Crossing the Animas

Steve Dancy Tales, Book 6

By: James D. Best

Narrated by: Paul Manelis

“Ben Law is tough...and mean. He enjoys taking care of problems for his boss. He won’t just verbally assault you. He and his men will hurt you. Bad.”

Steve Dancy is about to find this out. With his new home in Durango, Colorado, the kind with a nice white picket fence, and marriage on the horizon, the last thing Dancy wants is trouble. Especially with a mining tycoon and his henchmen. But this is the frontier...and sometimes a feud finds you. Sometimes, it even chases you. When the quarrel endangers Dancy’s fiancée and friends, he has no choice but to fight. And this is a fight Dancy must win.

©2017 James D. Best (P)2019 James D. Best

A western of higher learning!

We are treated to a “western of higher learning”. In this series, our protagonist Steve Dancy appears to be a wealthy, educated, business-oriented city slicker, who happens to wield a six-gun as well. His sidekick, Sharp is a no-nonsense, burly man who loves a good bare-knuckle brawl. Sharp is also wealthy, having made his fortune in the mining business, whereas Dancy’s wealth is inherited. This is my first Steve Dancy book and it presents a bit of a conundrum for me. This is not the usual western I’ve become accustomed to. The plot is more business oriented with a bit of politics thrown in. Dancy is not your run-of-the-mill cowboy or gunfighter either. This is not to say the story is bad, not at all; it’s just different. Three.point.five for a different spin of the cylinder. This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.

Enjoyed the story.

We have not listened to the other books in this series. This is a good story by itself. I would listen to the other books in the series. A good story that happens to take place when electricity was just being introduced. There is some romance, some fighting, and more. I am not sure I would call it a western, just a good story set during the settling of the United States.

The narration was very good. It was easy to listen to Paul Manelis read this story. I would listen to other stories that he narrates.