Stories of the Golden West

A Western Trio, Book 5

By: Jon Tuska, Zane Grey, Max Brand, Louis L'Amour

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

A collection of classic Western Tales

"Canon Walls" by Zane Grey

Smoke Bellew enters a remote Mormon settlement only a jump ahead of a posse. Finding employment as a ranch hand working for a dowager Mormon, Smoke finds that his life undergoes a transformation and he is able to make her ranch a financial success, at the same time falling in love with her wanton daughter, Rebecca. But it is too good to last. The law follows him.

"Black Sheep" by Max Brand

YoungMary Valentine - upstart, tomboy, and general troublemaker - is seeking to protect a man wanted by the law. To complicate her life even further, her two cousins, who have been dodging the law, return home and decide with their father to join the notorious Markle gang in holding up the local bank.

"Showdown on the Hogback" by Louis L'Amour

Tom Kedrick is hired by a financial syndicate to run off a gang of vagrants and outlaws from a certain strip of land. Kedrick setsout to serve justice, but to his dismay, these "vagrants and outlaws" turn outto be hard-working ranchers and farmers also claiming the land.

©2014 Jon Tuska (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Totally Enjoyable combination of stories

Where does Stories of the Golden West rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This collection hit the spot. It contains an out-and-out romance by Zane Grey, a suspenseful story by Max Brand told from the unusual perspective of a child, and a full-fledged mystery//western by Louis L'Amour.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Stories of the Golden West?

I always enjoy how Louis L'Amour can put some historical education and perspective into his stories. The background for his Captain Tom Kettridge is an example of that: the character's resume is a survey of wars and battles fought around the world at the time of the Old West era.

Which scene was your favorite?

The descriptions of sliding down a haystack in the moonlight made for a fun and memorable scene in the Zane Grey story. For the rest, shootout scenes are always fun.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I could have listened to it all at once if time had permitted, it was all that good. But the audio player sometimes cut out on me and I had to pick up the story later.

Classic stories perfectly narrated

Really good set of stories from three of the best Western writers. Narration was great, and matched the vibe of the stories. In the last story, there's a Welsh character whose accent is not portrayed well by the narrator but it's still a great story.