Hello,
Thanks to NetGalley.com and Greenleaf Book Group, LLC.
Doug Twohill's "Death In Durango" is a love letter to Durango and the American West. Through that scope we read about the death in Durango. We meet Jim Barlow, 25 years experience in the FBI. He's coming to Durango to investigate his daughters, Patti, death. Her death has been ruled a suicide, but Barlow doesn't believe that. That's how the book starts and then after that the author covers the history of Durango. Twohill covers the history of Durango basically through two families, the Vanderhorns and the Stricklands.
The death in Durango is Patty, she's a free spirit living on her own in Durango. A potential suspect in her death is a Strickland, Buck. It seems the low character and mean spiritedness moves from generation to generation just like health concerns.
To understand Durango you need to understand the Vanderhorn and Strickland families. They've been on the opposite sides of nearly every issue for the last 100 years. Their disputations started all over a woman, isn't it always a woman? That would be Miss Charlotte McClintok. Zane Vanderhorn rescued Charlotte from being raped by Bart Strickland.
To simplify it to a great extent the Vanderhorns are the "good" people and the Stricklands are the "bad" of Durango.. The Vanderhorns are fighting in the army, serving as sheriff and coming to the rescue of the less fortunate many times. Meanwhile the Stricklands are doing the exact opposite. They are the criminals, they deal in drugs, prostitution and at the end even work with cartels. That's how they make their money. There are many memorable characters. The book focuses very much on the ruggedness of the men and the women. These are the tough gold minors and the prostitutes that service them. There's a great gold rush, but the people that have the most success are the people that make money off the influx of miners.
Cliff Palace, which is Mesa Verde National Monument, history is covered in this book. Where did the people of Cliff Palace go? Reading this book we find out from a descendent of Our People. Of course the Vanderhorns and the Stricklands are drawn into this.
Butch Cassidy and Teddy Roosevelt are real people that show up in Twohill's narrative. As I mentioned previously the book is a love letter to the Western US and the rugged people that did their best to tame it.
Overall I enjoyed the book and the story. The characters are memorable, both likable and not so likable. These feel like very real people that have real lives. We empathize with these people. For a lot of the book I thought it was a collection of vignettes loosely held together rather than one complete story. Although at the end Twohill ties all the stories together well. It's a fast and easy read, the kind you can read at work or flying on an airplane. That's not a knock on the book at all.
The book is not too long or too short, it's just the right length. So much of modern entertainment is a story that has too many endings, I'm so glad this book was just about the right length of 220 pages. Sadly Barlow never gets the justice he deserved in the conventional way. However Western justice does prevail to his benefit. It feels like a near perfect ending to what was a very enjoyable novel. This is Twohill's first novel and I look forward to his second book.
All author profits from book sales will be donated to the Community Foundation of Southwest Colorado.
themusicaddict
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