The Palo Duro Trail

Trail Drive #20

by Ralph Compton (Series Creator), Jory Sherman

When Dagstaff signs on to drive four thousand head of cattle up the dangerous Palo Duro trail, he finds himself caught in furious storms, facing Comanche raiders, and with a hired killer among his hands. Original.

Genres: Westerns

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 7, 2004

About the author

Ralph Compton (April 11, 1934—September 16, 1998) was an American writer of western fiction.

A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton began his writing career with a notable work, The Goodnight Trail, which was chosen as a finalist for the Western Writers of America "Medicine Pipe Bearer Award" bestowed upon the "Best Debut Novel". He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. In the last decade of his life, he authored more than two dozen novels, some of which made it onto the USA Today bestseller list for fiction.

Ralph Compton died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 64. Since his passing, Signet Books has continued the author's legacy, releasing new novels, written by authors such as Joseph A. West and David Robbins, under Compton's byline.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphc...

Reviews

[David Burnworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felix Dagstaff hires the most hated man in town to lead his cow drive, Jubal Flagg. Flagg knows his stuff and quickly takes charge and leads the drive. On the way, Dag will have to survive a hired killer, who has been paid well to kill Dag and Flagg, and to complicate things more the guy is part of the crew. As the drive seems to be going well Dag gets a letter that crushes his whole world.
This one is a must-read in this series and one of the best that I have read.

[Susan1566 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not really enjoy this book although I did read it (very short, easy read). I didn't like the characters all that much, they weren't really fleshed out. I found them to be lacking in detail. You don't really get much information and they don't come across as real to me. There were some good ideas but they ended up very shallow.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough. A little romance between Felix Dagstaff and a gal he knew for a long time, Jo. Felix is married to another woman, Lauria, who is pregnant with their first child. Lots thrown at the cowboys on the cattle drive in this story. Some make others don't.

[Peter Charleston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick reading adventure.

[Jack · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a seemingly random jumble of Western cliches interspersed with soporific dialogue, with what passes for a narrative so front-loaded as to render the latter half of the book superfluous.

Read for work. Not recommended. Not worth the paper it's printed on, come to think of it. Worthy only of the void.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough trail drive

Seemed that any thing that could happen did happen on this long drive and yet they came through it all.