Cape Hell

Page Murdock, US Deputy Marshal #9

by Loren D. Estleman

In this thrilling new western novel by Spur Award-winning author Loren D. Estleman, U. S. Deputy Page Murdock is ordered by Federal Judge Harlan A. Blackthorne to Cape Hell, Mexico, to verify a report that former Confederate Captain Oscar Childress is raising an army to take over Mexico City--and then intends to turn north to rekindle the Civil War.

Childress, it seems, has the weapons, wealth, and moral compass to do it. Unable to talk himself out of the mission, Murdock heads south on a steam train named El Espanto--The Ghost.

With only Hector Cansado, an engineer who can't be trusted and Joseph, a Native American fireman with a few secrets of his own, Murdock hurtles through the murderous desert of a foreign land toward a man bent on wholesale massacre . . . unless Murdock can stop him.

Genres: Westerns, Mystery

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 17, 2016

About the author

Loren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter.

Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lead character in this series of books is U. S. Deputy Page Murdock. Murdock is sent on missions by Federal Judge Harlan A. Blackthorne usually to go on a mission to apprehend outlaws that have gotten away with an extreme amount of killing or robbery and have not been apprehended. In "Cape Hell", the ninth book in the Murdock series, Loren D. Estleman is assigned to travel to Mexico to apprehend former Confederate Captain Oscar Childress who is planning to invade the United States.

This is high adventure of the best kind which Mr. Estleman has a masterful command. The reader can almost taste the dirt, dust, and bad food that exists during the time in which this story takes place. Page Murdock is given a short, four car train, well supplied in order to take this voyage through the mountains of the Sierra Madre's.

Half the book is taken up by the trip to "Cape Hell", there are thrilling events that take place on this journey. This is worth the price of admission itself. The trip suddenly comes to a abrupt end when Murdock is captured by a band of local natives and is taken to the plantation of Captain Oscar Childress.

The only regret I have with the story is that Murdock never quite makes it to "Cape Hill" after all of the build up. That said, this is a great entry to the series so far.

Books in the Page Murdock series by Loren D. Estleman:

01. "The High Rocks" - 1979 by Doubleday Books
02. "Stamping Ground" - 1980 by Doubleday Books
03. "Murdocks Law" - 1982 by Doubleday Books
04. "The Stranglers" - 1985 Doubleday Books
05. "City Of Widows" - 1994 by Forge Books
06. "White Desert" - 2000 by Forge Books
07. "Port Hazzard" - 2004 by Forge Books
08. "The Book Of Murdock" - 2010 by Forge Books
09. "Cape Hell" - 2016 by Forge Books

[Violet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story but I felt like it could have been much longer. The journey of Murdock and his Indian friend was not over when the book ended.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

#9 in the Page Murdock series. This story takes place after The Book of Murdock (2010), which was set in 1884. Murdock is searching for an ex-Confederate officer, hiding out in Mexico and rumored to be raising a force to reignite the Civil War. I was repelled by the descriptions of inbred natives, described as revenants, supposedly with brawn but severely limited mental prowess. I also felt the level of description was excessive. In describing wolves feasting on buffalo carcasses, Estleman writes: The packs had swollen on the easy pickings of the shaggies' abandoned carcasses and when they'd stripped them to the bone, armies of vagabonds had swarmed in to harvest the skeletons for sale to manufactories back East, which fashioned them into buttons, combs, and handles for knives and chests of drawers and pulverized them to press into china for the table and to filter the impurities from sugar.

Page Murdock series - U. S. Deputy Page Murdock is ordered by Federal Judge Harlan A. Blackthorne to Cape Hell, Mexico, to verify a report that former Confederate Captain Oscar Childress is raising an army to take over Mexico City--and then intends to turn north to rekindle the Civil War.

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the writing style, description, turn of a phrase, but the story lacked that old west gunfight feel.

[William Walter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good descriptions, but the story line is pretty weak--too much gore and not enough substance.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

For awhile this one feels like another terrific Loren Estleman western. And for awhile, it really is. But after a long, exciting train ride high into the hard scrabble terrain of the Mexican Sierra Madre Mountains, Cape Hell seemed to end with a thud.
 Page Murdock’s boss, Judge Blackthorne has tasked the deputy marshal with going down to Mexico to: (1.) check out one Oscar Childress, an American who may be raising an army. He is a former confederate officer with rumored plans to invade the U.S.A. and (2.) kill him. The writing is A+ Estleman, smart, tough and funny. Judge Blackthorne spares no expense, even providing the deputy with a personal train stocked with ample weaponry, ammunition, food and whiskey. Murdock is tough and up to his usual smartass-iness, the supporting characters are fine and the train ride is a blast. But the final chapters seem more like a lead-up to a sequel than a resolution.

[Brad Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. Moderately amusing tale by a writer I'd never heard of. Found a mint copy of this at Salvation Army for a buck. Can't beat that for checking out a new writer.

[Skdecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel in a continuing series featuring Page Murdock as the central character and narrator. It is set in the last half of the 19th century as a Western. Murdock is a former Union soldier from the Civil War and has done time as a cowboy, and is a general purpose layabout. He was born in Montana and currently lives there. Nowadays he is sent out by a Judge in Helena on a variety of "justice" missions in the role of a deputy sheriff.

In this book he's sent to the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico to investigate rumors of a former Confederate soldier who is raising an army of expats, Mexicans, and Indians to invade the US. As a Western there are no romantic deeds and very little campfires under the stars stuff. Life is unrelentingly gritty.

The writing is good but not extraordinary, the characters likable but not profound, and the plot is fairly linear. A good airplane book. I probably won't read another in the series since I don't do Westerns and there are lots of books about this good out there.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now homage, Deputy Marshall Murdock is sent to investigate a former Confederate officer who is now in the mountains of central Mexico harvesting opium and charcoal and building an army to take Mexico City, take control of Mexico, and then restart the American Civil War from south of the border. Most of the story is Murdock's trip riding on "the Ghost," the name of the train set up by his handler, an eccentric and duplicitous Judge, to appear as a vehicle for the Confederate officer to use in his coup attempt.

Verdict: I just don't like Estleman's prose or storytelling here. "Cape Hell" (2016) could have been a scary immersive McCarthy-style venture into some western cauldron of inhuman evil, or a sillier Boggs-style romp with quirky characters and mischievous mayhem, but instead is just tremendously boring.

Jeff's Rating: 1 / 5 (Bad)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estleman's latest western features deputy US Marshal Page Murdock sent into Mexico after a would-be conqueror building an army. Murdock is tasked with digging up what former Confederate officer Childress is doing, and Judge Harlan Blackthorn implies heavily that the US Government would like to see Childress in a pine box.

The bulk of the story is aboard a train called El Espanto, or "the ghost," traveling through the Sierra Madre moutains south to the remote compound where the target lives. From the very start, the train seems unearthly, with an engineer and fireman he cannot trust. Betrayal, horror, and strange moody scenery haunts the train, evoking Apocalypse Now or its literary source Heart of Darkness. Estleman is an extremely gifted, veteran wordsmith, and his prose is powerful and evocative, pulling you into the middle of the events as Page Murdock deals with the wild mountains of Mexico and the strange world around the train.

The only real flaw in the book is that the ending feels strangely truncated, as if the publisher left off a chapter or two.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.

Love everything Estleman writes and this book is no exception. Western historical fiction at its finest starring series hero Page Murdock. Highly recommended.

[Carla N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estelman is a master at putting you right there in the middle of the action. I could feel the heaving and noise of that steam engine pulling the train through the mountains. Lots of twists and turns!

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultra descriptive of environs.