Reviewed by: Beverly J. Rowe, MyShelf.Com
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Dolph Morgette is a larger-than-life Western gunfighter that the other characters fear and hold in awe. The reason for this was probably established in THE GUNS OF MORGETTE, the first book in the Morgette series. The characters are well-rounded and most are believable. Boyer is a polished and talented writer but missed it on portraying the Alaska Natives in the story. If you don't live in Alaska and know these people and their history, you wouldn't understand the vast differences between them and other North American Indians.

Morgette is married to Margaret, an Indian girl, but still has a spot in his heart for a former love. He travels into Canada in search of an outlaw, but the mission is botched, and he is on the run. He decides to travel to Alaska to avoid the Canadian authorities that are searching for him. Maggie, though pregnant, accompanies him on the journey to Alaska and the gold fields and delivers their son in the wilderness with the help of a native midwife.

Morgette's job is to help set up a trading post for the hordes of gold seekers migrating to the Yukon River. His old nemesis is also involved with setting up a trading post for a competitor and tries repeatedly to sabotage Morgette's efforts to build boats for travel on the Yukon River to the best place for a trading post. The race is fraught with the hardships of nature and trouble with the Alaskan natives who resent the influx of white men.

The story is good shoot-em-up Western entertainment and a fun read...it is number two in the series, preceded by "The Guns of Morgette" and followed by "Morgette on the Barbary Coast" and "Morgette and the Alaskan Bandit".