Monday, October 5, 2009

The Shopkeeper Review & Giveaway

The Shopkeeper - A Steve Dancy Tale
by James D. Best
Published December 2007

In 1879, Steve Dancy sells his New York shop and ventures west to explore and write a journal about his adventures. Though he's not looking for trouble, Dancy's infatuation with another man's wife soon embroils him in a deadly feud with Sean Washburn, a Nevada silver baron.

Infuriated by the outrages of two hired thugs, the shopkeeper kills both men in an impulsive street fight. Dancy believes this barbarian act has closed the episode. He is wrong. He has interfered with Washburn's ambitions, and this is something the mining tycoon will not allow.

Pinkertons, hired assassins, and aggrieved bystanders escalate the feud until it pulls in all the moneyed interests and power brokers in Nevada. Can the former city slicker settle accounts without losing his life in the process?

One could never call me an expert of the Western genre, but I did grow up with a Grandpa who loved Spaghetti Westerns and read Louis L'Amour. And now I find myself living in Nevada, searching for an enormous wooden wagon wheel to use as art in my living room, and reading books like The Shopkeeper. Go figure.

But The Shopkeeper is a page turner and James Best is a great story teller. It's also evident that he has done his homework. Best captures the harsh landscape of Nevada in the late 1800s and the brutality of the American West. The characters are well developed but, as this appears to be the first in a series of Steve Dancy books, I expect that they will become even more flushed out as the series continues. I especially loved the brash female characters and hope that old Mrs. Bolton rears her ugly head in his next book, Leadville. I always fall for the villain and she is stupendously malevolent. The protagonist, Steve Dancy, isn't so much of a hero as he is an anti-hero. Wealthy, intelligent, self-enterprising and murderous. These characteristics shift as the plot thickens and as Dancy matches wits, trades bullets and tries to stay alive long enough to end his feud with the silver baron who wants him dead.

WIN IT!
Thanks to Author Marketing Experts, Inc., I am giving away a copy of The Shopkeeper to one lucky reader.

Main Entry
  • Leave a comment and tell me your favorite Western movie or book.
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52 comments:

slb3334 said...

City slickers

ky2here said...

The 3 burials of Melquiades Estrada.

sweetsue said...

Lonesome Dove is my favorite Western book-it's wonderful!
smchester at gmail dot com

sweetsue said...

I follow your blog.
smchester at gmail dot com

Amber said...

My favorite western is anything with John Wayne!
Thank you for the giveaway :)
hurdler4eva(at)gmail(dot)com

Amber said...

I follow your blog!
My favorite western is anything with John Wayne!
Thank you for the giveaway :)
hurdler4eva(at)gmail(dot)com

Wife&Mommy said...

Why young guns of cours!
bowsnclippys@yahoo.com

Wife&Mommy said...

I'm now a follower of your blog :)

D Q said...

I would have to say High Plains Drifter.

Deborah Wellenstein said...

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Thank you!

Alice H said...

I love the western movie High Noon - a classic! Thanks - alicedemskehansen at gmail.com

Alice H said...

I follow your blog - alicedemskehansen at gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Back to the Future Part 3

jim.coyne2@verizon.net

Mary said...

Lonesome Dove

chromiumman said...

the man who shot liberty valance

Anonymous said...

I loved Lonsome Dove-
diane Baum
esldiane@gmail.com

Nickolay said...

Unforgiven

jason(at)allworldautomotive(dot)com

erma said...

Lonesome Dove is my favorite.
erma.hurtt@sbcglobal.net

Lisa R said...

The good the bad and the ugly, and Unforgiven

Melanie Montgomery said...

The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

I think I got the name right, haha, Its a mouthful.

But Casey Affleck was amazing in it.

clarkmurdock@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

"Stagecoach"!

theyyyguy@yahoo.com

Marianna said...

Outlaw Josey Wales!

Marianna said...

I follow!

Unknown said...

I grew up watching westerns with my dad and the first "adult" book I read was one of his Louis Lamour books. I really like High Plains Drifter and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Thanks!

sherri419 at gmail dot com

KayeDean said...

My fave is Lonesome DOve...the friendship between those two men was something to be admired. If I only had a friend that loyal...

KayeDean said...

I follow your blog

bison61 said...

I like the
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Tomestone

tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com

Renee said...

Unforgiven--Clint Eastwood

Daniel M said...

i really like tombstone (kurt russel val kilmer) - regnod(at)yahoo(d0t)com

Schlauberger said...

Tombstone

Jinxy and Me said...

I liked Legends of the Fall

Jinxy and Me said...

I'm following your blog!

Carol EL said...

High Noon-the original,it's a classic. jelly15301@gmail.com

Carol EL said...

Google friends follower. jelly15301@gmail.com

Diana D said...

My husband loved Shane. We watch it at least a couple of times a year. Thanks for the wonderful giveaway.

dianad8008 AT gmail DOT com

angie said...

I love Lengends of the Fall. I just watched it again last night. :)


angela67p(at)gmail(dot)com

Gabriel S-J. said...

I love John Wayne.

JA said...

High Noon is my favorite, it is a classic!
jb8903 at gmail.com

missybeetoo said...

John Wayne movies were the deal when I was growing up. :)

Gloria's Bits and Pieces said...

My favorite western movie is "The Wild Bunch"!

kngmckellar@hotmail.com

Gloria's Bits and Pieces said...

follow your blog

kngmckellar@hotmail.com

Gloria's Bits and Pieces said...

http://kngmckellar-glorias.blogspot.com/2009/10/httpgkstratos-allyoureviewblogspotcom20_11.html

blogged
kngmckellar@hotmail.com

Kathy P said...

i love legends of the fall with brad pitt

Becky said...

High Noon...

liliesrnice said...

i loved the book Lonesome Dove. i didn't think i would as westerns aren't my thing but i thought i'd give it a try and loved it.

Anonymous said...

Stagecoach with John Wayne is my favorite Western novie. garrettsambo@aol.com

Bridget3496 said...

I have to go with legends of the fall too

Bridget3496 said...

follower- bridget3496

lilyk said...

My favorite Western movie is Unforgiven.

disneyfanheather said...

My favorite western movie is Giant!

disneyfanheather said...

Following your blog!

disneyfanheather said...

I have your button!