"Ain't no difference what hand you're dealt.You play it out."
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
This is the first novel I've read by this author.I'm afraid I just never came across anything by him before. This is an excellent read about what is just about the most famous and written about event of the Old West..the Shootout at the OK Corral.Rather than centering on the usual characters involved in the famous shootout;the author starts off with a character Cemetery Jones,a cognomen or appeleation for Sam Hornblow Jones.He was a great friend of the fellow who was renowned as the King of the Gamblers,namely Luke Short.He had had enough of the wild times and settled down in Sunrise City,and built a small house on a piece of land.Charlie Storms figured that Sam had cheated him at cards and was out to kill him.Luke Short tried to convince him otherwise but was unable. At this time things were getting real nasty in and around Tombstone;with an average of a killing a day ,the town having grown from a couple of hundred to over 15,000 in only 2 years;because of the rich silver strikes and general rowdiness. Along with the Earps and Doc Holliday versus the McLowerys,Billy Claiborne and the Clantons,being involved in the shootout;Bat Masterson,Luke Short,Ringo Star, and by now even Charlie Storms and Cemetery Jones are all in town. Cox gives a good account of all the things that took place during these eventful times. Since this author was unknown to me ;I did some research and found he was born in 1901 and died in 1988, He was a prolific writer of sport ,mystery and western novels.In all he wrote 80 novels.At the height of his career he had published an average of 600,000 words per year for 14 years.His wife said he died at his typewriter writing this novel.If this is any indication of the quality of his work;I am sure there are lots more great entertainment from his books.
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