Santa Fe: A Skye's West Novel [Paperback]

Richard S. Wheeler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Skye's West | Publication Date: November 15, 1994

A tawdry travelling medicine show is the last place you'd expect to find frontier scout Barnaby Skye and his two wives, But he's been hired to guide the caravan across the dangerous Sante Fe Trail. And when Skye starts a job, he follows through.

So when Indians abduct and ravish the troupe's beautiful young star, Skye has no choice but to kill her tormentors. Now, scores of vengeful Comanches gather to unleash their fury on Skye's party.

Surrounded and outnumbered, Skye and his women must defy the warriors' bloodlust, or face an agonizing death.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Draws memorable characters with bold and bigger-than-life strokes."--Terry C. Johnston, author of the Plainsmen series

"No one doss it better!"--The Roundup Quarterly

About the Author

Richard S. Wheeler has written over fifty novels and several short stories. He has won four Spur Awards and the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in the field of western literature.

He lives in the literary and film community of Livingston, Montana, and is married to Professor Sue Hart, of Montana State University-Billings. Before turning to fiction he was a newsman and book editor. He has raised horses and been a wrangler at an Arizona dude ranch.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (November 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812521447
• ISBN-13: 978-0812521443
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,238,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Wheeler began a late-in-life career as a novelist at age fifty, and by his seventy-fifth year had written seventy novels. He began life as a newsman and later became a book editor, but turned to fiction full time in 1985.

He started by writing traditional westerns but soon was writing large-scale historical novels and then biographical novels. In recent years he has been writing mysteries as well, some as Axel Brand. His Lieutenant Joe Sonntag series occurs in 1940s Milwaukee, and focuses on life in a big, smoky industrial city just after World War Two.

He has won numerous awards, including the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in the literature of the American West, and also six Spur Awards from Western Writers of America. He has received more Spur Awards than any other living author.

He grew up in Wisconsin and migrated West, holding newspaper jobs in Phoenix, Oakland, Carson City, and Billings. His wife, Sue Hart, is an English professor at Montana State University in Billings.

He has been focusing more and more on biographical novels. One of these, published in March, 2010, is called Snowbound, and is about the explorer John C. Fremont's tragic fourth expedition. It won a Spur Award.


For a quarter of a century he's largely made his living from writing fiction. That reality astonishes him. In his mid-seventies now, he is still dreaming up new stories.

Note: There are other Richard Wheelers writing books. One is an historian of the Civil War, and another writes histories of the Marine Corps, and another is a social scientist. Richard S. Wheeler is the novelist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough guys!, August 10, 2010

By 

Rachel Dean "Rachel Dean- nightbookworm" (Poway, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Santa Fe: A Skye's West Novel (Paperback)

Although I havent read any of his other books, I found this one to be riveting and exciting..dont agree totally with the other reviewer, but I see they're point!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misses the mark completely, December 22, 2009

By 

Evan the Dweezil (A Place-Sort Of, Montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Santa Fe: A Skye's West Novel (Paperback)

This is the first book of Mr. Wheeler's that I haven't just absolutely loved. My issue with it was the parties Skye got stuck guiding for. They were the most irritating and dispicable people on the face of the planet. I just couldn't handle their stupidity and whining, so I quit reading about halfway through. It also felt like Skye was just letting these jerks walk all over him, not something he's done before.

This is just one entry in a long and wonderful series.