.
... Crisis On the Stinkingwater is Cheek's darkest book. It is also the
most realistic. The portrayal of the depth of hatred engendered by the bitter
conflict between rancher and homesteader chills the reader, as does the
character of Levi Bunting, the rancher's foreman. A villain so evil as Bunting is
not often realistic, but seems made out of cardboard and painted black.
Cheek avoids that trap. As black as Bunting's character is, he is still believable.
All in all, Cheek has written another Western that is filled with suspense
and unexpected consequences.
- Roundup Magazine
From Roland's Bookstore
Crisis On the Stinkingwater
West of the Johnson County War, and
pre-dating it by a half-dozen years, was another bitter cattleman / homesteader conflict.
Set amid the wild and beautiful land Wild Bill Cody later made socially palatable by
changing its river's name from the Stinkingwater to the Shoshone, Jethro Spring again seeks
fortune's breeze and reaps fury's whirlwind. This
time, however, the fugitive with a murder charge
on his head comes into conflict with evil for his own behalf, not in defense of helpless others.
Seeking only peace and isolation, Jethro Spring, known here by the alias
Jacob Weatherby, stirs Wyoming cattlemen's passions until both justice and the
embattled homesteader's psychic survival comes into play.
Crisis On the Stinkingwater
5th book in the Valediction for Revenge series
5-1/2 X 8-1/2 12-pt. cover 288 pages $16.95
Again, the writing of Crisis On
the Stinkingwater follows Roland Cheek's pattern of thorough reseach, along
with careful attention to historical detail and geographic accuracy. It's of a land
and people before Buffalo Bill Cody arrived
to apply his showman's hand to sanitizing even the country's name.
Tales of the West that Was
(or send check or money order for $16.95 to Roland Cheek, P.O. Box 1118, Columbia Falls, MT 59912)
