The Search for Temperance Moon - Hardcover

Jones, Douglas C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805013873 ISBN 13: 9780805013870

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co., 1991

Synopsis

When outlaw queen Temperance Moon is found brutally murdered, her daughter, Jewel, madam of the finest brothel in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, hires Marshall Oscar Schiller and his associates to find out the truth of her mother's death

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Again proving himself master of his craft, Jones ( Come Winter ) contributes another outstanding novel set in the American West. This adroitly written story of murder, revenge, frontier culture and history takes place in Arkansas and the Indian Nations territory of the early 1890s. Celebrated madam Temperance Moon has been brutally slain. Her daughter, bordello superstar Jewel Moon, is dissatisfied with the purported resolution of the crime and, although the case has been proclaimed closed by "hanging judge" Isaac Parker of the Federal District Court in Ft. Smith, she hires former U.S. deputy marshall Oscar Schiller--debadged because he shot up a whorehouse while in a drunken rage--to investigate further. Oscar engages the services of an extraordinarily talented array of individuals on both sides of the law, who help him ferret out the real culprits. Witty, literate, resounding with employ ing ear-perfect dialect, and thoroughly absorbing, the novel excels as a depiction of the rapidly vanishing frontier, accurately reflecting the interaction of whites and Native Americans, the rising dominance of railroads and the devotion of rough-and-tough lawmen to their duties. Not least among the author's stellar achievements is his full-bodied, insightful character portrayal, as Oscar and his motley crew pursue justice in their inimitable and picturesque ways.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Oscar Schiller, cashiered U.S. deputy marshal, is summoned to Fort Smith, Arkansas' most famous bordello where the madam, Jewel Moon, asks him to solve the murder of her outlaw mother Temperance. The murder has been committed across the river in the Indian Nations, where only tribal police forces and federal courts have jurisdiction. Oscar develops a psychological portrait of Temperance from interviews and enlists the aid of several police comrades in his investigation. The author weaves a plot which is engrossing and rich in historical detail. Only the trial at the end manages to slow the story down. This book is on a par with Jones's earlier Come Winter ( LJ 9/1/89). Both a Western and a mystery, the novel embraces the two genres well. Highly recommended for public libraries.
- Robert Jordan, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0805013873
• ISBN 13: 9780805013870
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320