Book Review: "Wanderlust Creek and Other Stories"

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  "From the author of The Ranch Next Door and Other Stories come six more short stories exploring the joys, heartaches and laughter of life against the backdrop of the Old West. In “Single-Handed,” a gunfighter’s courage comes in doubt when he refuses to explain to his friends the real reason he backed down from a fight. The capable proprietress of the busiest eating-house in town handles a day of disasters large and small in the light-hearted “The Rush at Mattie Arnold’s,” while in “Room Service,” a hotel night clerk finds himself in on odd position after he allows an exhausted traveler to stay in a reserved room. And in the title story, the novella-length “Wanderlust Creek,” a young rancher and his wife struggle to hold onto their land and their dreams in the face of adversity from weather, enemies—and even doubts of each other."

  Character driven westerns with a charm of the old fashioned (something usually only found in books from the period) is Elisabeth Grace Foley's speciality and she has served that special up yet again with "Wanderlust Creek and Other Stories". I had been looking forward to another collection of western short stories ever since I read her first collection, falling even more in love with the author's writing when I read her Mrs. Meade Mysteries, "Left-Handed Kelly," and "Corral Nocturne". Needless to say, I was delighted with this collection.

  "The Rush At Mattie Arnold's" reminded me of O. Henry, "A Search For Truth" held me spellbound, I almost teared up for "Room Service," and "Wanderlust Creek" has ensconced itself among my list of favorites from Miss Foley. While "Single-Handed" and "The Mustanger's Bride" were also highly enjoyable.

  These are not rough and tumble westerns a la what most people think of when they think about westerns. They are, as I said at first, character driven. It is that small driving force that can make all the difference. For instance I would not recommend "Destry Rides Again" Max Brand to certain members of my family because they do not like westerns, but I would recommend Miss Foley's collections to them. Miss Foley's stories are not bound by their genre. They more than just westerns. They are good stories that anyone at any age could easily enjoy.

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  You can visit Miss Foley's blog The Second Sentence, where she blogs about writing, books, westerns, and history, to learn more about her. She recently did a three-part series on color photography from the early 1900s to the 1940s and closed it off by featuring old videos from that same time frame.