Ghosts of the Green Swamp

by Lee Gramling

Trouble's found Tate Barkley again, but this time it's in the form of a beautiful but cold-hearted young woman with two murderous henchmen, who rob Tate and leave him for dead. When he's able to set out in pursuit, Tate follows a trail that draws him ever deeper into that vast forbidding swampland near the headwaters of the Withlacoochee River. Is there any truth to the local legends of "haints" and witches who roam the swamp's vast darkness?

Genres: Westerns

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1996

Reviews

[Elizabeth Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was our book club pick for this month because where the book is set is local for us. Of course it's set in the 1870s, so it's quite a bit different now. I really loved the book, while most of our other book club members did not. Most of the reader problems centered around the way the dialect was written. You do almost need to read it aloud (at least in your head) in order to translate it into modern English. But I thought it was a really fun book. I liked the characters and it was fun to read about them being in places that I am familiar with and here them described as they were over 100 years ago.
My husband and I read several of these Cracker Westerns several years ago, but I don't remember if I had ever read this one before. I was excited to see that there is another book by Lee Gramling that features the same main character. It's called Riders of the Suwannee.

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 3 out of 5]

”If I was a bettin’ man, and it comes down to choosin’ between Lila and a moccasin or a gator, I wouldn’t risk all my stake on them reptiles.”

It’s always fun to stumble on an interesting small press book and Pineapple Press’s Ghosts of the Green Swamp captures the voice of a ‘deep south’ western just perfectly. Trading swamp and cypress for arroyos and mesquite, cowboy Tate Barkley runs afoul of the venomous vixen Lila and her crooked paramour Jacques Marie Louis Ravenant somewhere in the tangled everglades of mid-Florida – think Orlando way before Disney.

Author Lee Gramling gives us two credible villains – kidnappers running a slave plantation just outside the law’s reach -- with protagonist Tate gathering a posse of quirky gunslingers to storm the wretched outpost Boot Hill-style. This could have been an easy four stars if it just hadn’t stumbled so badly at the climax.

The culminating battle as Tate and company storm the villain’s castle finishes with a whimper as the party faces only henchmen with the two big bads skulking off between pages. Maye the intent was to save ‘em for a sequel, but even if you want your bad guys (and gal) to get away, you have to deliver some kind of final confrontation that pays off the set-up of the first 200 pages. And while the rest of the book is wonderfully thick on setting – you can almost smell the swamp gas, feel wet loam between your fingernails, and shiver with the warm drenching rain – the plantation turns out to be just a sketch and rather bare of details. As bloody as Revenant’s reputation was, a bit more of ‘house of horrors’ would have helped give his lair (and the ending) a lot more impact.

It’s a shame Gramling’s plot wasn’t quite as sharp as his prose because as someone who has rambled quite a bit through the areas from Gainesville to Kissimmee, I really liked this crusty look into the area’s hardscrabble history (and glossary of historical footnotes doesn’t hurt a bit). However, because it doesn’t quite stick the landing, I’d recommend this mainly for Florida history buffs or western fans who are just flat-out tired of high plains and deserts.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great adventure! The main character(Tate)'s 1st person naration is enthralling. His diction immerses the reader into the time period and frontier setting flawlessly. The action is well paced and highly entertaining. All around wonderful experience.

[Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read when you want to learn a bit of Florida history told by a good story teller. This is the best of palmetto westerns. I admire the Barkley brothers comment about Yankees in the last few pages of the story. Recommend this book for pure fun…if you like frontier stories .

[EnglishTeacherFL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very, very enjoyable. One of the best of the "Cracker Westerns" series.

[Amanda LaVelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. I just could not with the dialect. I couldn’t focus enough the actually read the story

[Joe Alain · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy "Cracker Westerns" from a setting of the old Florida, you will enjoy Gramling's books.