The Scorpion Trail (Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger) [Mass Market Paperback]

Larry D. Sweazy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger | Publication Date: April 6, 2010

Second in the Josiah Wolfe series from a Spur award-winning author

Starting your life over in a big city like Austin, Texas, is no easy task, especially for a man raised in the country like Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe. Now, after uprooting his son to the state's capital, Josiah must leave Austin to meet up with the rest of the Texas Ranger Frontier Battalion. But before he can get to work, Josiah has to make a quick stop to check on his old friend Juan Carlos, who's no stranger to trouble.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

The Scorpion Trail won the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction, and the 2011 Best Books of Indiana literary competition (fiction category).

Judge's comments from the 2011 Best Books of Indiana Literary competition:

For the second-consecutive year, Larry D. Sweazy delighted Best Books of Indiana judges with his latest addition to the Josiah Wolfe series. The Scorpion Trail, while a traditional and gritty western novel, sets itself apart in the genre due to Sweazy's deft storytelling and historical accuracy. It was a joy to watch the further development Josiah Wolfe's character throughout his new adventures in The Scorpion Trail, which truly compliments Sweazy's previous novel The Rattlesnake Season. While The Scorpion Trail stands very well on its own, reading the books in tandem is recommended for a truly great western experience.

Sweazy's The Rattlesnake Season, was only the second western novel ever selected as a finalist for the Best Books of Indiana competition. The Scorpion Trail now becomes the first western to win the competition. Both recognitions are testament to the supreme quality of Sweazy's Josiah Wolfe series, which are not simply great westerns, but great novels of fiction.

About the Author

Larry D. Sweazy (larrydsweazy.com)won the WWA Spur award for Best Short Fiction in 2005, and was nominated for a Derringer award in 2007.  His first novel, The Rattlesnake Season, was a finalist in the Best Books of 2010 Indiana literary competition.   His second novel, The Scorpion Trail won the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction and the 2011 Best Books of Indiana literary competition in the fiction category.  The Scorpion Trail is the first western to ever win the Best Books of Indiana.  He has published over 50 non-fiction articles and short stories, which have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine; Boys' Life; Hardboiled; Amazon Shorts, and other publications and anthologies.  Larry is the author of the Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series (Berkley), and a standalone, modern-day, mystery novel, The Devil's Bones (Five Star).  He is member of MWA (Mystery Writers of America), WWA (Western Writers of America), WF (Western Fictioneers), and ITW (International Thriller Writers). He lives in the Midwest, with his wife, Rose, two dogs, and a cat.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; Original edition (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425233790
• ISBN-13: 978-0425233795
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #986,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Larry D. Sweazy was born in Anderson, Indiana, and has spent most his life in the Hoosier state, with a four year stint spent in the state of Texas. He currently lives in Noblesville, Indiana, with his wife Rose, two dogs and a cat. He is a full-time writer and freelance indexer.

Larry D. Sweazy is the author of the Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger (Berkley) series, starting with THE RATTLESNAKE SEASON (#1, pub date: 10/2009), THE SCORPION TRAIL (#2, pub date 04/2010), THE BADGER's REVENGE (#3, pub date 04/2011), THE COUGAR'S PREY (#4, pub date 10/07/2001), THE COYOTE TRACKER (#5, pub date 08/07/2012), and a standalone (modern-day) thriller, THE DEVIL'S BONES (pub date 03/07/2012). Larry has also written more than 50 short stories, non-fiction articles, and poems. His first professionally published short story, "The Promotion", won the 2005 Spur award for Best Short Fiction, and appeared in The Best Short Mysteries of 2005 anthology (THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING DETECTIVE: AND 25 OF THE YEAR'S BEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES (Carroll & Graf), edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg. His other short stories have appeared in, or will appear in, Boy's Life, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Amazon Shorts, Hardboiled, Terminal Fright, and other anthologies and magazines.

His first novel, THE RATTLESNAKE SEASON, was a finalist in the Best Books of 2010 Indiana literary competition. His second novel, THE SCORPION TRAIL won the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction and the 2011 Best Books of Indiana literary competition in the fiction category. THE SCORPION TRAIL is the first western to ever win the Best Books of Indiana.

Larry's non-fiction articles have appeared in The Drood Review, Mystery Muses, Roundup magazine, and in the upcoming release from M.E. Sharpe, The Encyclopedia of the Western Expansion. As a freelance indexer, he has written 600 back-of-the-book indexes for publishers such as Cisco Press, Addison Wesley, Prentice Hall, and Cengage.

For more information about Larry's writing and publishing career as a writer, poet, freelance indexer, and owner of WordWise Publishing Services, please visit www.larrydsweazy.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Award-Winning Book and Author, July 1, 2011

By 

Matthew P. Mayo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Scorpion Trail (Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger) (Mass Market Paperback)

Already a fan of Larry D. Sweazy's first novel in his Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series, The Rattlesnake Season, I was prepared to like its sequel, yet hesitant, too, lest Sweazy do something to sway my fondness for the well-drawn characters he'd introduced me to. I needn't have worried, The Scorpion Trail is a first-class read.

And those characters? Sweazy works them over pretty hard--emotionally, physically, socially--but the ones who survive emerge stronger and wiser. Josiah Wolfe is a complex character decidedly not a superman. His tragic past and the specters of his dead wife and daughters haunt him every day, but his love for his young son, for being a Texas Ranger, for the newly reawakened appreciations of a woman in his life bubble to the surface, forcing Wolfe for the first time in a long time to look to the future with hope.

We're treated also in this book to the maturation of the pugnacious, trigger-happy ranger, Scrap Elliott--a welcome development, for Scrap is a firecracker whose youthful vibrance counterbalances Wolfe's more mature, sober ruminations. In these characters, Sweazy is setting up a partnership, burrs and all, as filled with tension as it is with growing mutual admiration.

At times a gunshot-speed series of events, the book takes Wolfe and Elliot from Austin to Waco to Fort Worth, along the Brazos River. Toss in an ungrateful prostitute, angry Kiowas, skulking killers, and a vicious Mexican known as El Puno, the Fist, and you're on--and in--The Scorpion Trail.

Sweazy has the rare and enviable ability to convey a balance of gripping action and weighty themes in a conversational manner. The Scorpion Trail proves he's a natural storyteller, born to the task. And if that doesn't convince you, consider that this book has just been awarded the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Western book, September 17, 2010

By 

Linda F. Lucas - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Scorpion Trail (Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger) (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one in the series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The new Elmer Kelton, April 12, 2010

By 

Skip Jack (portland, oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Scorpion Trail (Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger) (Mass Market Paperback)

Larry D. Sweazy is right up there with Elmer Kelton as a western writer. The Scorpion Trail is full of heart and excellent characterizations. I personally am finding it difficult to wait for the next book. Give this one a read. If you haven't read the first one (The Rattlesnake Season), you'll grab that one up, too!