Customer Reviews

Trailing Louis L'Amour in New Mexico

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Louis L'Amour has a vast multitude of readers around the world-but only one like Bert Murphy.

What the New Mexican author has done in this book, and the companion title ( Trailing Louis L'Amour from California to Alaska), is to help put into historical and geographical perspective the L'Amour novels.

Thus, this first book, that looks at the 7 novels set in New Mexico reveals that Murphy, has not only read the novels, but has poured over them- exploring and contextualising them for others. If you want to be part of Killoe's Cattle Trail, Conagher's Stage Line, Flint's Malpais, Shalako's War Path, Daybreakers Trek, Radigans Sierra Trails, or participate in a Showdown at Yellow Butte then Murphy is the best side-kick you will find and the above chapters in his book detail the well known LL stories.

If you plan to read, or have read any of the LL novels set in NM, and you like having additional information on the time and area, then this book is a must. Good maps also assist the reader to chart the area involved in the particular stories and plenty of large black and white photos give a 'feel' for the terrain. There are times when I feel that the book could have been tightened by a some better sub-editing (eg on p101, within the space of some 13 lines, we are told, twice, that Chato, an Apache war chief, lived from 1854-1934). However this book is a 'ramble' and such finer points do not lessen the interest of what Murphy has to tell us about his home state.

There is a lot of a L'Amour character about Bert Murphy-he has lived and worked around many states of his homeland, seen active service in two major conflicts, and climbed through the ranks finishing as a Major-General and Asst. Adjutant General of New Mexico. He has also been a pilot, engineer, oilfield well puller and roughneck, rancher, scuba diver, deputy sheriff, writer etc. In short, an interesting hombre......remind you of anyone?

New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment and Bert Murphy has done his best to take us on a trail of enchantment in looking at some of the works of the great western novelist, Louis L'Amour

FOOTNOTE: Murphy has also chanced his arm with a 'fictional'(?) hero, James Houston Slack (in 'Ventures West') - a story about the development of tough fighting man, from teenage orphan.