Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Tantor Media
Release Date: May 2001
ISBN: 1400100321
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Audio book - CD / Unabridged edition / 5 CDx / 5 hours, 40 minutes
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Genre:   Classic Fiction
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Brenda Weeaks
Reviewer Notes:  http://www.tantor.com
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Colonel Starbottle's Client
By Bret Harte
Narrated by John Bolen

     Bret Harte gives readers nine short stories --some of the subjects are moral judgment, secrets best kept, and mind games. Each narrative has an interesting story to tell, and listeners will be entertained by his remarkable characters and surprising endings.

Colonel Starbottle’s Client
Colonel Starbottle has a new client. Although found innocent in the taking of a life, the victim’s family writes him demanding he make it financially right. Starbottle reads the letters and finds offense. He’s ready to approach the case with a heavy hand. The kind client, however, insists on dealing with the family in a meek way because he is attracted to a female relative of the victim. Letters turn to visits and the situation gets out of hand. It’s a sad story of greed, misinterpretation and the need for self-forgiveness. It’s an ending that will haunt you.

The Postmistress of Laurel Run
Something has gone wrong on the run of the Laurel Run postmistress. She now has a moral decision to make. Is she honorable to her job, fearful of her boss or loyal to a local worker? It’s a lesson in honesty and reasoning. The ending certainly isn’t what one would expect!

The New Assistant at Pine Clearing School
The schoolmistress of Pine Clearing has some tough students. When given a new assistant, misunderstandings and moods turn to respect and attraction, but when the assistant’s secret past is revealed, the stanch schoolmistress wrestles with morals, emotions, and doing the right thing. In the end, who will the teacher put first, herself, her students, the assistant, the local folks?

When is a lie a lie? Can doing the right thing be worse than leaving well enough alone? When the guilty hide, will justice eventually find them? This is certainly a collection of stories written to entertain the mind and each one does just that.

Other stories on the tape are: A Night at “Hays,” Johnson’s “Old Woman,” “In a Pioneer Restaurant,” “A Treasure of the Galleon,” “Out of a Pioneer’s Trunk,” “The Ghosts of Stuekley Castle.”

John Bolen reads the audio book version. His voice captures the era, bringing each story to life. It’s an entertaining, clean listen. Forget the headphones and share a classic.