Dark Voyage of the Mittie Stephens: A Western Story [Hardcover]

Johnny D. Boggs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2004 | ISBN-10: 1594140324 | ISBN-13: 978-1594140327 | Edition: 1

Spur Award-winning Author
Western Heritage Award-winning Author

The side-wheel steamboat Mittie Stephens was lost on the dark night of February 12, 1869 in Caddo Lake, near the Texas-Louisiana border. Out of the 107 on board, 61 perished. Unbeknownst to almost all on board, the Mittie Stephens had been selected by the Army to transport in secret a payroll in gold that is being sought by a group of ex-Confederates who have worked out an elaborate strategy to seize the boat and its valuable cargo.

Johnny D. Boggs was born in South Carolina, he published his first Western short story in 1983. Since then he has written more than twenty short stories. He won a Spur Award from Western Writers of America for his short story, "A Piano at Dead Man's Crossing" in 2002 and the Western Heritage Award from the Cowboy Hall of Fame for his novel Spark on the Prairie in 2003. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife and son.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Bobby Randow is a former Confederate officer with a problem: his short-term memory is shot, thanks to the effects of injuries suffered in a gun battle with a gang of thugs planning to rob a payroll. While straining to recall his immediate past, he meets Laura Kelly, a onetime New Orleans belle on the run after she burned down her home rather than cede it to Yankee carpetbaggers. The pair meets aboard the Mittie Stephens, a refurbished Civil War troop transport vessel-- Bobby as a paying passenger, Laura as a stowaway. Others among the hundreds of passengers on board are the potential thieves from Bobby's past, law-enforcement officers looking for Laura, a cagey ship's captain, and a family of former slaves seeking a new start in the West. Remarkably, the hoary selective-amnesia gimmick works fine here, thanks to Boggs' careful character development. Randow and Laura both resonate with passion, intelligence, and decency in this delightful entertainment, which combines elements of the traditional western with an Orient Express-style whodunit and a Titanic-like romance. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"The Mittie Stephens is torched in the fighting for a flaming finale, but to find out who survived, you?ll have to read this crackling historical novel of the Red River?s greatest steamboat tragedy."
-- True West (February 2005) (Doody Enterprises )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 171 pages
• Publisher: Five Star; 1 edition (June 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594140324
• ISBN-13: 978-1594140327
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,742,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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