Fran Striker (born Francis Hamilton Striker) (August 19, 1903 – September 4, 1962) was an American writer for radio and comics, best known for creating The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon
Well this was everything I hoped it would be based on the little I know of this legendary character. It had intrigue and mystery, love and hate, family fueds and murderous revenge plots. And best of all the Lone Ranger actually uses the line 'Hi-Yo Silver! Away!', and not just once or twice but lots, it was brilliant. Clearly there is a lot of stereotyping which you wouldn't get in a more modern read but the charm of this story sees you past this (and if it doesn't maybe you shouldn't read old books), especially that classic shout before he and Tonto disappear over the horizon.
A great Lone Ranger story. The Lone Ranger and Tonto investigate the murder of a miner. It looks as if his long time rival is responsible. I can see where many would feel these books are written for kids. But I enjoy the heck out of them. And this one has a cold blooded murder in it and it's not glossed over. It's also nice to get a look inside the camp life of The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Great fun.
A fun read that gave Tonto much more to do than the average novel, episode, or radio play. The wrapped up in a bow ending could only happen in a Lone Ranger story, but it still brought a smile to my face once I finished it.
The story was actually a lot better than what I had expected. The edition I had was a hard back form 1943 and was in really tough shape. In fact I had to throw it in the trash after I read it. Too bad because it was the same style as my other four LR books.
I am pretty sure this book only deserves two stars, but it is something of a privilege to find a copy at all, to have it in hard cover, and be able to compare Fran Striker's different narrative techniques for a prose novel and dialog for radio.