Ewings of Dallas

"The Ewings of Dallas" was one of a trio of "Dallas" books released by Bantam Books and Lorimar Productions in October 1980, to coincide with the new season of the show that fall, as "Dallas" was beginning to get very popular. (The other two books were "The Quotations of J.R. Ewing" and "The Dallas Family Album.) This one is a novel of the "Dallas" characters, playing a little bit on what actually had happened in the series up to that point, and adding details and situations. The story opens just after J.R. Ewing gets shot, then replays the events leading up to the shooting, as J.R. makes enemies right and left. Alan Beam is scheming with Kristin Shepard while he keeps little Lucy on the line. Cliff produces a document, signed by both Jock and Digger, splitting the proceeds evenly from the Ewing 23 well that Bobby just opened. And J.R. talks his buddies in the cartel into a "great" deal with Southeast Asia oil leases, just before a nationalization in the region blows the whole deal to bits. There were other novelizations of the Ewing clan done at about the same time, released through the Soaps and Serials imprint. This one by Hirschfeld is much richer in detail and tone, more like the "Dallas" novel by Lee Raintree.