Robert Rice's _The Nature of Midnight_, features Postal Inspectors Gillian Loomis and Max Dombrowski and could be the start to a very successful series. When a postal worker and a customer are found dead in a rural Montana post office, the case is given to Loomis, an inspector who travels around the state. Dombrowski, a former pro football player, is flown in from Seattle and is the primary on the case, but he lets Gillian take charge of the investigation. Gillian is a former Seattle policewoman who quit after accidentally killing a young boy while on duty, and, since then, she has refused to carry a weapon, which is a breach of duty for a postal inspector.

The deaths appear to have some connection to a cache of old letters, found when an old safe and other equipment was moved from the old post office to a new one. The letters were written by a man named Sharpless Walker, who was lynched way back in 1918, and appear to have something to do with the sinking of the Lusitania. As Max and Gillian investigate, they begin to uncover a conspiracy that at first appears to reach to the highest levels of both the American and British governments.

This was a great, old-fashioned page turner. Rice does a great job of creating his conspiracy and then doling out the clues bit by bit, ratcheting up the tension and suspense. Max and Gillian are interesting characters and we come to care about them as they are besieged on all sides, by assassins and by higher-ups in both the Postal Inspection Service and the FBI, who may or may not be trustworthy. Rice also does a good job of drawing the scenery of rural Montana, as the two drive from place to place, pursuing the investigation. This was a riveting book and I for one would like to see another book involving these characters. Highly recommended.

I started reading The Nature of Midnight at 5:00 this past Saturday afternoon. At 1:30 Sunday morning, I had to FORCE myself to turn off the light to get some sleep. I have never read for that long a period straight, but I was absolutely enthralled!

The characters are marvelously believable -- each has his own quirks, and that's what makes them so human and real. The plot moves in ways I certainly wouldn't have thought of, but Rice manages to make flow easily and smoothly.

The only thing I might possibly say against it is that it kept me so gripped that I finished it in two days, so NOW what do I read??

I recommend this book highly to anyone who enjoys any kind of mystery or thriller. And if I had to pick one word to describe it, I would say, "MARVELOUS."

Postal Inspectors are the law enforcement branch of the US Post office and have full police powers for cases within their jurisdiction. Max Dombrowski is a Postal Inspector who is forced to work in Internal Affairs by Constance Barton, finding the dirt on people she wants out of the service. He is forced to obey her orders because she has something on him that if revealed could send him to jail.

Connie is sending Max to Norris, Montana for two reasons. A postal worker and a customer were murdered in the rural post office. Max is to serve as the lead investigator on the case but he is also ordered to find some dirt on the resident agent Gillian Loomis so Constance can legally fire her. When Max arrives in Norris, the duo conduct their investigation and find that there is information about the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 that someone doesn't want to surface. Max and Gillian race against the killers to see who can get their hands on the documents and in the process two more innocents are murdered.

Conspiracy buffs are going to love THE NATURE OF MIDNIGHT a thriller that portrays a realistic scenario on how the Germans knew where the Lusitania was located. Robert Rice has plenty of action and chase scenes but what makes this novel stand out in the crowd are the two protagonists who make a great team despite the demons that are haunting them. It is to be hoped that Mr. Rice will have more novels starring this dynamic duo.

Harriet Klausner

This is a wonderful book about a family living and enjoying the natural world around them. I envy them. For a while, a person can escape their hectic, city living,and enjoy the life the author is sharing with us. I highly recommend it!

The gorgeous imagery of the West is what makes this so incredibly amazing. There are lightning storms, hail, floods, fires, grizzly bears, guns--even murder and intrigue. Who knew there was so much going on in Montana? I highly recommend this beautifully written book.

This is a must book for every reader that loves wildlife and nature. I felt like I was visiting an old friend by the way it is written. The way some of the wildlife are described gives the feeling of a personel relationship with them, such as the grizzly crippled by a gunshot.

The descriptions of what it is like to live in such a place could be right out of our country's past years ago.

The author does an excellent job of expressing her feelings about the natural world that surrounded her in this unusual place...a place so few have visited but so many dream about.

The way she described how the scientist conduct their field research to monitor the grizzly, wolf, mountain lion, and coyote gives us a view into their scientific world, but on a personal point of view with some very humorous stories.

If you've never been to a semi-remote place surrounded by beautiful mountains, variety of wildlife, or interesting people, buy this book and it will take you there.

I live in the area of the photographer's subjects, and totally enjoyed the book and its' subject. The photographs, along with Evelyn Cameron's diary accounts of daily happenings, gave a captivating decription of what many of our homesteading ancestors endured. This is very enjoyable reading for anyone.

A coffee-table book that I actually read cover to cover. Filled with amazing photos from glass plate negs. Excerpts taken from thirty years of daily diaries. Best of all there wasn't much history of the area around Terry, MT until the glass plate negs and diaries were finally revealed by Donna Lucey after she convinced the heir of it all to show the world. A real treasure and one of my all-time favorite books. Evelyn Cameron was truly a frontier woman in every sense of the word.

This is a wonderful book. I have passed it around to many of my friends and family and they all love it! It is a diary of an extra ordinary women living in the frontier of Montana. Her daily life is unimaginable to us today. I am dismayed that I have been unable to order this for friends!! Please republish.

This was John Moore's first book for me. It introduced me to an entire world of not just the old west brought alive today, but true spirituality within the context of grass roots family living. Especially father-son relationships. I've recommended this book to well over hundred persons. A great gift for graduation! Both encouraging and sad. Encouraging that there are still folks like John and his family. Sad what is happening to our country with the loss of direct experience with life. Too much of our lives is lived through the media and PC--2nd hand living. This book will grab you with life on life's terms.

This book has been such an inspiration to my family and friends. We so believe that the lessons taught in Mr. Moore's letters to his son should be shared with young parents, we have given away over 75 books. We highly recommend this book to anyone whose responsibility it is to raise children to become adults of good character and strong faith.

John Moore writes this book from a spirit that lives within all of us. This book emodies the true value that books can bring us. John Moore has spent his lifetime to this point learning some immense lessons that we can be privy to and digest in the scope of an evening or two. I am writing a review of this book as I have come to send a copy to a friend. I would venture to say that anyone who reads this book, especially a man, who does not have parts of his soul stirred, is not wholly alive. And as a parent, it is great wisdom. I shared passage after passage with my wife, who had great appreciation for the human insight Mr. Moore shared. I now have a great desire to visit the ranch and man from which this book was birthed.

Colorful, captivating, a novel of freedom, self-reliance and humor. Twelve Quiet Men is a great read based on the little known Vigilante activities of eastern Montana and western North Dakota. The author has obviously done his research, compiling facts that have been delibertly hidden and forgotton. He uncovers the true mood of the Montana territory by showing the character of the men who took the trail to clean up the rustlers and killers of that time period. Leaving the reader searching for more information concerning the events of those historic times.

I've read so many "western" novels and such that I could almost feel the imaginary spurs on my heels when I walked down the carpeted hall on the way to my PC at the office, but I've finally found the real deal. This book removed those pesky spurs and replaced them with a real understanding of what life, and survival, was truly like in the effort to settle the west. Beyond that, and perhaps more importantly, it's an excellent story. I am not too much of a stickler for accurate details, but I must have an entertaining read. Here I found a great read, so I did a little bit of research. The author actually pulled it off; he combined a great story with historical accuracy! Ladies and gentlemen, that's a rarity.
As I've said I'm a western novel nut, and in this one I've found attention to detail that surpasses all others.
This guy obviously did his homework, and then was able to turn history into a page-turner that I simply couldn't put down. Get it, enjoy it, and let's hope that he gives us more!

Aaron

In the 1870's and 1880's, from central Montana into western Dakota Territory, organized outlaw gangs terrorized the region, rustling, robbing and killing. The law was powerless to stop them and the U.S. Army refused to help. Finally, a small secret group of determined cattlemen, led by Granville Stuart, abandoned their ranching responsibilities to hunt down and exterminate these lawless predators.

Wow, what a story! This is a forgotten chapter of the American West. Many are aware of the Vigilante activities in the Virginia City area during the 1860's when twenty two members of the outlaw Plummer gang were killed. Twenty years later, nearly one hundred outlaws were hung or shot in less than two years, but little has been written about it. Why?

Twelve men formed the active Vigilante group and they knew how to keep a secret. While they had the silent, active support of many ranchers in the region, they revealed their plans to no one. I, like others living in Montana and Dakota, have heard rumors of these events for years but never knew the complete story.

The author has done a commendable job in his research, reviewing period newspapers, delving into obscure records and capturing bits and peices of the events from various sources. If you like western historical novels or action/adventure tales, this is the book for you. It contains so much detail about life in those times, it speaks with authority and rings true.

I highly recommend this book. It's a great read!

A good read. Characters come to life and demand that you remember them as if they had lived next door. Leaves you wanting another hundred pages. Buy it now.

After reading the Baynes Clan by McCord, I ordered his next book as soon as I knew of it. Walking Hawk is an excellent book. McCord's ability to bring the reader into his story is incredible. Anyone who likes Louis L'Lamour will love McCord's books. Walking Hawk is another example of the...can't put it down...books that Mccord writes. This story has is all...love of family...struggles...mystery...turmoil...survival.A must read for western lovers. I am eagerly awaiting McCord's next western book.~Bev. Bozman~

Fantastic from first word to last!! A must read!

I liked this book a lot. It is about horses. Even though you can't get this book, it is a fantastic book. It is sad and happy, but mostly sad. I read this in the fourth grade! You must get this book or else you will be missing out on a lot of things that are truly wonderful. I also did a book project on this because it was such a exciting book! Take my word for it, it is spectacular!

I don't care if I was in third grade when I first found this book, over a decade later it has not lost its ability to entrance the horse-lover! Sam Savitt is a wonderful illustrator and writer of horse-stories, and this book provides a unique and splendid contribution to this genre. It is Number One on my selective and treasured bookshelf!!!!

I thought this book was wonderful! The descriptions and illistrations were beautiful. I first read it from the libary then was delighted to find it at a used bookstore. I immeadiately bought it and read it many times!

Lee moves out to MT. She and her mom stop at a small zoo and see a young wolf that is very sick and starved. Her mom gives the keeper about $50 to feed the animals and he uses it for whiskey. The go back and take the wolf home with them. Lee is supposed to take care of this wolf Ruthie. Slowly Ruthie begins to trust Lee. Then one day Lee gets a call from a man who has a small wolf pack. He can't take care of them anymore and asks her to take care of them if he gives her enough meat for the whole pack for the rest of their existence. She says yes and she gets enough meat for Ruthie and the rest of the pack. She basically falls in love with them. How ever her sister Savannah is scared to death of Ruthie and the rest of the wolves and the neighbors don't like them. They try to poisin them and Savannah saves them. The rest I will leave for you to find out. Have fun!!

13 year old Lee McDougall thinks it is going to be ruff when she moves to Montana with her sister Savannah and her mom and dad. Nonny their acting grandmother bought them a house in woods, were they are faraway from the main road. While Savannah has an interest in acting and is very good at it and is also a beutiful sister Lee seems to get jealous and thinks she could never be as good as her sister. When Lee and her mom go to the town store their lifes begin to change when they see a sign of a "Roadside Zoo" When Lee and her mother go and check it out they find a near death wolf in a cage with no food or water. Lee and her mother rescue the wolfe, and as they leave shots fire at their truck. Wolfe at the door is a book you don't want to stop reading just when you think you are done with the chapter, you go to the next page and you know you are hooked. I defiantly reconmend the Book Wolf at the door its a great book to read and there is a lot of action!

Lee McDougall, a 13 year old, has been moved from place to place all of her life, and none of them were as good and bad as wen she moved to Bigfork, Missouri. Her mother and her pick up a poorly treated wolf which they name Ruthie. Soon, their pack grows, and she has a family of 5 wolves. She realizes she is putting her family at risk, and she knows her 12 year old talented sister, is terrified! When danger strikes the wolves, however, her sister helps to save the wolves. This is a great book, I am 10 years old, and loved it so much, I tried to limit myself to reading ONLY 6 paragraphs a day! You must read this for your self!

Having been raised near the Continental Divide and spending summer vacations on Red Rock Pass and the CD, the photos in this book bring a flood of memories. Leland stood where I rode horses and hiked as a child and where summer vacations are spent as an adult. Having stood on the same hillside Leland took the magnificient sunset photograph of Montana's Centennial Valley for the book's cover page, I have truely seen in life the magnificient colors and majestic scenery presented by Leland Howard's photography. The written text by Lynna Howard is as well done with thorough detail of all the areas they hiked and all her special humor especially telling about hiking and camping in a "Grizzly Bear Recovery Area" and the humorous tales sprinkled through several pages about two Llamas Popeye and Pogo. Hiking on to the Lemhi Range and viewing Borah Peak the highest peak in Idaho in the Lost River Range was a view more than fifty miles. Lemhi Pass brings lots of Lewis and Clark history and the Sacajawea Memorial Camp. Through Chief Joseph Pass there are tales of snow in July, a vanashing CD trail, and Lynna's tough job of modeling at Little Lake. By early October there is snowfall and ice on Twin Lakes. Lynna gives a short history lesson about Big Hole National Battlefield and the Nez Perce Chief Joseph, how he fought to save his people from the U.S. Army, after he, Chief Joseph had so helped guide Lewis and Clark. The glacier carved peaks are truely rugged, nearly inaccessable areas in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness Area. The reader learns about "Trodes" and proposed routes for the CDT, and the discomforts and dangers of Hypothermia. And then there are the dangers of Lynna hiking off by herself and finding lots of bear scat and a wolf mistaken for Leland's pet dog Tempest. Rogers Pass to Marias Pass brings humor of grizzly stories, camping in Bear Creek Corridor, and the depth of description of scenery and surroundings near Bighorn Lake. The Bob Marshall Wilderness is an area of grizzlies, deep sucking bogs, Ruffed Grouse, deer, mountain goats, coyotes, and extreme geological formations with thorough explainations by Lynna of what has happened the last 175 million years. The hikers are assisted by mule trains, cowboys, and there is a lost soul found. On to the Canadian Border--what can I say--simply God's Country, glaciers, water falls, more grizzlies. By late September it can be snowy and bitter cold in Glacier with the park service trail crews removing seasonial bridges from waterways. Always most welcome along the CDT was the support crew and "Mom's Mobile Wilderness Cafe". "Along Montana and Idaho Continental Divide Trail" is a magnificient publication of Photographic Art for the dedicated hikers like Leland and Lynna as well as arm chair hikers who simply want to dream.

This wonderful book by Lynna and Leland Howard is a far cry from the usual coffee table photography book. The humorous, personable writing style of the author had me laughing all the way through the trail hiking story, which is woven amongst the incredible photographs. As magestic and awe-inspiring as the Divide Trail is, Lynna and Leland bring it within reach and touch upon the realism of the hike. The mountainside conifers under snow and the miles of wildflowers that stretch along the ranges will make you sigh with wonder, while the stories of Pogo the llama, and the list of clever bear tips will split your seams. You will savor every photograph and read every word. Highly recommended!

Patrick Morris has written an exceptional book detailing Anaconda's unique history. He captures the flavor of a city whose birth was sculpted by the great dreams of pioneer capitalists (those famous warring copper kings) and very hard-working pioneering men and women. To read this history of a town built upon a copper smelting industry, as documented through the prism of Anaconda perspectives--and not just as another sideline adjunct to Butte's storied copper mining--is a long overdue pleasure. This is a very readable book that speaks to Anaconda's importance to the copper mining and smelting industry in Montana.

Seems very factual and concise about the early history of the town, Marcus Daly the man and the Anaconda company. Very interesting and I am sure that everyone will enjoy reading it. Very good insight into the area history.