Missouri!

Wagons West #14

by Dana Fuller Ross

An unqueanchable thirst for adventure & the promise of easy riches brought them to the muddy waters of the mighty Missouri River. Its majestic steamboats offered a new way West for pioneers & traders, gamblers & thieves, proper young ladies & dance hall girls...while along the river bank, war-painted Sioux & ruthless bandits waited in murderous ambush to take the riverboats' wealth & women for their own.

MISSOURI! Where the legendary wagon master Whip Holt once gathered his Conestoga wagons for the slow journey west, now railroads race across the land, & steamboats travel the wide "Muddy Water" w/ new settlers & new dreams. To strong men like Whip Holt's son Toby falls the dangerous job of hunting down rampaging outlaws & Indians. With young army cadet Hank Blake & loyal Chief Running Bear, Holt & his blazing rifle would challenge train robbers & gunrunners...a beautiful lady would become the shameful stakes in a contest between a con man & an Englishman...& a growing nation would fight for its glorious future w/ the blood & bravery of the extraordinary men & women whose journey westward began at MISSOURI!

Genres: Historical Fiction, Westerns, Fiction, Historical

334 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1984

About the author

Dana Fuller Ross is a pseudonym used by Noel B. Gerson and James M. Reasoner.

Noel Gearson specializes in historical military novels, westerns, and mysteries. He also writes under the pseudonyms, "Dana Fuller Ross.", Anne Marie Burgess; Michael Burgess; Nicholas Gorham; Paul Lewis; Leon Phillips; Donald Clayton Porter; Philip Vail; and Carter A. Vaughan. He has written more than 325 novels.

James Reasoner (pictured) is an American writer. He is the author of more than 150 books and many short stories in a career spanning more than thirty years. Reasoner has used at least nineteen pseudonyms, in addition to his own name: Jim Austin; Peter Danielson; Terrance Duncan; Tom Early; Wesley Ellis; Tabor Evans; Jake Foster; William Grant; Matthew Hart; Livia James; Mike Jameson; Justin Ladd; Jake Logan; Hank Mitchum; Lee Morgan; J.L. Reasoner (with his wife); Dana Fuller Ross; Adam Rutledge; and Jon Sharpe. Since most of Reasoner's books were written as part of various existing Western fiction series, many of his pseudonyms were publishing "house" names that may have been used by other authors who contributed to those series

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two stars for the sake it. I now know where I forget these middle of the series books. They are boring and pointless. And honesty, if you are Millicent's family, you really should have done a heck of a lot more.

But then Millicent without being drugged is so boring. Honesty, I don't think whoever is writing as Ross at this point knows what to with women outside of (1) good wife (2) jealous girlfriend or (3) good girl tricked into sex work.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, listen:

I know it's my own fault for not just DNFing the series despite my grave misgivings after the past few books. I should know better. I gave it a couple months' break, in fact, since I was at the half way point and, frankly, needed to get it out of my eyeballs.

But then I picked up this one, the fourteenth in the series, and all of my previous ideas of how low this could go were shattered. Y'all. Seriously.

Let's see. There's:

1. A completely out of the left field villain of the mustache-twirling variety who is responsible for nearly every bad plot in this book. If it's evil, it's probably this guy. And it's not like we've ever seen him before (or will again, thanks to the shiny hero of one subplot)...he just appears, already embedded in everything, cackling and stealing everyone's wallets.

2. A criminal monkey named Robin Hood. No, really. An actual monkey. I shouldn't be surprised after the sentient donkey a few volumes back, but here we are. A monkey. A CRIMINAL monkey. But don't worry...the monkey gets a redemption arc, which is better than most women characters get in this series.

3. And the best one: There's a bordello owner who gives Snidely Whiplash de Cordova a little vial of potion she got from gypsies (ACTUAL SLUR USED) that contains strange Hungarian mushroom extract that, if administered to women in a drink, will turn them into wanton sex zombies, no matter how chaste they may be beforehand. Of COURSE the mustache guy uses it. Of course.

I should have just given up, but it was like I was huffing mushroom potion or something and had to see how high this series could jump the monkey riding the shark. Arthur Fonzarelli, eat your heart out.

There are TEN MORE of these, too. I don't know how they'll top the brain-rebooting-lust-drops thing, but if it doesn't include a monkey, that DNF is imminent.

[Gene Heinrich · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, this book took forever... mainly because life was getting in the way, and the other reason because the book just totally sucked. I couldn't bring myself to pick it up. I finally just sat down and was like - finish the damn thing already. So, I did. The last 2 books in the series has been a total letdown. They are slowly moving from the "family" drama and adding characters that have nothing to do with the original family. Bad move. While for 12 books we have lived with the Holts, now they are pushed to the back burner. Also, everything is moving from the West to the Midwest... which is fine, but stay with the people and family we know. I have 4 more of these books on my shelf and will read them... but, if things stay the same I will not be finishing the series.

[Eric Mayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story. A change of pace from the previous books. Different that the story usually put the main hero in a developing territory to tame the land, and save the local government. This one put on a river boat with a different hero taking most of the spotlight. A refreshing twist in the ongoing saga.

[Amanda Eiden · Rating 4 out of 5]

finally, something a little bit different, but also a lot more of the same stuff? toby needed to save the day. another woman was tricked into false love (x2). and the derringer made a comeback. at least, you could’ve given us another affair! i was waiting, then it didn’t happen and ugh.

the book cover characters are for sure Luis de Cordova + Millicent

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one had some weak points. The romances all felt cliche and/or unbelievable. And we had some plot developments simply drop from the sky.

Readable, but not representative of the series best work....

[Nj · Rating 5 out of 5]

ths series of books by ross are terrific.

[Amanda-Has-A-Bookcase · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a lot of mini stories with various characters in it yet it all worked together well.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hard for me to get into, I even laid it down and read another book, but once I picked it back up it turned out to be pretty interesting.

[Lisa Marks · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the worst villains yet in this series and one of the most innocent victims. As always, high adventure and danger on every page.

[Angie Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I clearly remember when Addy was in 8th grade volleyball a parent recommended this series to me because I said no liked Michener. This is just too antiquated for me

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed in this western by Dana Ross. I picked it up on a whim during a recent trip. Touted as historical fiction focused on America's northwest (Idaho, Oregon, Montana and the Missouri River), I found it historically uninformative. Further, the plot was scattered (too many irons in the fire for its length), no character development (the principal players were stereotypical or implausible) and the writing style was pedestrian. If Ross has written other novels, they will not be on my reading list.

[Marci Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The riverboat setting was a nice addition to the series.

[Partridge Public]

Ross, Dana Fuller PB

[Cws]

W Ros

[Billye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looking for more MISSOURI material...mostly about Oregon Trail and Portland.