Bowdrie's Law (along with "Bowdrie") are collections of short stories from L'Amour starring this great character. These were the first L'Amour books I read (short stories are easier to experiment with) and they kicked off my fandom.

If you like a good adventure story about the frontier, or if you are simply interested in the Texas Ranger modus operandi (L'Amour is famous for his historical accuracy and amount of research that goes into his books), you can do no better than beginning with the tales of Chick Bowdrie.

Was the West really "Wild?" What did it take to be a Texas Ranger in the mid-nineteenth century?

Let Louis L'Amour tell you in this story about Chick Bowdrie, Texas Ranger. He uses Bowdrie in some of his other stories, just as he used the Sacket brothers in another series. When he created a good hero, he used him!

Typical L'Amour heroes were dependably tall, broad of shoulder, narrow of hip and tough as whang leather. His stories were filled with action, and his protagonists were unfailingly "good guys" who sought to correct injustice and right wrongs. The kind of man with whom you like to identify.

The late Louis Dearborn L'Amour (originally Lamoore) wrote a hundred stories, and more of them were million copy best-sellers than any other author. Furthermore, he knew about the environment and people of whom he wrote. His details were therefore accurate. He was a Westerner, and had traveled the world as a circus roustabout, boxer, merchant seaman, army officer in WWII, cowboy, miner and logger. He was a man's man, and he wrote great stories. I always looked forward to his books, and have derived hours of pleasure from them. This one is no exception.

Joseph H Pierre
Author of The Road to Damascus: Our Journey Through Eternity

This book is simply great fun to read aloud; you'll find yourself wanting to memorize its evocative imagery and epic aspirations:

"Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt; Five thousand tongue applauded when he wiped them on his shirt. Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip, Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip."

You and your youngsters will love the humor and the drama in this a classic rendition of Thayer's beloved poem. Infants and toddlers will enjoy the bright pictures, and all readers will appreciate the perfect teaming of Thayer and Polacco.

Fathoms down, fathoms down, how I'll dream fast asleep.
I feel it stealing now. Sentry, are you there?
Just ease this darbies at the wrist, and roll me over fair,
I am sleepy and the oozy weeds about me twist.

This story combined with the author's ongoing pronouncements reveals a realm of American art where Melville stands alone. He is America's greatest, only truly prophetic, artist. Enter this little book openly, seriously, and it will serve you for life. Read it again and again until you hear its voice.

Melville does a fantastic job in so short a work of characterization. From the main characters, Budd, Claggart, and the captain/philosopher Starry Vere, to minor characters of significance like the old Dansker, Melville gives carefully detailed and finely nuanced renderings of the players and their roles and responses to the events of the story.

Claggart's conflict with Budd takes on special urgency with the 1790's problem of mutinies aboard British sea-going vessels. Vere and his court must try to distinguish moral responsibility from legal necessity to judge the fatal interactions between Claggart and Budd. Melville is sensitive to late 18th century philosophical currents in regard to both American independence and the French Revolution - Discussions of rights and nature are scattered through the text. Complicating these strains are theological currents of good and evil, innocence and natural depravity. "Billy Budd" is a fine work, and wonderfully complex.

This excellent edition, compiled and edited by Hayford and Seals, is the appropriate one for the scholar or the completist. It includes extensive notes and critical interpretations (sadly only through the initial publication of this edition - 1962), photo reprints of Melville's manuscript, and textual commentary. Absolutely worth reading and rereading.

Like the author, Kit Fielding is a steeplechase jockey and considered one of England's finest. Like previous Francis heroes, Kit is intelligent, tough-minded and resilient, with a strong moral center. But while many of his fictional predecessors are loners, Kit is inextricably connected to his family by years of racing tradition and by his close, almost telepathic connection with his twin sister, Holly. Recently, Holly has disrupted family harmony by marrying Bobby Allardeck, scion of another racing clan with whom the Fieldings have had a bitter, centuries-old feud.

Entreated by Holly to stop a vicious newspaper campaign seemingly designed to ruin her husband, Kit soon learns that the true target is Maynard Allardeck, a ruthless robber baron who is Bobby's own father. Seeking to harm the father through the son, Maynard's many enemies are prepared to squash whoever stands in their way and their brutal tactics place Kit in deadly peril. But the greatest danger may lie within his own family. . . in the form of a human time bomb who happens to be Kit's brother-in-law.

Francis tells a swiftly paced tale, enhanced by an unexpected ethical dilemma. In extricating his loved ones from difficulties, Kit must employ morally ambiguous methods, one of which skirts perilously close to extortion. Moreover, the reader closes "Break In," feeling a strong sense of unfinished business. Fortunately, Francis seems to have felt the same way and his next mystery, "Bolt" seeks to resolve "Break In"'s loose ends. (The only other Francis hero besides Kit Fielding to make a return engagement i! s Sid Halley). While both novels may be read independently, they provide the most enjoyment when read sequentially, giving readers a fuller picture of the family ties that bind.