A lighthearted, shoot’em-up romp in the Montana Territory—fans should be happy that the author plans two sequels to complete...
Prolific author Spalsbury (Zorkon’s Secret, 2016, etc.) returns to the Old West for this fourth volume in his Hunt series.
James A. “Buff” Beaufait is the title character, but he is only one of the stars of this Western. There is Doc Whitfield, the medical man who wears a black cape and doubles as “the fastest gunfighter in the West”; Jaime Larson, proprietor of the Lead Sky Livery and Dray; Snort, the buffalo runner who quotes Shakespeare; and Sam Haddly, a former slave and current proprietor of the blacksmith shop. They make a formidable team. It is 1872 in the Montana Territory, which is filled with plenty of dangerous varmints to be confronted: a small party of Cheyenne warriors, the usual assortment of nasty crooks and murderers, and an abusive husband and father. Happily they are outflanked, if not always outnumbered, by the good guys: the peaceful Blackfoot Indians who are part of the Whitfield clan, the kindly citizenry ready to take in assorted orphans, and the clever, gunslinging heroes who are determined to civilize the territory. The shootouts, the pileup of bodies, and even the terror of Snort almost being burned at the stake are all lightened by Spalsbury’s omnipresent sense of humor, the quirky schemes he devises, and a joyful optimism. Underlying all the violence is a core belief in the power of the simple acts of friendship. Of the numerous subplots, the one about Crow Eye, “a young half-breed skinner,” fierce and terrifying with extraordinary tomahawk skills, is especially charming—watch his heart begin to melt when he rescues a puppy who falls asleep in his lap. Gun enthusiasts should enjoy the author’s attention to detail as he describes the plethora of weaponry called upon to do the job, complete with modifications and homemade bullets. The rollicking, action-driven novel has so many supporting characters that it is sometimes difficult to keep them all straight. But no matter; the quick pace should sustain readers over any temporary confusion, and by the end everyone in Chesterville, Montana, will likely become comfortably familiar.
A lighthearted, shoot’em-up romp in the Montana Territory—fans should be happy that the author plans two sequels to complete the series.Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5355-8396-1
Page Count: 354
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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