Winding Stair [Paperback]

Douglas C. Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1991

Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1890, is a haven of justice presiding over thousands of square miles known as the Indian Nation, a land that harbors the most hardened criminals in the country. When a woman is found murdered, young attorney Eben Pay, newly arrived to the territory, is pulled into a posse that follows a trail of blood and destruction. Among the dead he discovers a survivor, the beautiful, traumatized Jennie Thrasher, and the question of what she witnessed hangs like a storm cloud over the investigation. From the trial to the courtroom, Winding Stair is a classic historical novel that brings to vivid life a bygone era.

(20111020)

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Winding Stair is True Grit for grown-ups... Jones relies on none of the usual Western trappings; he eschews stereotypes... The historical research is seamless-the story never slows down to admit dull exposition. Winding Stair convinces, utterly, that this is how life must have been in that place at that time... a significant and highly entertaining contribution to the popular literature of the American West."

(-The New York Times 20111020)

"Stunning...excellent...superb...You''ll not forget it very soon."

(-Chicago Sun-Times 20111020)

"A classic Western novel in the finest sense of that often abused term... spare, tough and honest."

(-Houston Post 20111020)

"Jones is a meticulous craftsman whose dialects, dialogues, settings, and sayings seem so ''right'' and natural that one has the satisfying feeling of having read a novel without one ''false note.''"

(-San Francisco Sunday Examiner ) --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author

Douglas C. Jones was an acclaimed and award-winning author of numerous books including a nonfiction history of the Plains Indians, The Treaty of Medicine Lodge.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Tor Books (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812584619
• ISBN-13: 978-0812584615
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,616,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Picture of an Early 1900 Indian Nation, October 4, 2002

By 

Joe H. Clark (Belmont, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winding Stair (Paperback)

This is a story of the pursuit of a murderer in what is now eastern Oklahome just before it became a state. The pursuit is carried out jointly by a U.S. Marshall and the law officers of the Indian nation involved, probably the Cherokee.
In addition to a good story by an excellent writer of historical fiction, Douglas C. Jones, ("The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer"; "Elkhorn Tavern"), it describes the relatively unfamiliar operation of an Indian nation in the "Indian Territory" a few years before Oklahama statehood in 1907.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of Jones' best, December 5, 2009

By 

Gary Port - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Winding Stair (Paperback)

The Winding Stair is Jones' best book. On it's face it appears to be a western, but is in fact an excellent reconstruction of the declining days of the American West. He presents a sympathetic view of Judge Isaac Parker who has come to us in history as the notorious hanging judge. While Parker with his 21 years on the bench at Fort Smith, sentenced 160 men to die and hanged 79 of them, Jones depicts him as a man driven to do justice. The story is also of a poignant coming of age for the naive young man who gets caught up the horrific murder which is central to the novel. Jones later recycles many of the book's characters, but this book remains the best. Well worth the effort to locate and read.