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Jazz Age #2
High on a Hill
Annabel Lee Donovan may be a bootlegger's daughter, but she is also a lady. The slim, dark-haired young woman desperately wants her father to leave "the business" and settle down in one place. Instead, their latest move, done in the middle of the night with the help of henchmen Boone and Spinner, brings her to an ordinary house high on a hill above Henderson, Missouri. Yet this place, Annabel will soon discover, is different, for what is about to happen here will alter the course of her life.
America, too, is facing a transformation. The Jazz Age began as a high-spirited decade of speakeasies and bathtub gin. But by 1925 whiskey running has become a deadly struggle between mobsters from St. Louis to Chicago. And the whole country, like Annabel, senses the change. Behind the wailing music beats a warning that the good times are coming to an end.
Yet something wonderful seems about to unfold for Annabel, when she meets handsome Corbin Appleby, former sheriff of Fertile, Missouri. Despite fears that Corbin could be an undercover agent after her father, Annabel is falling deeply in love for the first time. Then a whiskey war explodes in Henderson, and just as gunshots shatter lives, betrayal threatens to shatter dreams and a woman's heart.
America, too, is facing a transformation. The Jazz Age began as a high-spirited decade of speakeasies and bathtub gin. But by 1925 whiskey running has become a deadly struggle between mobsters from St. Louis to Chicago. And the whole country, like Annabel, senses the change. Behind the wailing music beats a warning that the good times are coming to an end.
Yet something wonderful seems about to unfold for Annabel, when she meets handsome Corbin Appleby, former sheriff of Fertile, Missouri. Despite fears that Corbin could be an undercover agent after her father, Annabel is falling deeply in love for the first time. Then a whiskey war explodes in Henderson, and just as gunshots shatter lives, betrayal threatens to shatter dreams and a woman's heart.
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
44 people are currently reading
307 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Garlock
86 books382 followersDorothy Garlock was a best-selling American author of over 60 historical romance novels, most of them set in the American West. More than 20 million copies of her books are in print, in 18 languages. Her books have been on the New York Times best seller list seven times. She was named one of the 10 most popular writers of women's fiction four years in a row, from 1985-1988. In 1997, she was awarded the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award. Garlock is also a member of the Romance Writers Hall of Fame.
Garlock worked as an editor, agent and publicist for most of her writing career. She was a native of Texas who grew up in Oklahoma then married and moved to Iowa. Garlock donated many of her manuscripts and other unpublished writings to the University of Iowa libraries.
Pen names include:
Johanna Phillips
Dorothy Phillips
Dorothy Glenn
Garlock worked as an editor, agent and publicist for most of her writing career. She was a native of Texas who grew up in Oklahoma then married and moved to Iowa. Garlock donated many of her manuscripts and other unpublished writings to the University of Iowa libraries.
Pen names include:
Johanna Phillips
Dorothy Phillips
Dorothy Glenn
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
December 23, 2008
Another great book from Dorothy Garlock. This is a companion to the ones written about Fertile, Missouri during the depression and prohibition. Gangsters, bootlegging and clannish families from the hills. I love the way ms. Garlock writes her stories. You feel like you are actually there during that time. Just a great period romanctic read
May 10, 2010
I like the era these stories are set in (Jazz age 1920s)and there is alway action in the plot. I never guess who the bad guy is,a surprise every time. I will be curious to try some of her older books to see what the writing is like. There seems to be a great preocupation with young girls being raped by older men in the community and having to live with the consequences. I'm not sure if that has something to do with the era the stories are written in or if this is an overarching theme for her books.
April 29, 2024
This is a reread but very enjoyable. Annabell is the daughter of a bootlegger. They moved a lot and she longed for a home and friends and to be a part of a community. When a young teen named Jack comes to the door near death she nurses him back to health. Corbin is a former sheriff who is searching for Jack to bring him home. He is met with hostility because everyone thinks he is trying to turn in the bootleggers. He is actually on a spy assignment to find who the local gang leaders are in the small town working with the big guys in Chicago and killing everyone who gets in their way. and Annabel connect much to the dismay of the hillbilly next door who wants Annabel for himself. I really liked the men who guarded Annabel when her father was gone . Also Corbin and Annabel and Jack- very likeable characters and lots of tension from all the bad guys!
October 22, 2020
Dorothy Garlock brings history alive with her believable characters living through hard times.
The year is 1925. Annabel Donovan and her father Murphy move into a house located high on a hill just outside of Henderson, Missouri. They have relocated many times - along with Papa's friends Boone and Spinner - because of how Murphy Donovan makes his living. Prohibition is in effect and the federal marshals would love to get their hands on someone dealing illegal booze. Murphy is ready to get out of the business. Just one more deal to make. He's selling out to the mob guys in Chicago. This proves to be the toughest job yet. All their lives are in danger from these ruthless men. Will they survive and be able to start new lives after this?
The year is 1925. Annabel Donovan and her father Murphy move into a house located high on a hill just outside of Henderson, Missouri. They have relocated many times - along with Papa's friends Boone and Spinner - because of how Murphy Donovan makes his living. Prohibition is in effect and the federal marshals would love to get their hands on someone dealing illegal booze. Murphy is ready to get out of the business. Just one more deal to make. He's selling out to the mob guys in Chicago. This proves to be the toughest job yet. All their lives are in danger from these ruthless men. Will they survive and be able to start new lives after this?
March 22, 2020
Transports you to prohibition era country version. There is a mystery interwoven into the story as well as romance. Annalee is a character you can't help but fall in love with, she seems to be a pure, accepting and open soul. The men in the story are more background to show how women were treated and men dealt with one another. There is some camaraderie but also mistrust. The ending felt slow to me, I enjoyed the beginning of the book more. An unusual complaint in that oftentimes I will state that the story wrapped up too quickly.
February 3, 2018
Very intense
This was a very intense book. I was expecting the book to be set in Fertile with the same characters as the first in the series, but enjoyed the connections. The bad guy is always a surprise.
Another great read
This was a very intense book. I was expecting the book to be set in Fertile with the same characters as the first in the series, but enjoyed the connections. The bad guy is always a surprise.
Another great read
January 3, 2020
1925 young woman caught betweenand former lawman who she falls in love with and absentee father bootlegger during prohibition and dangerous mobsters vs local hill folk with a feeling of ownership over women. +suspenseful
Love all her books!!
Love all her books!!
October 22, 2020
I learned some things about bootlegging (c. 1925) that I didn't know before. That's one reason why I like Historical Fiction. This book had a lot of trauma and drama. Four stars and a desire to read some more Dorothy Garlock.
August 9, 2025
I would rate this one 3.5 stars. Corwin Appleby is looking into the disappearance of Jack Jones, while also trying to find the local connection to two Chicago gangsters in a small Missouri town. There is love at first sight, a clan of "hillbilly's" running shine, and dynamite along the river.
January 22, 2018
The dialogue kept me from really liking this book.
August 10, 2018
Very good book for relaxing summer reading. I'll read the rest in this series.
September 10, 2018
A prolific writer, new to me. She's written a number of books.
December 2, 2018
Good Read!
An interesting story that’s hard to put down and enjoyable to continue. A positive tale that holds your interest. I highly recommend!
An interesting story that’s hard to put down and enjoyable to continue. A positive tale that holds your interest. I highly recommend!
April 29, 2020
Great book
It was better than the first book in the series. I really loved the characters, especially Boone and Tess' relationship.
It was better than the first book in the series. I really loved the characters, especially Boone and Tess' relationship.
July 20, 2020
Really enjoying this group of books and the characters. This is book two and I am excited to start book 3 now.
January 21, 2022
It was a good story but some if the plot felt a little rushed.
February 2, 2025
High on a hill
I loved this book, very easy read. I could not put it down ..The character where some what believable and kept you reading to see what would happen to them
I loved this book, very easy read. I could not put it down ..The character where some what believable and kept you reading to see what would happen to them
March 18, 2025
Oh man this one was exciting! Read it right away!
November 9, 2025
Another sweet, enjoyable read from Dorothy!
January 26, 2011
I didn't like this one as well as "On the Edge of Town". In this story, there are a whole new set of characters. But a few return from the first book, mainly Jack Jones and Corbin, the lawman from the first book. A few other characters are mentioned as well but they don't play as active a role in the book.
Anabelle Lee is the daughter of a bootlegger. They have moved out to a farm in the woods along with Boone and Spinner, her father's helpers. Here they plan on pulling off one last large job before getting out of the business. Settling into the farm Anabelle loves her new home. While her father would prefer she be a society girl and have the life he never had, she enjoys taking care of the chickens and her new cow. She also has eyes for Corbin when they meet.
Unfortunately, everyone is not as happy as they are. A local boy has his eyes set on Anabelle and doesn't want to take no for an answer. In addition, someones taken offense to her father's book legging and wants to run him into the ground, and anyone who gets in the way.
I felt that this story didn't have as much of a plot as the first, hence the short overview of it. While there was supposed to be a lot going on it was more the characters talking than anything happening. I also felt that the characters weren't as nicely developed as the first book. They seemed to lack the warmth and I just couldn't get as into the story as I would have liked.
Another thing I noticed in this book was the author's obsession with breasts. They seemed to be mentioned at least once in every chapter, and not always in the crude way of some of the antagonists. It seemed that she really liked describing them.
With the first book, this one also did not seem as a genuine fit to the time. The character's expressions and some of their actions just didn't fit the 1920's to me. While Garlock's writing is very well put together, I just don't think she represented the time as well.
I know that most of this review sounds negative and I do want to say that if I hadn't have read her first book, I probably would have liked this one better. It had a well thought out plot, it just seemed like more could have been done to enact it better. Its a good read for a lazy Saturday.
High On A Hill
Copyright 2002
385 pages
Anabelle Lee is the daughter of a bootlegger. They have moved out to a farm in the woods along with Boone and Spinner, her father's helpers. Here they plan on pulling off one last large job before getting out of the business. Settling into the farm Anabelle loves her new home. While her father would prefer she be a society girl and have the life he never had, she enjoys taking care of the chickens and her new cow. She also has eyes for Corbin when they meet.
Unfortunately, everyone is not as happy as they are. A local boy has his eyes set on Anabelle and doesn't want to take no for an answer. In addition, someones taken offense to her father's book legging and wants to run him into the ground, and anyone who gets in the way.
I felt that this story didn't have as much of a plot as the first, hence the short overview of it. While there was supposed to be a lot going on it was more the characters talking than anything happening. I also felt that the characters weren't as nicely developed as the first book. They seemed to lack the warmth and I just couldn't get as into the story as I would have liked.
Another thing I noticed in this book was the author's obsession with breasts. They seemed to be mentioned at least once in every chapter, and not always in the crude way of some of the antagonists. It seemed that she really liked describing them.
With the first book, this one also did not seem as a genuine fit to the time. The character's expressions and some of their actions just didn't fit the 1920's to me. While Garlock's writing is very well put together, I just don't think she represented the time as well.
I know that most of this review sounds negative and I do want to say that if I hadn't have read her first book, I probably would have liked this one better. It had a well thought out plot, it just seemed like more could have been done to enact it better. Its a good read for a lazy Saturday.
High On A Hill
Copyright 2002
385 pages
May 2, 2015
OK story line - but a little too lovey.
Annabel Lee Donovan may be a bootlegger's daughter, but she is also a lady. The slim, dark-haired young woman desperately wants her father to leave "the business" and settle down in one place. Instead, their latest move, done in the middle of the night with the help of henchmen Boone and Spinner, brings her to an ordinary house high on a hill above Henderson, Missouri. Yet this place, Annabel will soon discover, is different, for what is about to happen here will alter the course of her life.
America, too, is facing a transformation. The Jazz Age began as a high-spirited decade of speakeasies and bathtub gin. But by 1925 whiskey running has become a deadly struggle between mobsters from St. Louis to Chicago. And the whole country, like Annabel, senses the change. Behind the wailing music beats a warning that the good times are coming to an end.
Yet something wonderful seems about to unfold for Annabel, when she meets handsome Corbin Appleby, former sheriff of Fertile, Missouri. Despite fears that Corbin could be an undercover agent after her father, Annabel is falling deeply in love for the first time. Then a whiskey war explodes in Henderson, and just as gunshots shatter lives, betrayal threatens to shatter dreams and a woman's heart.
Annabel Lee Donovan may be a bootlegger's daughter, but she is also a lady. The slim, dark-haired young woman desperately wants her father to leave "the business" and settle down in one place. Instead, their latest move, done in the middle of the night with the help of henchmen Boone and Spinner, brings her to an ordinary house high on a hill above Henderson, Missouri. Yet this place, Annabel will soon discover, is different, for what is about to happen here will alter the course of her life.
America, too, is facing a transformation. The Jazz Age began as a high-spirited decade of speakeasies and bathtub gin. But by 1925 whiskey running has become a deadly struggle between mobsters from St. Louis to Chicago. And the whole country, like Annabel, senses the change. Behind the wailing music beats a warning that the good times are coming to an end.
Yet something wonderful seems about to unfold for Annabel, when she meets handsome Corbin Appleby, former sheriff of Fertile, Missouri. Despite fears that Corbin could be an undercover agent after her father, Annabel is falling deeply in love for the first time. Then a whiskey war explodes in Henderson, and just as gunshots shatter lives, betrayal threatens to shatter dreams and a woman's heart.
July 22, 2016
Usually the first chapter of a Dorothy Garlock book has me right away but I had a harder time getting into this one so I skipped over it to read the third book second. Then I backtracked to this one. It took a good four chapters to capture my interest and even then I found I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first in the series. I think the books are always more enjoyable if you can relate to at least one of the characters. In this book, I really didn't relate to any of them. The most interesting characters to me in this one as in Rainwater were the secondary characters. This time it was Boone, Tess and the whole Carter clan. I was pleased to see a little honor come to the Carters before the book ended. Not a bad story, just mediocre. Three stars for High on a Hill. The cover art was nice.
December 29, 2009
Set in the countryside of Missouri, mid 1920's, Prohibition times, an okay story of a young woman who is caught in the middle of a family business and those who try to take it away. Don't know that I'd recommend this to anyone, although it was easy reading, and I did want to find out "who done it?" at the end.
September 19, 2014
Garlock has a way of bring the past to life and this is no exception. Annabel, Corbin, Tess, and Boone leap off the pages as you are drawn into their lives. Even the town of Henderson is vividly painted. The second book in the Missouri series can easily be a stand alone book, but you will want to read the series.
July 28, 2015
I had never read a book from that era before, 1920's. I really enjoyed it. A story of murder and bootlegging with hillbillies thrown in the mix. An ex-cop stumbles across a bootlegging outfit while looking for a family friend. Therein he gets mixed up in a Hatfield and Mccoy type war among hillbillies and murder. A whodunnit mystery with a love story.
May 14, 2014
It was a nice story. I didn't like the way it ended so abruptly, I think the author could have gone into more detail of how they moved and settled in a new town after all they'd been through. However it was a really nice story. I enjoyed it.
July 19, 2008
Some things are better left to the imagination.
June 2, 2009
loved it
March 2, 2010
This series is great, I wasn't aware that it was part of a series until I got into it and started recognizing names. It was a really good story with some twists and turns.
November 16, 2016
Another very good book by Farlock about a simpler time wih a little mystery and a little romance. I weill continue with this series
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews