Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Avalon Books (Thomas Bouregy & Co Inc)
Release Date: April 2004
ISBN: 0803496508
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Hardback
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Genre:   Western [1898, Colorado]
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde
Reviewer Notes:  
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Kendrick
By A. H Holt


          Rancher Wayne Kendrick knows that his best friend Jim Cason wouldn’t have just left the farm he was creating for himself up in the hills, so he just has to go investigate. What is this Blake Mining Company that has taken over the land and is selling off claims to gold prospectors, and if this is all their business consists of, why do people keep disappearing? Clearly something is very wrong here, and when he befriends a young orphaned boy whose father has been murdered by a gang of villains, the pair of them don’t have to wait long before they are in deep trouble…

      Having thoroughly enjoyed A H Holt’s debut novel Silver Creek (also reviewed on this site) I can assert that her second novel is up to the same standard. This is a real old-fashioned Western in the most positive sense of the word (ie a good story with no unnecessary gimmicks) that has the right mix of elements in the right amounts. There is a mystery to solve, a forthright, plain speaking protagonist and even some modest romance, but not too much of the latter to make it a novel that would only appeal to women. This is a book for both sexes and a wide range of ages. Having the main character tell the story in his own cowboy words is a fine idea, as it gets right to the heart of the story straight away with no messing about in keeping with the nature of the tale. You can imagine Kendrick telling it around a campfire, and the reader is sat there too. Once again there is a good sense of the period, a thrilling adventure and some lightly sketched but convincing characters. More please.