Skeleton Lode

Sundown Riders #6

by Ralph Compton

A friend's deathbed confession about the location of a lost gold mine inflicts Arlo Wells and Dallas Holt with a case of gold fever, but the race is on when they learn that others know about the location of the golden shaft

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Ralph Compton (April 11, 1934—September 16, 1998) was an American writer of western fiction.

A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton began his writing career with a notable work, The Goodnight Trail, which was chosen as a finalist for the Western Writers of America "Medicine Pipe Bearer Award" bestowed upon the "Best Debut Novel". He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. In the last decade of his life, he authored more than two dozen novels, some of which made it onto the USA Today bestseller list for fiction.

Ralph Compton died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 64. Since his passing, Signet Books has continued the author's legacy, releasing new novels, written by authors such as Joseph A. West and David Robbins, under Compton's byline.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphc...

Reviews

[Arizona Spartan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a rather fanciful take on the Lost Dutchman legend of the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix, Arizona. I am rather familiar with many of the iterations of the legend and the mountains themselves as I hiked and explored them many times. The book was a letdown in terms of action and a more rudimentary sensible take on the legend. Many of the locales in the book are accurate but many of the underground parts of the book are absolutely impossible. The good thing I liked about the book were the main characters Arlo and Dallas and their dialogue really made the book at least enjoyable to read. The multitude of characters and constant chase around the mountains became tedious and confusing to even an epic fantasy reader such as myself. I like Compton's other books far better than this one.

[Jeffery · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts out slow but I am glad that i finished it and you will too as it becomes a “ page turner”. I could hand easily given it five stars due to the twists and turns and the surprising ending.