Synopses & Reviews
In 1919, on the eve of Prohibition, Bat Masterson, legendary gunfighter and a sports columnist in New York for two decades, is ill and thinking of his youth as a frontier lawman. He is bothered by the legendry that has dogged his footsteps, and on impulse he heads west with his wife, Emma, to revisit his past. Traveling back to Dodge City, through Colorado, and on to Los Angeles, Masterson ponders the legend that he has become and the elusive truth behind the lies. As America shifts into a new era, can one man reclaim his life from dime novelists and make sense of a story whose truths may never be known?
Review
"Wheeler is among the two or three top living writers of Western historicals--if not the best." --
Kirkus Reviews"Masterson is a flawless work written by a man who can look deeply into the heart of humanity and discover the truths that are prevalent there....Other writers have been called national treasures by critics, but Wheeler is its conscience. That is the essence of Masterson." --El Paso Times
"An amiable and engaging novel." --The Chicago Tribune
About the Author
Richard S. Wheeler has written over fifty novels and several short stories. He has won four Spur Awards and the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in the field of western literature.
He lives in the literary and film community of Livingston, Montana, and is married to Professor Sue Hart, of Montana State University-Billings. Before turning to fiction he was a newsman and book editor. He has raised horses and been a wrangler at an Arizona dude ranch.