Port Hazard

Page Murdock, US Deputy Marshal #7

by Loren D. Estleman

Hired killers, sent one by one to Montana Territory after Page Murdock. Murdock doesn't know why someone wants him out of the way, but he knows where they're coming from.

Thus begins Murdock's descent into a hell more decadent, corrupt, and dangerous than even he has ever seen---San Francisco's Barbary Coast. With an unwilling backup man, Murdock takes up temporary residence among the whores, gamblers, dope addicts, and cutthroats of the continent's foulest district. No man here is trustworthy. The enemies he's really worried about, though, are the men who run things, the politicians.

Murdock's quest also takes him into Chinatown, into opium dens, and into league with a man of an alien culture who controls vices that make respectable people quail. But perhaps the men who seem respectable are the most insidious of all.

Loren D. Estleman's latest tale of Page Murdock takes the deputy to the federal marshal into danger and evil appalling even for him, and delivers excitement and satisfaction as only Estleman can.

Genres: Westerns, Mystery

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Loren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter.

Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery

Reviews

[Charles Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of Estleman's series featuring Page Murdock a deputy marshal from Montana on a mission to San Francisco. (Don't ask!) One trademark of Estleman's is he is maybe more diligent with his historical details than many of the writers. At one level that really helps place the story and its movement. Sometimes (a few times) it almost gets in the way.
On the whole, it's a good read. Interesting characters. Because he pays attention to the details the surrounding story, the story itself reads well and smoothly, too. Might make a note that sometimes the language gets a bit rough.

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

A touch over a 3. A but sluggish in places as the story tried for a few more turns than needed.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just picked this book off the shelf after loving the Robert Parker westerns.

Murdock is not my idea of a classic hero and the story of Murdock’s quest taking him into Chinatown, into opium dens, and into league with a man of an alien culture who controls vices. Not my fa vorite western. I'm giving Estleman more chances. I'm not overly optimistic. His isn't a style that I warmed to.

[Violet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't care much for this story ... maybe because it was too complicated. I think too much emphasis on the lingo and not enough story action. Whatever the reason, I will still read others of this writer.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#7 in the Page Murdock series.

Page Murdock, US Deputy Marshal from Montana is on a hit list of a faction of the Sons of the Confederacy. With a deputized black railroad porter, he heads for San Francisco's Barbary Coast and Chinatown to break up the "baby rebels".

[L. J. Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read from a very smart author who knows the west, knows mystery, and sure as hell knows how to write!

[Sara Peattie]

Everything by Estleman is both junky and good.

[Helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good western with a lot of historical background on San Francisco and her Barbary Coast