Deception Trail by Fred Grove - a book review by Robert Steven Mack

Fred Grove was a writer whose numerous works have been mostly placed in the rough old days of the Grand Old West. A former newspaper journalist and author of a number of novels and short stories, I recently came across one of his books; a Western as you might have guessed. It is called “Deception Trail.” I found it in the local library bookstore. It is a “first edition” from 1988 and carelessly marked as "Discarded." It had obviously not been read for quite a while. What a cruel thing to do to a book: labeling it with such a dishonorable title; a book of quality and imagination. Merely tossed onto a shelf with a lot of other unwanted books! Feeling sorry for it, I took it home. Perhaps I was being a little hasty about the whole matter? But after all, it was a Western.

Its tempting plot goes as follows: A racehorse of enormous value is abruptly stolen and held for ransom. Dude McQuinn, his tough but gullible owner, Billy his miracle-working trainer and vet, and Coyote Walking his jockey go from town to town in search of the famous Judge Blaire. Abstractly written, this gritty adventure will not only glue your eyes to its epic golden pages, but give you more than your money’s worth with shoot-outs, fist fights , con-artists, and the enticing edge-of-your seat writing by the late Fred Grove. A real western tale!

This book -if you can find it - filled with humor and excitement of the epic tale and little adventures they have along the way - is for anyone who's plum into a good western book. You can hardly wait to turn the page, leaving you stumped 'till the very end with an abundance of suspense, false leads and con-artists along the way. I shouldn’t have said that! To think that this book once went for $12.95, and I bought it only for 50 cents. This book deserves better.
　"R"

Copyright 2011 by Robert Steven Mack (all rights reserved!)