The Chapman Legacy

by John Neely Davis

This novel traces the West through three generations of Chapmans from the ending of the great American cowboy of the late 1800s through the hellish aftermath of the Korean War. Patriarch F.E. Chapman learned from legendary gunfighter, Ab Quezada, and passed the lessons through son, Martin, to grandson, Pete. From deserted mining towns of the New Mexico Territory and stolen Confederate treasure hidden in El Malpais to the murderous Ciudad Juárez streets and violent border wars, three generations of the Chapman family struggle to keep their way of life. This is a story of brave women, a sociopathic killer, outlaws living past their time, and men who have the grit to take on the rugged rangeland of the Pecos and Rio Grande valleys.

375 pages, Hardcover

Published June 20, 2018

About the author

John Neely Davis is a product of the sandy hills of West Tennessee, an area east of the Mississippi Delta and west of the Tennessee River. Most of his working career was spent in land acquisition from the Appalachian mountains to the river valleys of New Mexico.

Previously published novels include Stephen Dennison, The Sixth William, and Bear Shadow. The last won the Janice Keck Literary Award. He also contributed to numerous anthologies: Filtered through Time, By Blood or by Marriage, Comanchero Trail, Western Trail Blazer Series, and the recent release Showdown.

John lives with his wife Jayne, in historic Franklin, Tn.

Reviews

[Winnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is the husband of one of the ladies in one of my book clubs. John has written two other novels and I enjoyed them both. He asked me to proofread the advance copy and I've learned that proofreading and reading for pleasure are very different reading experiences. During the proofreading, I had a hard time getting into the story and keeping up with who was who in the Chapman family. When I read the book again for our book club -- where John has graciously said he would come and read from and tell us about the book -- I really got into the story. Yes, it is old west gritty. John is quite the wordsmith and his descriptions of the land and the situations makes you feel that you are traveling right along with these cowboys. His characters seem real and while I didn't like some of them (there were some mean dudes!), I'm kind of missing some of them now that I have finished the book.