Off the Mangrove Coast (Louis L'Amour) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Louis L'Amour (Author), Stephen Lang (Reader)

Book Description

Series: Louis L'Amour | Publication Date: May 2, 2000

Four cassettes, 6 hours
Performance by Stephen Lang

These unique tales from Louis L'Amour, one of America's greatest treasures, were originally published in magazines of his time.  Revered throughout the world for his novels of the frontier experience, L'Amour's critical and popular reputation have soared to new heights as the power and excitement of his short fiction has been revealed in collections like Beyond the Great Snow Mountains.

Here are fast-moving, historically detailed stories of the travails of extraordinary men and women struggling to break free, to capture fortune and fame, to find love.  Here are the characters and the great tales that have made Louis L'Amour one of the world's most popular authors.  Here are the works of a master craftsman which will live forever in his listener's imaginations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bantam has published 117 of L'Amour's books, with this collection being the second posthumous story collection (the first was Beyond the Great Snow Mountains) in a projected series of four. Duke LaMoore, as he was sometimes called, is probably best known for his westerns, but the versatile author was also beloved for his successful historical and contemporary fiction. These nine stories, originally published in magazines of the 1940s and '50s, feature typical and endearing L'Amour heroes--detectives, prize-fighters, Far East adventurers, cowboys, sailors and some hardboiled women. Only one story is a western. The others are more contemporary and take place all over the world, from Los Angeles and Paris to the jungles of Borneo. L'Amour's short stories are characterized by his legendary vibrancy, an element of mystery or suspense and recurring themes of revenge, greed, loyalty, jealousy or honor. In "Secret of Silver Springs," three outlaws unexpectedly face a tricky and deadly moral dilemma. "Time of Terror" is a clever mystery about a dead man who is not really dead, and a hapless victim whose quick wits prove that the reader should "beware of an honest man." The title tale depicts four desperate men searching for sunken treasure off the coast of Borneo, only to find greed and murder as their reward. Best, however, is "The Unexpected Corpse," a tightly woven whodunit with a "private shamus" and a delicious actress in over their heads in a puzzling murder investigation. Crisply written and fast-paced, these stories will have the author's fans clamoring for more, the sooner the better.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This is the second in a quartet of Bantam's newly assembled collections of L'Amour short stories. As with last year's Beyond the Great Snow Mountains, these tales are said to be based on the author's experiences long before he became a western fiction legend. This volume also contains an interesting afterword by the author's son, Beau L'Amour, who edited the collection. This batch of stories is something of a mixed bag, ranging from as far back as the 1920s up through the last days of World War II. There are a couple of boxing yarns, a pair of thrillers, "Time of Terror" and "The Unexpected Corpse," and some fascinating pieces that came from L'Amour's worldwide travels. L'Amour was a man who lived life to the fullest. Fortunately for the rest of us, he remembered the details and possessed the talent to bring his experiences to life on paper. Budd Arthur --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (May 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553527223
• ISBN-13: 978-0553527223
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,298,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine stories of courage and adventure, June 28, 2000

By 

Robert Oliver "Rob" (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Off the Mangrove Coast (Hardcover)

Louis L'Amour was one of the great writers of modern times, and he is sorely missed by everyone that loves a good story. This book is one of the best collections of his short stories, some of them never before published. His books and stories are often filled with a deep sense of justice, and the ultimate triumph of all that is right. The stories in "Off The Mangrove Coast", follow that pattern. There is the story of a boxer, seeking justice for the cruel death of his father. In another story a man goes out into the jungles of Borneo, trying to rescue some tourists from murderers and headhunters. There is a story about a true friendship that forms during a perilous journey on the sea, in search of treasure. There are nine stories included in this book. These are stories about the heart of adventure and courage, and the surprising good that can sometimes be found in very unexpected places. Louis L'Amour wanted to be remembered as a good storyteller, and in this and so many of his other books that wish has always been fulfilled.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Bag of Nine Stories, February 5, 2003

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Off the Mangrove Coast (Mass Market Paperback)

The nince uncollected stories here range from L'Amour's earliest days as a writer to his latest, but are linked by protagonists seeking justice. While L'Amour is most famous for his Westerns, most of these stories draw upon his own life experiences for their setting and subjects. L'Amour was a boxer, winning over 50 bouts, and in "Fighters Should Be Hungry" he presents the classic tale of a hungry kid seeking to avenge his father's death. Boxing surfaces again in the equally formulaic "The Rounds Don't Matter." I don't know that he was ever a detective, but he's not much of a detective writer, based on the two weak pulp stories here, "The Unexpected Corprse" and "Time of Teror." For the Western fans, there's a quite nice little tale of outlaws and gold, called "The Secret of Silver Springs." And for the checkers fans there's a brief little throwaway tale about a champion seaman checker player called "It's Your Move." I have to confess that "The Cross and the Candle" made such a small impression that I have no idea what it was about! The two best stories derive their quality from L'Amour's travels. "Off the Mangrove Coast" is about a villanous quarter of sailors seeking gold lost at sea. It's a tense, gripping story with a great fight scene. The longest and best story is "The Diamond of Jeru", about an expatriate American on Borneo who dreams of making a big diamond score so he go back home. When an American couple hire him to take them upriver, it turns into Deliverance meets The Headhunters. It's a great old-fashioned adventure tale that was recently made into a cable movie. All in all, a mixed bag with two gems and a few lumps of coal.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great entertainment for a small price, November 21, 2002

By 

Malcolm Ray Robinson (TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Off the Mangrove Coast (Mass Market Paperback)

I've always been a fan of Louis Lamour's western's but this book is an excellent example of just how great a writer he was. Using his life experiences Mr. Lamour paints a vivid and entertaining picture in each of the short stories included in this compilation. And only one of them is set in the western genre. A great read for any fan of his or anyone who loves short stories.