Listen to the Mockingbird

by Penny Rudolph

"Matty's word-pictures and unorthodox civil disobedience will hold your attention until the last page." —Southwest Book Reviews

It's 1861 in New Mexico Territory, and the Civil War is about to have a startling impact on Matty Summerhayes. Matty is struggling to develop a horse ranch to make enough money to return to the East. A stranger dies in her barn...with a map of her land in his pocket.

Then war is declared, and Texans invade her valley for the Confederacy. Rumors begin to fly about a lost gold mine and soon someone is trying to run her off her ranch.

Then her closest friend Winona—a one-time slave who is now nearing childbirth—is about to be stoned for practicing voodoo, and only Matty's creative quick thinking can save her. But when Matty's greatest secret is exposed, she must find a killer or lose her ranch.

307 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2002

About the author

I've worked as a bartender, truck driver (I had to stand up to shift!), chile picker, musician, bookkeeper, secretary, anything I could convince people I should be paid for.

When I finally finished college, I graduated to science writing, medical writing, feature writing. I loved doing widely diverse things, from watching open-heart surgery to talking to ranchers about cattle breeding, to interviewing NASA scientists about Saturn. I've made the rounds with a game warden, interviewed opera stars, visited digs with an archeologist, watched the making of steel, and interviewed Apache hunters.

Later I taught high school creative writing and journalism at the college level. When I decided money might be a nice thing to have, I turned to corporate writing. I was the pleased and surprised recipient of more than 50 national writing/editing awards including an International Golden Quill.

When I got to where money wasn't all that important, I tried my hand at fiction. I'm sure glad money wasn't important because that was a real uphill battle. Along the way I won a 2003 EPPIE and was a finalist in five national fiction competitions.

I've lived most of my life in New Mexico, with a few detours to the east and west coasts. Albuquerque is my home now, which I share with my husband Ralph and a small menagerie of rescued animals.

Reviews

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in reading this book because I grew up in New Mexico and my sister lives around the area where this story took place, Las Cruces. I enjoyed it for the most part. Mattie is a very strong female character, although I don't know why it took her so long to kill Andrew. Winona was also an intriguing character. With Tonio moving on to California, but with Mattie hoping he would return, it seems that there could be a sequel to this novel.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book the night before a long travel day and finished it along the following day's journey. I picked it because I like books with strong women, especially in historical settings since we didn't hear much of the women of those days in my school history books. The idea of a woman running a horse ranch in civil war times was attractive. For the most part, the story was intriguing and the characters nicely developed. But I was disappointed in how the protagonist was written. Strong, and real from the perspective of having to deal with all the horrendous situations the author wrote for her - yes. But it frustrated me that she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, or even close, and seemed to nearly feint at the most ridiculous times. I also found some parts of the story overly convoluted. Otherwise, well done on the civil war history and horse ranching, as well as the warmth and grit of a western flair.

[Rosalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an ok book, but I thought the end got a little lost. i was most interested in the Union and the confederate conflict.