And the Wind Whispered
Author Dan Jorgensen assembles an all-star cast of famous names from the American West in his historical whodunit/adventure tale And the Wind Whispered.
Set in 1894 in and around the boom town of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Jorgensen’s novel starts with a train ride, expands to include a dead body, and eventually numbers such iconic figures as Nellie Bly, Bat Masterson, Deadwood Sheriff Seth Bullock, Will Rogers, Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, and even Theodore Roosevelt among its cast of characters.
Jorgensen stuffs his narrative with salty humor and plot twists (indeed, perhaps too many plot twists – they sometimes feel like they are getting in each other’s way.) With the exception of a couple of slightly sluggish sections in the second act, (maybe a light technical edit would iron these slight wrinkles out?) the author manages to keep everything bubbling along while also unobtrusively working in a good deal of interesting local Wild West lore.
The adventures of the novel’s three young heroes will feel comfortably familiar to Western fans, but the story’s wider cast will make it intriguing even to readers who tend to avoid the time period.
A very spirited outing.
