Bannack: A Barnaby Skye Novel

Skye's West #2

by Richard S. Wheeler

The third novel in the acclaimed Skye’s West series following mountain man Barnaby Skye, from six-time Spur Award-winning author Richard S. Wheeler

If Barnaby Skye had not wanted the new Henry repeating rifle so badly, he would have thought more than twice about leading this particular group of pilgrims from Ft. Laramie into the new Idaho territory. The company includes Alvah Riddle, marriage broker, escorting three mail-order brides; Goldtooth Joyce and other sporting women from a house in Memphis, looking to get rich quick; Blueberry Hill, runaway slave and piano player; and the man calling himself Cornelius Vanderbilt – a gambling man with a fixed deck and hidden guns. Even before the trip began, Skye knew this group would be trouble. Then came the deserters, the flash flood, and the village of Old Bull. And after that, things got bad…

Genres: Westerns

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 15, 1989

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

There are other authors with this name. One writes Marine Corps history. Another, Civil War history. Another writes in the political sciences.

Richard S. (Shaw) Wheeler was born in Milwaukee in 1935 and grew up in nearby Wauwatosa.

Reviews

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You needn’t have read other books in the series to enjoy this one.

It’s early 1860 as this opens, and Barnaby Skye salivates over and covets a Henry repeating rifle. He’s short $500, but there’s a group of whores and another group of mail-order brides headed to the same town in the Idaho territory. Skye isn’t wild about the idea of guiding these people. The mail-order brides aren’t much to look at, and the prostitutes are their own kind of trouble. But oh, how he needs that rifle. Against his better judgment and that of his two Indian wives, he undertakes the project.

There’s friction among the women, and Skye’s own propensity to booze it up prove fatal for one of the group. There’s no end of hostility from Indians, and bad decisions on the part of the travelers make things worse for everyone.

This was a fun read; books by this author always are for me. The book includes engaging, fast-paced action, and the changes wrought on the characters by their experience and the land itself is thoughtful stuff.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worst Skye's West novel I have read. All the action is predicated upon Mr. Skye being a drunken fool. He must shepherd a group of whores and a group of mail order brides to Bannack, a gold mining town. Along the way some get killed, some get taken by Indians, and some grow in stature. Almost every plot change is caused by Skye's stupidity. This is usually a good series, but Wheeler lets us down with this clunker.