The Bangtail Ghost

By: Keith McCafferty

Narrated by: Rick Holmes

In Montana's Gravelly Range, paw prints and a single whisker discovered at a scene of horrific violence suggest a woman has been attacked and carried away by a mountain lion. Sheriff Martha Ettinger employs her fiancé, sometimes-detective Sean Stranahan, to put a name to the gnawed bones comprising all that is left of the body. The woman's is the first of several deaths that Sean suspects are not as easily explained as they appear.

As a reign of terror grips the Madison Valley, blood in the tracks will lead him from the river below to the snow-covered ridge tops, as Sean finds himself on his most adventurous and dangerous quest yet. For as he comes closer to unearthing the secret shared by the dead and missing, the tracks he is following will turn, and the hunter becomes the hunted.

©2020 Keith McCafferty (P)2020 Recorded Books

Awesome, as usual.

Every Sean Stranahan book I read from Keith McCafferty deepens and grows and delights from the human characters to the magnificent animals to the stirring descriptions of the Montana settings. Add murder and bad guys to the above mix and I sit back and soak it all in while I am wincing at Sean and his tireless refusal to listen even to his own reason when confronting murder. Great story and Rick Holmes as narrator honors the words.

Good Story

Great characters with witty sarcasm. The story was not what I thought it was but still enjoyed it. I like crime mysteries as well. It didn't have the twist that one would see coming, nor did it end at the expected time.

Fantastic - Best so far!

I have read the reviews, the 1 and 2 star reviews, and feel we are not reading the same book. There is fishing in this book, not as much as others but yet there. Keith's descriptive writing enables you to actually 'see' the scene, his descriptions are so unique I want to be in his brain to know how it works. I hope there is another one very soon. The great outdoor, western, adventures are so few and far between you must savor each one: Sean Stranahan, Joe Pickett, Walt Longmire. As always Rick Holmes narration is perfect.

Similar yet unique story

I have found all his books very enjoyable and interesting. A mystery yes, but far more. Lessons from the Natural world, and the human conflict that inevitably arises.

Good Read

loved the story. Characters were really interesting and different. Montana , the great outdoors and learning about mountain lions was exactly what I love.

Interesting but hard to listen to

Because the narrator droned on without much excitement. I think the story is worth a listen but honestly it was difficult and painful to listen to the narration. Glad it’s over.

A Very Excellent Hunting/Mystery Story

To get the full feel of this book it is a good idea to have read other books in this Series by this Author. The Narrator does a great job with the characters and storyline of this book. This story revolves around Mountain Lions and the wilderness of Montana. I highly recommend this book.

THE BANGTAIL GHOST

This is a good mystery book about Sean Stranahan. I have enjoyed all the books about Sean Stranahan that I've listened to. This one did not disappoint. I like these because of the wilderness atmosphere. If you like wildlife mystery genre books I think you'll love this book and series. This book was easy to follow and it made sense. It also held my interest. The storyline is written in a way that you can get lost in the story and imagine what's happening. Rick Holmes did a good job narrating this book. If my review is any help will you please click on the helpful link below. Thank you.

no fishing....

there's no fishing. not even a little. no madison river no casting no catching. good story but it would be nice to keep fishing as an integral part of the story

Mixed feelings

I enjoy the Montana setting and the descriptions of the back country in this series. I live in the general area of this book and there is a great mixing of humanity here - rich and poor, famous and infamous, eccentric and boring all live together and mostly tolerate each other. So when a couple of the characters are shown to be on the far end of the eccentric spectrum, it only surprised me that Martha and Sean did not know all about them already.

The first 90% of the book kept me engaged. I have a low tolerance for gore and violence and despite several reviews I had no problem with this book until close to the end. Maybe that was because of the nature of the attacks - it is frightening to hear of an animal taking down a person but there is no more evil intent in that than going out to mailbox to post a letter. Evil only shows when people are the instigators.

That said, I wondered at times whether this book was going to dive into the paranormal. There are a few apparitions that are never explained. They do not have to be ghosts or spirits but they could have been. I really dislike books that ending up using the super natural to explain plot points. This book never does that directly but it veered close to the line several times.

The ending does stretch credulity a bit more than necessary. There was no reason to take the weirdness that far - an unfortunate experiment in re-wilding would have tied up the plot just fine. There is a side story regarding a missing child which does not add much to the story and is solved prettily with a lovely bow right at the end - really had to roll my eyes at that.

This is the third book by McCafferty I have listened too and while this is far from my favorite series, I have mostly enjoyed the readings. Almost no fishing or fly tying in this one - isn't that what we read these for? I actually expected The Bangtail Ghost to be another fly design. I'll probably read another in the series since I enjoy the setting so much but if it stretches reality as much as this one, I will probably stop after that.