The Trail to Peach Meadow Canyon

by Louis L'Amour

Orphaned as a child, Mike Bastian was taken in by the legendary outlaw Ben Curry, raised and trained to take over his empire of crime. Today, Mike is the quickest draw and the stealthiest tracker around, and Ben Curry is getting ready to retire. To test Mike's wings, he has set him a the planning and execution of a gold-train robbery. Now, as he prepares for his first criminal job, Mike must decide whether to follow the path that has been set before him or to carve out a destiny of his own. If he assumes the position of gang leader, he will face deadly competition from within Curry's band; yet if he refuses, he may not be allowed to leave the pack alive. The dilemma is further complicated when he falls for Drusilla, Ben Curry's real daughter, who knows nothing of her father's career. Either way Mike chooses, a showdown is in store.

Genres: Westerns, Audiobook, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Fiction

Audio Cassette

First published June 19, 1992

About the author

Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've only read one other L'Amour novel in my life and it was for a western literature class in college. This is what I call a bubble gum story. Sweet, fruity, lip smacking, fun for a few laughs, then runs out of flavor and gets tossed away. But there are several fresh pieces still left in the pack.

[Teddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

These start to all blend together after a while and you feel like if you have read one you have read them all. Not an unpleasant way to pass a little time, but maybe I have read enough of these now.

[Laur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Louis L’Amour story but the audio version was a fun distraction for a couple of hours. Nothing super thrilling here and I could see where this heading, but nevertheless, it’s clean entertainment.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tale of a young man who was raised by the leader of the biggest outlaw band in Colorado when his parents were killed.
L'Amour is the master of the western, nuff said

[Rykkar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Step siblings falling in love?? Clueless (1995) ripoff!!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic L'amour!

[Mrs. Hahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mike Bastian was adopted by Ben Curry, a cattle rustler, and was raised to take over the business when Curry retired. Curry wants to retire, but some of his lieutenants aren't happy... and one of them decides to raid the nearby Ragan ranch where Curry's unacknowledged wife and daughters live. When one is kidnapped, it's up to Bastian and Drusilla to save her sister. Assuming they can accomplish that, they then need to save Curry himself from a lieutenant's ambush.

The story itself wasn't all that memorable. Western, cattle rustlers, reluctant villain with a heart of gold, wise Indian giving advice (*gag*), kidnapping of women to make them the "bad guy's wife" (*ew*), little lady who's tough enough to ride with an outlaw, that kind of thing. What *was* memorable was the narration, and not in a good way. This is the only audiobook where editing obviously didn't happen correctly. There were several places where the narrator re-read lines, one where he coughed twice, one where he stopped and sort of said "oh, they meant..." and then continued reading. A few other places where it was obvious that a line from a different recording session was inserted into the audio.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many of the outlaws in "The Trail to Peach Meadow Canyon" are portrayed as being far too moralistic to be believable. Gang leader Ben Curry, for example, wants to leave his life of crime and spend his final days as a loving family man. It's hard to believe such an ambitious thief, who spent years building a powerful, notorious crime outfit, was at the same time a doting husband and father. (Tony Soprano was able to compartmentalize, of course, but he also never treated his family all that wonderfully.) Nevertheless, the book's story isn't bad, and the descriptions of the region surrounding the Colorado River are well-written. "Peach Meadow Canyon" probably would be a better read for a dedicated Louis L'Amour fan than someone relatively new to his work.

[Tim Blackburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good solid western by the true Master of the craft, Louis L'Amour. Not his best nor my favorite but I still love the good guy overcoming all odds to save the day and win the girl. The audio version is currently included with an Audible membership so I listened to this one. It was unedited so 2 instances of the narrator coughing and continuing reading, multiple instances of the same line being read over, but the thing that literally had me laughing was the narrator reading the passage "...but Mike couldn't keep his mind off the girl" after which the narrator laughed and said he didn't blame Mike, then reread the sentence and continued on. It was hilarious and made it difficult to remember the book was at it's climatic endgame at that point.

[Jabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this. I loved Last of the Breed, and my dad read everything Louis ever wrote. But I think it's just not for me. I made it half way through and then I encountered this exchange: "You can't get away with this." "That's what you think." And that was it. I stopped right there and refused to read another word. Too harsh? Maybe. But I read to be entertained, not to be irritated. Sorry, Louis.

[Holly Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This audiobook is read by Robert Stack, and it is based loosely on a story Louis L'Amour was told about the hole in the wall gang and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. it follows the later life of Ben Curry who was a huge outlaw with many in his gang, and it follows the young man Ben raised to take over when he himself wanted to step down from the life...good book quick read and again told by a Master story teller it does not disappoint.

[Randy Tramp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this story on audiobook. Loved it!
Mike Bastian, son of an outlaw. As an orphan raised by an outlaw, Mike never questioned the path laid out before him.

Until...

Drusilla, a young woman who stole his heart.

Gun fights, horse riding through beautiful land and love. This book took me into the raw old-west.

[Bennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally reading one of my favorite authors again. I have lost count of how many of his books I have read through the years. Although they all usually have basically the same plot - good guy, bad guys, beautiful woman, wild West - his descriptive writing reaches out and grabs you. Thoroughly enjoy his works.

[Nathan White Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the Love of Peach!

Weaving dodging to the end, it takes you for a really rough ride into those dark places you know are just waitin. Just hold on to your hat till you get to the end! The Great Master of the West once again takes you down a trail like no other! Through dark and danger with all the spins and then you are home, right at the end! Enjoy!

[Braddock Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Trail to Peach Meadow Canyon

This western story is so good that I could hardly stop reading it. In the end, it was the good overcoming evil and love conquering it all. A fit and wonderful fairy tale ending to a story filled with lawlessness, treachery and back stabbing. What an adventure this was.

[Ester Abaco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I decided to give this book 5stars because my focus and attention stayed with the story of the book. I've been waiting to finally find a book that would have this effect on me. The Trail To Peach Canyon Road does this for me.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy raised to take over leadership of an outlaw empire, comes to the point where he becomes an outlaw or gives up the empire. This was a fun book with some great Tracking and a small romance. This was a Good Read.

[Russell G Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can doing wrong bring right, or is it best to do right in the first

Place? Throughout this account and on every hand, this awful dilemma is constantly portrayed; usually solved by gunplay and bloodshed.

[Jessica Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first western and Louis L'Amour book. Not bad! I don't think I'd read it again, but it was a pretty good listen/story. I appreciated the thoughts and questions some of the conflicts in the book.

Content Warnings: Mild swearing once or twice. Some violence, but not graphicly portrayed.

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book and worth reading.

I enjoyed this book and a bit of history from the author. Nice to read a book about Westland their ways

[Lloyd Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Louis l"amour book

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

The short version to a Son of a wanted man.

[Matthew Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read of the original story. It was enjoyable to note the differed from this and the other rendition.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

ABANDONED. Not my genre. Tried it out of respect for my father’s taste in authors.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never met a Louis L'Amour book I didn't love.

[Cena Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. It was clean fun but not a page turner.

[Darlene Lenard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and read

Out moved fast,believable,held my attention,great discription felt like you where there, could feel like how Mike was feeling about being a outlaw,

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audible Audiobook

[Adrian Iswariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

He used to be a big favourite when growing up, time to get back some of that excitement.

[Dennis Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good. Louis L'Amour is often pretty predictable & follows much of the same formula from story to story...but I just liked this one a little more than usual. 4/5