornada del Muerto if he lacks any other cover when the lead and arrows fly.
I loved this book, in case you couldn't tell. I plan to look up the others in the series, and also give Estleman's detective yarns a shot. I recommend you do the same. Vaya con Dios.
Page Murdock is a 40-year-old Montana U.S. Marshal until he seemingly resigns his post to become part owner of the Apache Princess saloon in San Sabado, New Mexico, the "City of Widows". On the road he incurs the enmity (and pistol whipping) of Sheriff Frank Baronet and when he arrives he finds an unexpected third partner in the saloon -- his former lover Colleen Bower, also known as Poker Annie. Estleman's prowess as a detective story author is evident and Mordock's first person narrative is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler. The mystery is only slowly unveiled as the book unwinds in short, memorable chapters filled with vivid characters including Governor Lew Wallace (author of Ben Hur) Geronimo and town marshal Rosario Ortiz. Ortiz appears to be a slovenly widower, the father of 11 children, whose primary duties have been building privies and shooting coyotes to keep them from disturbing the Catholic services attended by "Las Viudas", a sisterhood of widows left behind by blood feuds, marauding Apaches and a hard land. Once again, appearance is not always reality.
This book has great authenticity and damn few anachronisms. At one point a character "snaps the hammer on the chamber of a Hawken." In 1881 the muzzleloading Hawken plains rifle was already a collector's item and its hammer falls on a percussion nipple, not the chamber of a cartridge gun. On the other hand Murdock is armed with a five-shot English Deane-Adams revolver for which he must reload his own ammunition adapted from 45 Colt cases. He carries a Winchester but others rely on the Springfield, Remington Creedmoor, Henry end the El Tigre Mexican Winchester copy. His horse, a claybank, hates him because it somehow knows he will cut its throat on the Jornada del Muerto if he lacks any other cover when the lead and arrows fly.
I loved this book, in case you couldn't tell. I plan to look up the others in the series, and also give Estleman's detective yarns a shot. I recommend you do the same. Vaya con Dios.
