The Wandering Hill
Larry McMurtry’s Berrybenders continue to serve as the quintessential 19th century standard of a dysfunctional family. First introduced in Sin Killer, our intrepid and peculiar British travelers and their equally outlandish American colleagues confront the many and varied challenges faced by alcohol-crazed and semi-lucid adventurers in the frontier West. The lead character, Tasmin, is still perplexed by her mountain man husband, Jim Snow, and both remain thoroughly amazed at the raunchy Lord Berrybender and his cadre of offbeat retainers. There is an abundance of comic episodes interspersed with lurid killings played out against a West caught up in Indian and American unrest. One gets the impression McMurtry is having the time of his life writing about such characters. The reader would be wise to join him for the ride.