Waiting For A Comet

Jo Harper #1

by Richard Prosch

During the long, hot spring of 1910 it seemed all 12-year-old Jo Harper could do was wait. Wait for her father, wait for her friends, wait for the comet that might appear in the sky and wipe out the whole town of Willowby, Wyoming once and for all. But when wild west legend Abby Drake arrives in town lugging an orphaned baby calf, an old-fashioned revolver, and a mystery shrouded with superstition, it’s up to Jo to take action. Why is Abby in town? Who is she after? And what secrets can Jo coax out of her own arch enemy, Emily Bly?

Action, humor, and real life history combine for an exciting mystery about one girl’s summertime quest for family, friendship, and justice on the windburnt Wyoming range at the dawn of a new century.

Genres: Westerns

56 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 24, 2014

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book in the Jo Harper series by Richard Prosch. Jo is twelve years old in 1910. The west may not be quite as wild and woolly as it had been twenty-five years back, but it's still full of excitement and Jo Harper is a spitfire ready to tackle whatever comes her way. In this book, Jo teams up with Abby Drake, a famous law woman of the west who has grown old but hasn't given up her urge for justice, in a case involving rustled cattle. While Halley's Comet fills the sky overhead, Jo uses her wits and "impetuous nature" to help Abby solve the mystery.

What a fun story, ideal for younger readers but still just perfect for some of us older readers too. I very much enjoyed it and will be reading others in this series.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's 1910, Halley's Comet is in the sky, and the world is all agog with purple prose about poison gas and doom for the Earth. Twelve year old Jo Harper, daughter of the newspaper publisher in the small Wyoming town of Willowby, is one of the true believers. At least she's excited by it all.

When she meets the new town constable, Abigail Drake, an older woman complete with sunburned face and one eye, leading a calf on a leash. Abigail had once been a part of Buffalo Bill's wild west show-and even knew Annie Oakley. She's there on a mission involving the calf and Jo takes to her immediately, getting involved with the goings on.

Author Richard Prosch gives us a western that avoids all the stereotypes of the genre and delves into the inner workings of a young giel and her new friend,

Enjoyed this one quite a bit.

[David Cranmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real joy to read this first Jo Harper tale of twelve-year-old Jo whose dad is publisher of the Willowby Monitor in Wyoming. Her mother died years ago and when Abigail Drake (known as the first lady Justice of the Peace in the Wind River basin) arrives with her pet calf—an adventure is in the works. A gorgeous Y/A slice of Americana in the Mark Twain tradition who is referenced here. Richard Prosch hits all the emotional bases in this entertaining yarn that adults as well as teens will find engaging.