J.A. Whitford & the Great California Gold Hunt

J.A. Whitford #1

by Frank Roderus

Readers will laugh their way through this Western as they follow the painful consequences of J.A. Whitford's perfect scam, which unexpectedly backfires. In 1859 this New York con man extraordinaire sells passage to nonexistent gold fields in Baja California to 27 gullible men. He plans to abandon them in Florida, keeping their money, of course. Too bad: Whitford loses the money and is forced to accompany the expedition. By means of fantastic chicanery, he shepherds the group from Florida to Texas. His plans may fail, but his optimism--never. Notable is his encounter with the hospitality of Texans and the romantic episode in which he meets his match. Great entertainment

Genres: Westerns

186 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1990

About the author

Frank Roderus wrote his first story—it was a western—when he was five. It was really awful, as might be expected, but his mother kept that typed and spell-checked short story tucked away until the day she died.
Later, Frank became a newspaper reporter, thinking that books are written by authors which he most assuredly was not. He kept trying to write though, and eventually did it wrong enough to learn how to get it right. That first sale, a young adult novel published by Independence Press, was more than thirty years and a good many books ago.
As a journalist, the Colorado Press Association awarded Frank Roderus their highest award, the Sweepstakes Award, for the best news story of 1980, and the Western Writers of America has twice named Frank recipient of their prestigious Spur Award. Frank passed away at age 73 in December 2015.

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humorous and good

[Cws]

W Rod