Dark Canyon [Mass Market Paperback]

Louis L'Amour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1985

When Gaylord Riley walked away from the Coburn gang, he had money and a dream. He worked hard and built a cabin, gathered a herd of cattle, and fell in love with Marie Shattuck.

But when he is confronted with false accusations of rustling and murder, Riley is forced to defend his new law-abiding way of life. Outnumbered and facing a lynching party, Riley is surprised when his old friends return to lend him a hand. But how can they help him and keep themselves out of jail? With the local marshal already suspicious of Riley, the Coburn gang will have to plan well and move fast. But that shouldn’t be a problem. Their reputation was built by doing just that.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Gaylord Riley once rode with the notorious Colburn gang. He did what he had to do, and was handy with a gun, but the outlaw life led nowhere, and the young man from Texas knew his luck was bound to run out. So he headed for the rugged land near Dark Canyon, determined to set up a ranch and settle down--only to find himself in the middle of a deadly feud between an arrogant cattleman and a ruthless saloonkeeper. And when Riley's outlaw past came back to haunt him, it was only a question of who would kill him first: the cattleman, the saloonkeeper, the local sheriff, or a mob of hotheaded ranchers spoiling for justice at the end of a rope.

About the Author

Louis L’Amour is undoubtedly the bestselling frontier novelist of all time. He is the only American-born author in history to receive both the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal in honor of his life's work. He has published ninety novels; twenty-seven short-story collections; two works of nonfiction; a memoir, Education of a Wandering Man; and a volume of poetry, Smoke from This Altar. There are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 8th Printing Edition edition (April 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553253247
• ISBN-13: 978-0553253245
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 0.5 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"I think of myself in the oral tradition--as a troubadour, a village tale-teller, the man in the shadows of a campfire. That's the way I'd like to be remembered--as a storyteller. A good storyteller."

It is doubtful that any author could be as at home in the world re-created in his novels as Louis Dearborn L'Amour. Not only could he physically fill the boots of the rugged characters he wrote about, but he literally "walked the land my characters walk." His personal experiences as well as his lifelong devotion to historical research combined to give Mr. L'Amour the unique knowledge and understanding of people, events, and the challenge of the American frontier that became the hallmarks of his popularity.

Of French-Irish descent, Mr. L'Amour could trace his own in North America back to the early 1600s and follow their steady progression westward, "always on the frontier." As a boy growing up in Jamestown, North Dakota, he absorbed all he could about his family's frontier heritage, including the story of his great-grandfather who was scalped by Sioux warriors.

Spurred by an eager curiosity and desire to broaden his horizons, Mr. L'Amour left home at the age of fifteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs, including seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, skinner of dead cattle, and miner, and was an officer in the transportation corps during World War II. During his "yondering" days he also circled the world on a freighter, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, was shipwrecked in the West Indies and stranded in the Mojave Desert. He won fifty-one of fifty-nine fights as a professional boxer and worked as a journalist and lecturer. He was a voracious reader and collector of rare books. His personal library contained 17,000 volumes.

Mr. L'Amour "wanted to write almost from the time I could talk." After developing a widespread following for his many frontiers and adventure stories written for fiction magazines, Mr. L'Amour published his first full length novel, Hondo, in the United States in 1953. Every one of his more than 120 books is in print; there are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide, making him one of the bestselling authors in modern literary history. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and more than forty-five of his novels and stories have been made into feature films and television movies.

The recipient of many great honor and awards, in 1983 Mr. L'Amour became the first novelist to ever to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress in honor of his life's work. In 1984 he was also awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.

Louis L'Amour died on June 10, 1988. His wife, Kathy, and their two children, Beau and Angelique, carry the L'Amour publishing tradition forward with new books written by the author during his lifetime to be published by Bantam.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Louis L'Amour's best., May 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Canyon (Mass Market Paperback)

Dark Canyon is one of Louis L'Amour's best. The story of a reformed outlaw going straight is well-written and full of action. You'll want to read it in one sitting.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage L'Amour, December 16, 2000

By 

James Drury - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Canyon (Mass Market Paperback)

Hey folks, here's another classic L'Amour. It's great. Keeps you wanting to turn the pages. We have a strong character here with good morals, and that's what I like to see in a Western. Why give us some sleeze ball as a hero? This is fiction, right? Dark Canyon compares very favorably with the best writing of Elmer Kelton, Kirby Jonas and Elmore Leonard!

--James Drury

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book that any L'Amour fan should read, February 8, 2000

By 

John Walker (South Dakota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Canyon (Mass Market Paperback)

Like the majority of Louis L'Amour fans, my favorites are his old standby westerns, and this is one. This is a classic L'Amour style western with good strong characters and very little bad language, a good message and minimum violence. Anyone who likes realism but not in the extreme, this book is for you. If you like it, also read Kirby Jonas's Legend of the Tumbleweed. They call Jonas the New Louis L'Amour, and these compliment each other really well.