Beecher Island
In 1868, hostilities between the Cheyenne Indians and the U.S. cavalry are heating up under the direction of the war chief Roman Nose. Forced to go to a reservation, certain tribes fight back. Matt Talbot is a scout for Lieutenant Beecher of the U.S. Cavalry. Trapped by thousands of Cheyenne, their small band of men retreats to a bush-covered sandbar located in the middle of a stream. Against desperate odds, Talbot steals off into the night and manages to make it back to civilization. As the story unfolds several years later, Talbot takes on a job as a newspaper reporter in Nevada. Eventually he meets a former friend and scout who survived the battle, which would later be named after Lieutenant Beecher. Up against vigilantes and gold smuggling, Talbot and his friend try to recover a cache of missing gold and become rich.
This is an entertaining western novel consisting of an Indian battle, a mine cave-in, vigilante justice, and a stolen gold shipment. Tim Champlin is a prolific Western novelist known for his unconventional but entertaining stories of the Old West. Character-driven with fine dialog, I highly recommend this novel to Western lovers.
