Starvation Camp

despite being marketed as such this is not really a Western .It does not take place in the traditional settings of the Western ,opening as it does in Canada ,before moving on into Alaska ,San Francisco and Seattle Its protagonist is Zachary McQuestion ,a US citizen albeit one serving in the Northwest Mounted Police -the Canadian Mounties-in the Yukon .It is an especially severe and prolonged winter and food is scarce when McQuestion finds the dead bodies of a storekeepr Molly Malone and her two employees .They have been killed for the food in their store .McQuestion has personal as well as professional interest in the case -he and the dead woman had been lovers and she was a kindly and generous soul .He vows revenge and defies the orders of his commanding officer ,the formidable Colonel Steele ,and sets out to trace the killers ,at no matter what cost . They are a disreputable pair of Bay Area prospectors named Thaxter and Loomis and in pusuit of them he takes ship to the US ,a nation gripped by war fever as the 1898 war against Spain is looming ever closer The hunt makes compelling reading and the detctive element ,while slight is well handled .McQuestion is a suitably rugged hero ,one with a troubled past having been betrayed by the woman he loved ,while the twin villains are eminently thuggish and nasty . The action is crisp and well described without recourse to lip-smacking violence and the nature writing is exceptional especially when the author is describing the Canadian and Alaskan wilderness This is a very satisfying adventurevtale and highly recommended

Author Pronzini is a terrific mystery author. Starvation Camp is a reprint of a "western" from earlier in his career. In this book, a Mountie tracks down the killers of his lover. There's lots of action and I found the lead character fascinating. Starvation Camp would be a good read for fans of either westerns or mysteries. Or both.