Summer of Pearls

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Ben Crowell remembers the Great Caddo Lake Pearl Rush of 1874 well.

Ben would fall in love for the first time that summer during one of the last great rushes of the nineteenth century, a rush that could not have come at a better time for the riverboat community of Port Caddo.

Just a few months earlier the town had been dying.

The railroads that were cutting across the country made the riverboat meaningless, and those same railroads didn't stop anywhere near Port Caddo.

By the end of the summer, the pearl rush was over, and the mystery about who killed Judd Kelso, a local riverboat owner, had begun.

It took Ben forty years to solve the mystery, and when he did, the proof came for him alone to witness.

He is the only living soul who knows what happened that September night in 1874.

Reviews

“Reads briskly and is leavened with much Comanche lore.” —Publishers Weekly on Comanche Dawn

“Painstakingly researched and carefully written, the novel is an obvious labor of love that merits comparison with such established classics as Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Little Big Man, and Hanta Yo.” —Booklist on Comanche Dawn

“A well-made novel can sometimes inform a reader far better than documents of history.

Comanche Dawn is such a novel.” —Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee on Comanche Dawn

“Mike Blakely writes with authority and empathy about a people superbly suited to the land they roamed.” —Lucia St. Clair Robson, author of Ride the Wind on Comanche Dawn

“Mike Blakely turns the horses loose in all our souls.” —W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear on Comanche Dawn

About the Author

A native of Texas, Mike Blakely grew up working on the family ranch. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force and holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the former president of Western Writers of America and has taught fiction writing at numerous workshops nationwide. His novel Summer of Pearls is the 2001 winner of the Spur Award for Best Western Novel. Also a singer/songwriter, Blakely tours all over the U.S. and in Europe with his band and records his original songs on his own independent record label. He currently lives on his horse ranch near Marble Falls, Texas.

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Book Details

Imprint: Forge Books

ISBN: 9780765322579

Page Count: 224

On Sale:

November 25, 2008

Books By Mike Blakely