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Gunman's Rhapsody
The gunman is Wyatt Earp. The rhapsody plays out in a rare Parker stand-alone novel, his best yet and his first western. Told in prose as cool and spare as Parker has ever laid down, the book details the time Wyatt and his brothers spend in Tombstone, culminating in the shootout at the O.K. Corral.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 4, 2001
179 people are currently reading
684 people want to read
About the author
Robert B. Parker
489 books2,294 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Robert B. Parker.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
September 17, 2017
Back when I first started reading, I just read Westerns and Native American nonfiction from my Dad's library. Back in the '90's, the late Robert B. Parker was the first non-Western author that I tried, totally enjoyed his writing and he's one of my all-time favorite authors.
Gunman's Rhapsody is my favorite read on Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, he kept it simple, entertaining and puts the reader right their for all the action. Sitting by the camp fire, drinking coffee with Wyatt or taking a drink from Doc's whiskey bottle as it's passed around the fire.
If you love his Spencer, Sunny Randall, Jess Stone, you'll enjoy his Westerns just as much and the perfect starting point for your first RBP read. Since any of his books are excellent reads!
Gunman's Rhapsody is my favorite read on Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, he kept it simple, entertaining and puts the reader right their for all the action. Sitting by the camp fire, drinking coffee with Wyatt or taking a drink from Doc's whiskey bottle as it's passed around the fire.
If you love his Spencer, Sunny Randall, Jess Stone, you'll enjoy his Westerns just as much and the perfect starting point for your first RBP read. Since any of his books are excellent reads!
March 10, 2018
Well this is exciting! When I put this book on goodreads I realized that it created an opportunity to make a new shelf as I hadn’t ever read a pure Western before (Somewhat debatable as I had the book Six-Gun Tarot on my shelf before, which is very much a western, but also crossed with fantasy and horror… and if that is something that sounds even slightly appealing, check it out because it is incredible). I love westerns from a cinematic standpoint, but never really had any desire to check them out as novels, as so much of the appeal is the cinematic nature of the genre for me (the shots and scenery are part of what breaks or makes a western for me), but I’ve been on a bit of a Robert B. Parker kick and just happened to stumble upon this one and decided to give it a go.
This is Parker’s take on one of the most famous of old west figures, Wyatt Earp. Most of us with any love of the genre in any form (or of history itself for that matter) know the story to some extent already. The O.K. Corral itself has been the focus of more films than I can count… and of course it is feature here, but it is neither the main focus nor the end. It is just another event in Earp’s life, a life that is presented from several facets. In fact, if I felt like setting up another shelf to sort through, I could put this under Romance as well, as the majority of the plot is taken up with Wyatt’s love of a woman named Josephine Marcus and how that sets in motion many of the events that will transpire as the novel progresses.
The novel is structured as several short chapters, mostly snippets of a scene that show small, but important events. This creates a quick pace to the book, which is great at keeping the reader (or at least this reader) involved and thinking “well, I guess I’ll do one more chapter” which is quickly repeated until you realized you did 20 more and you’ve come another fifty pages than you intended.
This is both praise and a criticism. On one hand I love a book that absorbs me and gives me that “just a little bit more before I go to sleep” mindset. It’s engrossing and if I’m reading for entertainment, that’s a positive sign. Unfortunately, this is a book that I really felt needed to take a breather and be a little broader. The quick pace means characters come and go with no explanation. A big example is Bat Masterson, who is a big enough figure that he could have his own book. Here he’s given a personality large enough that I was interested in what he would do, only for him to disappear after a few chapters without any sign that he was leaving.
The book also has some significant time jumps that can be a bit jarring. I found myself trying to figure out exactly how much time had passed on more than one occasion. Early on in the book there are some newspaper articles mixed in that helped with the timeline and with the setting as a whole. They set the stage nicely and could have been a great plot device but they just kind of dropped off, whereas they could have been used for great effect. For example,
There’s also several scenes in the book that feel unneeded. Parker jumps around so much, that some of the moments that he does focus on seem to be setting up a future scene, then get dismissed and never brought up again or only briefly mentioned in passing as having already been resolved. In fact the book as a whole feels like its building up to something only for things to play out fairly… dull.
I know my review sounds like just a list of complaints, but I genuinely debated with myself over giving this book two or three stars. There are quite a few great scenes, and I truly liked Parker’s takes on the characters. On one hand there is a lot about it that I think really works, but the aspects that don’t really hurt it. In the end I am going with the two stars… but a two star with a recommendation to genre fans.
This is Parker’s take on one of the most famous of old west figures, Wyatt Earp. Most of us with any love of the genre in any form (or of history itself for that matter) know the story to some extent already. The O.K. Corral itself has been the focus of more films than I can count… and of course it is feature here, but it is neither the main focus nor the end. It is just another event in Earp’s life, a life that is presented from several facets. In fact, if I felt like setting up another shelf to sort through, I could put this under Romance as well, as the majority of the plot is taken up with Wyatt’s love of a woman named Josephine Marcus and how that sets in motion many of the events that will transpire as the novel progresses.
The novel is structured as several short chapters, mostly snippets of a scene that show small, but important events. This creates a quick pace to the book, which is great at keeping the reader (or at least this reader) involved and thinking “well, I guess I’ll do one more chapter” which is quickly repeated until you realized you did 20 more and you’ve come another fifty pages than you intended.
This is both praise and a criticism. On one hand I love a book that absorbs me and gives me that “just a little bit more before I go to sleep” mindset. It’s engrossing and if I’m reading for entertainment, that’s a positive sign. Unfortunately, this is a book that I really felt needed to take a breather and be a little broader. The quick pace means characters come and go with no explanation. A big example is Bat Masterson, who is a big enough figure that he could have his own book. Here he’s given a personality large enough that I was interested in what he would do, only for him to disappear after a few chapters without any sign that he was leaving.
The book also has some significant time jumps that can be a bit jarring. I found myself trying to figure out exactly how much time had passed on more than one occasion. Early on in the book there are some newspaper articles mixed in that helped with the timeline and with the setting as a whole. They set the stage nicely and could have been a great plot device but they just kind of dropped off, whereas they could have been used for great effect. For example,
There’s also several scenes in the book that feel unneeded. Parker jumps around so much, that some of the moments that he does focus on seem to be setting up a future scene, then get dismissed and never brought up again or only briefly mentioned in passing as having already been resolved. In fact the book as a whole feels like its building up to something only for things to play out fairly… dull.
I know my review sounds like just a list of complaints, but I genuinely debated with myself over giving this book two or three stars. There are quite a few great scenes, and I truly liked Parker’s takes on the characters. On one hand there is a lot about it that I think really works, but the aspects that don’t really hurt it. In the end I am going with the two stars… but a two star with a recommendation to genre fans.
February 10, 2023
'Gunman's Rhapsody' relates the events that led up to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral where Wyatt Earp and his brothers triumphed.
The action takes place in Tombstone and the Earp brothers, Wyatt, Virgil, James, Morgan and Warren all feature in a tale of revenge and hungry love.
Wyatt steals the girl of Johnny Behan, one of his rivals, and the jealousy festers with an overriding sense of smouldering hatred all through. Doc Holliday drinks his way along as he assists Wyatt in his quest for revenge, particularly once Morgan has been shot dead.
The atmosphere is heavy with pending disaster, the dialogue is typically terse for a Robert B. Parker novel, all of which heightens the tension in the tale. Wyatt spells it out when they are discussing his love life and how they all want his girl, Josie, '... our names are Earp. You and me and Morgan and Warren and James. We are brothers. We are made of the same stuff. That's what we go back to.' And they stick together throughout, defying all the odds and killing when necessary.
And it all culminates in that gunfight at the O.K. Corral (which doesn't seem as bloody as in the movie!).
It is a fast moving tale, with a whole host of characters from the Wild West, some good others bad, and it keeps the reader entertained throughout.
The action takes place in Tombstone and the Earp brothers, Wyatt, Virgil, James, Morgan and Warren all feature in a tale of revenge and hungry love.
Wyatt steals the girl of Johnny Behan, one of his rivals, and the jealousy festers with an overriding sense of smouldering hatred all through. Doc Holliday drinks his way along as he assists Wyatt in his quest for revenge, particularly once Morgan has been shot dead.
The atmosphere is heavy with pending disaster, the dialogue is typically terse for a Robert B. Parker novel, all of which heightens the tension in the tale. Wyatt spells it out when they are discussing his love life and how they all want his girl, Josie, '... our names are Earp. You and me and Morgan and Warren and James. We are brothers. We are made of the same stuff. That's what we go back to.' And they stick together throughout, defying all the odds and killing when necessary.
And it all culminates in that gunfight at the O.K. Corral (which doesn't seem as bloody as in the movie!).
It is a fast moving tale, with a whole host of characters from the Wild West, some good others bad, and it keeps the reader entertained throughout.
December 13, 2012
An OK retelling of the Wyatt Earp story. Easy to read, but nothing special.
January 16, 2023
Robert Parker writes good cowboy stuff. In this one he includes several pages of historical chronicles which were very informative and interesting. Of special interest to me besides a good story and good writing were some of the names of the characters: John Tyler, John Ringo, John Henry 'Doc' Holliday, Johnny Behan and Texas Jack and Turkey Creek Jack, Jack a nickname of sorts for men named John such as John Fitzgerald (Jack) Kennedy. I felt this was worth a couple of stars.
May 20, 2019
Very good, if you can forgive the ending. The ending was anticlimactic. Maybe Parker didn't feel the need to tell it, since it's been told countless times already, but it still feels very rushed. The epilogue was insufficient and leaves the book feeling unfinished. Other than that, great book.
April 9, 2015
An excellent book about the events that led up to the gunfight at the O.K. corral and the events that followed. Well done and, apparently, sticks to the known facts. Highly recommended.
January 19, 2010
Decades ago, I went through a western phase. Max Brand, Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey, Owen Wister (I once lived in the Wister house in Germantown, PA, and I still think The Virginian is one of the great western novels along with Shane by Jack Schaeffer,); all could be counted on for a reliable and consistent story with good (always slightly flawed) triumphing over evil. Then came writers like Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, a classic that, with prequel and sequel, raised violence and ambiguity to an art. Robert B. Parker is now writing a series that's equally fine.
Robert Parker is author of the Spenser P.I. series (classic westerns in a different setting, really, but which went downhill when Susan entered the picture,) the Jesse Stone series (excellent) and recently a series of westerns that rival some of the best. I have listened to Appaloosa (well-read by Titus Welliver) and now Gunman's Rhapsody (rather amateurishly narrated by Ed Begley - he just doesn't have the grave and gravely voice of other better western narrators), a moody novel about events at the OK Corral that turn Hollywood black and white into multiple shades of gray.
The Earps are a family with typical family problems, and they are integrally part of political corruption and deceit in which they are willing participants. The catalyst for the shootout was Wyatt's interest and consummation of a love affair with Josie who just happened to be his friend the sheriff's girl. (The ultimate result was a county posse chasing a federal posse.) Throw this in with lingering Union versus Confederate sympathies, lots of guns, and a recipe for disaster was cooking. It's always difficult writing about events that have achieved mythic status; Parker does a credible job.
Some reviewers have suggested that the brooding Earp bears some resemblance to Spencer, Parker's hero of the long-running series. I didn't sense that although I might be myopic to the connection, certainly not the Spenser of Susan years.
Parker intersperses in the story actual news stories and letters, of questionable value to the story, but which I found historically interesting if not pertinent. An epilogue lists the deaths of the participants. Surprisingly, Josie lived until 1944. I suggest reading the Wikipedia entry for Wyatt to place everything firmly in historical perspective
Robert Parker is author of the Spenser P.I. series (classic westerns in a different setting, really, but which went downhill when Susan entered the picture,) the Jesse Stone series (excellent) and recently a series of westerns that rival some of the best. I have listened to Appaloosa (well-read by Titus Welliver) and now Gunman's Rhapsody (rather amateurishly narrated by Ed Begley - he just doesn't have the grave and gravely voice of other better western narrators), a moody novel about events at the OK Corral that turn Hollywood black and white into multiple shades of gray.
The Earps are a family with typical family problems, and they are integrally part of political corruption and deceit in which they are willing participants. The catalyst for the shootout was Wyatt's interest and consummation of a love affair with Josie who just happened to be his friend the sheriff's girl. (The ultimate result was a county posse chasing a federal posse.) Throw this in with lingering Union versus Confederate sympathies, lots of guns, and a recipe for disaster was cooking. It's always difficult writing about events that have achieved mythic status; Parker does a credible job.
Some reviewers have suggested that the brooding Earp bears some resemblance to Spencer, Parker's hero of the long-running series. I didn't sense that although I might be myopic to the connection, certainly not the Spenser of Susan years.
Parker intersperses in the story actual news stories and letters, of questionable value to the story, but which I found historically interesting if not pertinent. An epilogue lists the deaths of the participants. Surprisingly, Josie lived until 1944. I suggest reading the Wikipedia entry for Wyatt to place everything firmly in historical perspective
December 11, 2020
While following the adventures of Spenser, lazy detective, I found Parker wrote more than one western, not related to his cash cow.
Some writers have an easy flow of language and dialogue, Parker is such a writer. Enjoyed this book about the events of the Earp Family that led up to the gunfight at the O.K. corral and the subsquent events to conclude what the planet has watched in "Tombstone" or Costner's "Wyatt Earp".
I found it well done, minus the interstitials which were unexpected and merely added to the world around, beyond, the plot.
It seemed to stay to the known facts. Yet, I found it harder to separate written word from film from fiction when matched with truth. It all seemed to mesh and come out enjoyable. I verbalized Wyatt's/Doc's more than once.
Recommend highly.
Tombstone quotes in my head as I read through the book.
Some writers have an easy flow of language and dialogue, Parker is such a writer. Enjoyed this book about the events of the Earp Family that led up to the gunfight at the O.K. corral and the subsquent events to conclude what the planet has watched in "Tombstone" or Costner's "Wyatt Earp".
I found it well done, minus the interstitials which were unexpected and merely added to the world around, beyond, the plot.
It seemed to stay to the known facts. Yet, I found it harder to separate written word from film from fiction when matched with truth. It all seemed to mesh and come out enjoyable. I verbalized Wyatt's/Doc's more than once.
Recommend highly.
Tombstone quotes in my head as I read through the book.
January 21, 2021
Maybe something like 3.5 stars. Maybe ...
This is the story of Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, AZ. It is much like the several movies made in the past years story-wise. That might have been part of the problem for me. It was a story all too familiar. Plus, this book also did not use quotation marks to identify conversation and it bothered me more in this than it did in News of the World, which I just read. This one wasn't deliberate in even separating by paragraphs so several people might be talking in the same short paragraph. I found myself going back and forth to check who said what.
Maybe it was just the edition I had. Don't know.
I was drawn to the book beyond the Wyatt Earp aspect, though. After recently moving to South Arizona, the area in the book is now nearby and of more interest. That raised my interest in the book past the issues of formatting.
This is the story of Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, AZ. It is much like the several movies made in the past years story-wise. That might have been part of the problem for me. It was a story all too familiar. Plus, this book also did not use quotation marks to identify conversation and it bothered me more in this than it did in News of the World, which I just read. This one wasn't deliberate in even separating by paragraphs so several people might be talking in the same short paragraph. I found myself going back and forth to check who said what.
Maybe it was just the edition I had. Don't know.
I was drawn to the book beyond the Wyatt Earp aspect, though. After recently moving to South Arizona, the area in the book is now nearby and of more interest. That raised my interest in the book past the issues of formatting.
March 18, 2025
This is a very entertaining piece of historical fiction. If you are a fan of the mythologized version of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, this book will be a fun read for you. A classic spaghetti western in Robert B. Parker's straight forward style of storytelling.
June 19, 2010
Wyatt Earp and his brothers; gunfights; Tombstone; frontier conflicts. It's all here in Parker's crisp style. And it's not simply a transplanted Spenser detective plot superimposed on a western setting. Parker has a grasp of the setting and the events of the time and places his story seamlessly in it. And he understands much of what is known about the historical characters he's dealing with, and provides them with plausible dialogue. It's a good read!
February 5, 2012
Apart from the movie "Tombstone," this is quite possibly my favorite retelling of Wyatt Earp's tale. It is a bit hard to follow the various jumps in points of view, but its worth it once the reader is able to get into it. Brilliant work from a brilliant author more known for his mystery novels. Gunman's Rhapsody also serves as a perfect intro to Parker's other (amazing) westerns - the Appaloosa series.
February 29, 2016
Gunman's Rhapsody by Robert B. Parker (2001 G.P. Putnam's Sons)(Fiction - Western). This tale predates his Appaloosa trilogy. This is a fine story featuring the Earp brothers (James, Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, and Warren) in Tombstone, Arizona in 1880 as the brothers band together to face mutual foes. My rating: 8/10, finished 2004.
July 23, 2010
I really like how parker writes about the Old West. This book is based on real-life charaacters Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Coc Holliday, Clay Allison, & bat masterson. Shoot out at the OK corral. I think he wrote this book first and then went on to write the trilogy Apaloosa, Resolution, and Brimstone. This is a good match for parker
May 17, 2011
I think Parker gets this story right. Wyatt Earp's bio and the OK Corral have been done to death. This book is the only one I've read where I didn't question anything. It struck me as more plausible than any of the others. I did enjoy Tombstone very much, but it was overly theatrical compared to this wonderfully spare, intense tale.
February 10, 2009
After reading Appoloosa, looked for another western by Parker. Good telling of the backstory leading up to the gunfight at the OK corral such that the actual gunfight in the book is limited to only a couple of sentences. Good portrayal of the Earp brothers and their loyalty for each other.
October 18, 2013
I visited Tombstone on several occasions back in the 1950s and have read histories of the town and a biography of Doc Holiday. Parker's book focuses on the Earp brothers and the events leading up to the OK Corral shootout. It is entertaining and appears to be reasonably accurate.
November 1, 2014
I've always enjoyed Parker's books and especially his westerns. I liked and recommend this book. I'm glad Robert Knott has taken up the reins to continue the westerns.
June 24, 2014
Really liked this one. Features Wyatt Earp and some of his friends and
enemies.
enemies.
September 23, 2024
A so-called reimagining of the gunfight at OK corral though it seems the gunfight at OK corral was not a focus of this book. I say so-called imagining because I don't know the true story. I just know the movie with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. When Wyatt and Doc were talking in the book I was hearing the voices of Russell and Kilmer. I loved the movie and I enjoyed this book, hoping it was somewhat true to fact. I particularly enjoyed the epilogue where it wrapped up things quite nicely.
I was so excited when I realized I had another Robert B Parker book I hadn't read. Thought I'd read all 50 or 60 or more. Parker's been gone since 2010 I believe. No new books by him but I do have two of the Hitch and Cole books by Robert Knott. I liked one of his books that he wrote on the Robert Parker's name even though it wasn't exactly a Parker book. He wrote another one that I couldn't stand! I was foul mouthed, extremely violent and gory. Something Parker never was. Yes he used language when necessary, yes there was violence but it was tempered. Like in Gunman's Rhapsody. I hope the parts of the book that are true are the very well fleshed out relationship between Wyatt Earp and Josie Marcus and the brotherhood between Doc and the Earps. One thing that I didn't understand is how they hooked up in the beginning to the point where they would die for each other. It wasn't explained and I've always wondered.
This was an entertaining book. Anything by Parker works for me. I have not read the Sunny Randall books and Jesse Stone wasn't my favorite. Too brooding.
I've read all the standalones and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it to Parker fans because it has his spare type of writing (dialogue) with short chapters which I love. I also recommend it for lovers of the Western genre both fiction and nonfiction.
I was so excited when I realized I had another Robert B Parker book I hadn't read. Thought I'd read all 50 or 60 or more. Parker's been gone since 2010 I believe. No new books by him but I do have two of the Hitch and Cole books by Robert Knott. I liked one of his books that he wrote on the Robert Parker's name even though it wasn't exactly a Parker book. He wrote another one that I couldn't stand! I was foul mouthed, extremely violent and gory. Something Parker never was. Yes he used language when necessary, yes there was violence but it was tempered. Like in Gunman's Rhapsody. I hope the parts of the book that are true are the very well fleshed out relationship between Wyatt Earp and Josie Marcus and the brotherhood between Doc and the Earps. One thing that I didn't understand is how they hooked up in the beginning to the point where they would die for each other. It wasn't explained and I've always wondered.
This was an entertaining book. Anything by Parker works for me. I have not read the Sunny Randall books and Jesse Stone wasn't my favorite. Too brooding.
I've read all the standalones and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it to Parker fans because it has his spare type of writing (dialogue) with short chapters which I love. I also recommend it for lovers of the Western genre both fiction and nonfiction.
February 2, 2021
I did enjoy reading this book. It is overall very interesting and true to form at least with regard to the Tombstone movie. I actually watched the movie and then picked up this book, which probably wasn't the best idea. As I read, all I could picture were the actors in the movie and tended to compare their portrayal in the book to the movie. At some points it felt like I was reading the script for the movie--so there wasn't a lot of new angles here. The main difference in my opinion between the book and the movie is that the book hangs the whole gunfight at the OK corral and disagreements between the Earps and the Cowboys as being due to Wyatt stealing Josie from Johnny Behan. Josie plays a relatively small role in the movie, but has a much more significant role in this book. It was easy reading overall and kept me engaged. Not the best written western, but a good read.
My major qualm with this book is Parker's constant repetition of certain phrases throughout the book, sometime within a few pages of each other. For example, he repeatedly writes about Wyatt holding a cup of coffee with both hands to drink it. Or how Behan won't come on Wyatt straight on. He repeatedly points out that Doc Holiday was drinking whiskey--how he drank it, what he drank it from, that he was drunk. Got it--Doc was an alcoholic. No news, no need to constantly point that out. At times it seemed like Parker didn't even edit the book to realize that he used one phrase just the page before. It became quit annoying to this reader.
I will read more of Parker's westerns to get a better feel for his writing in this genre.
My major qualm with this book is Parker's constant repetition of certain phrases throughout the book, sometime within a few pages of each other. For example, he repeatedly writes about Wyatt holding a cup of coffee with both hands to drink it. Or how Behan won't come on Wyatt straight on. He repeatedly points out that Doc Holiday was drinking whiskey--how he drank it, what he drank it from, that he was drunk. Got it--Doc was an alcoholic. No news, no need to constantly point that out. At times it seemed like Parker didn't even edit the book to realize that he used one phrase just the page before. It became quit annoying to this reader.
I will read more of Parker's westerns to get a better feel for his writing in this genre.
February 4, 2018
Fans of Parker that have read his Spencer and Jesse Stone books with their snappy dialog will find the simple dialog in this book to be quite different. The main characters never seem to use even one extra word and the concept of humor never seems to be a part of their lives.
The main characters are the Earp brothers, their pal Doc Holliday and the setting is Arizona around the town of Tombstone. While the famous gunfight at the OK Corral is part of the story, it is largely an incidental. The main plot line is how these men face life and support each other, often with one or more guns in their hands. The Earp brothers are together through all things, their motto is truly “One for all, all for one.” Danger, the ire of the women in their lives, nothing fundamentally comes between them.
While some law has come to their area of Arizona, there are still some significant lawless elements. Rustling across the border with Mexico takes place and the identities of the outlaws is well known. There are known hostilities between the cowboys, miners and townspeople and simple political differences between Democrats and Republicans.
This novel is about the Earp brothers, their place in the world, how they live with it and their approach to difficulties in life, including their interactions with women. They don’t talk a lot, but when they say something, it is genuine and to be taken seriously.
The main characters are the Earp brothers, their pal Doc Holliday and the setting is Arizona around the town of Tombstone. While the famous gunfight at the OK Corral is part of the story, it is largely an incidental. The main plot line is how these men face life and support each other, often with one or more guns in their hands. The Earp brothers are together through all things, their motto is truly “One for all, all for one.” Danger, the ire of the women in their lives, nothing fundamentally comes between them.
While some law has come to their area of Arizona, there are still some significant lawless elements. Rustling across the border with Mexico takes place and the identities of the outlaws is well known. There are known hostilities between the cowboys, miners and townspeople and simple political differences between Democrats and Republicans.
This novel is about the Earp brothers, their place in the world, how they live with it and their approach to difficulties in life, including their interactions with women. They don’t talk a lot, but when they say something, it is genuine and to be taken seriously.
May 6, 2020
Robert B. Parker has made his first foray into the western genre, and emerged victorious. He decided to examine the legend of the OK Corral gunfight, the events leading to it, and its aftermath, from the viewpoint of Wyatt Earp. Parker brings Earp vividly to life, the reader comes away with the conviction that the real-life Earp must have been exactly as Parker portrays him. Parker's Earp is a pragmatic, definitely not introspective, family man, whose bond with his brothers is the most important thing in his life (even his common-law wife is peripheral) until the love of his life, showgirl Josie Marcus, comes along. It is Earp's involvement with Josie that precipitates his feud with the sheriff and the rustlers of Tombstone. And when his brother Morgan is gunned down in the street, it is Wyatt who will bring the villains to justice. Parker describes Wyatt "He liked the gun work because he liked guns. They were balanced and complete and efficient and tightly integrated and purposeful. He liked shooting guns because he was good at it and because it was so complete an act. See something, aim at it, fire the gun, kill the something. There was always closure to a gun." In his inimitable, minimalist style Parker brings Wyatt, his brothers, Doc Holliday, and the land and people of 1880s Arizona vividly to life. The reader knows these people, this land. They are true to their archetypes. This is a purely wonderful book: the perfect western. Buy it; read it; enjoy it.
August 19, 2021
Wyatt Earp As Spenser
Robert B. Parker is best known as the author of a long series of novels featuring the Boston private eye Spenser. In those novels Spenser spends a lot of time talking with his girlfriend Susan about what it is to be a certain kind of man and about their relationship. In Gunman's Rhapsody, Parker has essentially done the same thing with Wyatt Earp and his girlfriend Josie as they live through the Earp brothers' tumultuous years in Tombstone, Arizona. It's a familiar story to anyone who's seen the movies Tombstone or Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and all the expected elements are here - Doc Holliday, Ike Clanton, Johnny Ringo, the gunfight (though dealt with in a very impressionistic way), Earp going after "the cowboys," and so on. The story is told in Parker's always fluid style, making this an easy read, though there are a lot of different characters who appear and disappear, making it a little hard to keep track of who's who at times. Parker also includes sections recapping the news of day in the nation and around the world, which I assume are there to help create the atmosphere of the world where all this happens. (They seem to have nothing to do with the plot.) All in all, it's an entertaining retelling of the Tombstone saga, and one that will seem very familiar to fans of the Spenser novels.
Robert B. Parker is best known as the author of a long series of novels featuring the Boston private eye Spenser. In those novels Spenser spends a lot of time talking with his girlfriend Susan about what it is to be a certain kind of man and about their relationship. In Gunman's Rhapsody, Parker has essentially done the same thing with Wyatt Earp and his girlfriend Josie as they live through the Earp brothers' tumultuous years in Tombstone, Arizona. It's a familiar story to anyone who's seen the movies Tombstone or Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and all the expected elements are here - Doc Holliday, Ike Clanton, Johnny Ringo, the gunfight (though dealt with in a very impressionistic way), Earp going after "the cowboys," and so on. The story is told in Parker's always fluid style, making this an easy read, though there are a lot of different characters who appear and disappear, making it a little hard to keep track of who's who at times. Parker also includes sections recapping the news of day in the nation and around the world, which I assume are there to help create the atmosphere of the world where all this happens. (They seem to have nothing to do with the plot.) All in all, it's an entertaining retelling of the Tombstone saga, and one that will seem very familiar to fans of the Spenser novels.
January 21, 2019
The events leading up to the gunfight at the O. K. Corral and the resulting Earp Vendetta Ride are bits of Arizona Territory history that have grown to the status of legend in the United States. The events of the early 1880s have been debated vigorously by partisans and historians on both sides of the conflict. What history can’t document has been filled in by the imagination of journalists, filmmakers and novelists ever since. Novelist Parker portrays it as the result of the rivalry between actress Josie Marcus’s former lover, sheriff Johnny Behan, and her next partner, federal marshal Wyatt Earp. Parker tells it in short vivid scenes filled with terse dialog that’s true to Earp’s notoriously taciturn manner. Other historical causes, Republicans v. Democrats, town businessmen v. ranchers, law enforcement v. cattle rustlers, and gun control law show up only on rare occasions in the dialog. By doing so, Parker fulfills the title’s promise; this is primarily a story about gunfighters.
March 31, 2021
Not the first book I've read about Wyatt Earp and the events at the O.K Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, and I wouldn't say it's the best but there's an authentic ring to it that struck a chord with me.
So why only three stars? Because I kept finding my attention drifting and I found the narrative was often confusing. Written in a spare style with a snapshot, episodic structure, I just couldn't lose myself in the story and characters despite its laudable realism and my prior knowledge from other books and films.
I listened to the audiobook version of the novel, which is well read so that wasn't an issue. Somehow it didn't quite come to life for me, in marked contrast to my recent reading of another Western (a favourite genre), Pete Dexter's 'Deadwood'. For me the book is simply too understated for such an iconic character as Earp and the famous gunfight story, with characters coming and going, eg Doc Holliday. Perhaps I prefer a bit more of the Myth & Legend? I am still keen to read Parker's Appaloosa series, however.
So why only three stars? Because I kept finding my attention drifting and I found the narrative was often confusing. Written in a spare style with a snapshot, episodic structure, I just couldn't lose myself in the story and characters despite its laudable realism and my prior knowledge from other books and films.
I listened to the audiobook version of the novel, which is well read so that wasn't an issue. Somehow it didn't quite come to life for me, in marked contrast to my recent reading of another Western (a favourite genre), Pete Dexter's 'Deadwood'. For me the book is simply too understated for such an iconic character as Earp and the famous gunfight story, with characters coming and going, eg Doc Holliday. Perhaps I prefer a bit more of the Myth & Legend? I am still keen to read Parker's Appaloosa series, however.
December 6, 2024
A classic telling of the story of Wyatt Earp and the shooting at the OK Corral. The Earp brothers move to Tombstone Arizona to try and make a living and a name for themselves but it seems that all they find is trouble.
I picked up this book from my local library while looking for another book from the same author. Didn't read the book jacket or anything and figured why not. Didn't realize until I started reading that it was about Wyatt Earp and one of my favorite classic Wild West stories.
The books is fast paced and easy to get caught up in. Picked it up figuring I'd only read a chapter or two, almost two hours later I was already a third of the way through the book. The chapters are mostly pretty short, only a few pages each. In total there are 60 chapters not including the prologue and epilogue, and it seemed like a few of them could have been combined into the same chapters so that number could have been cut down, but the chapter points do feel rewarding and make you feel like hey might as well read another chapter it's only a couple pages.
I picked up this book from my local library while looking for another book from the same author. Didn't read the book jacket or anything and figured why not. Didn't realize until I started reading that it was about Wyatt Earp and one of my favorite classic Wild West stories.
The books is fast paced and easy to get caught up in. Picked it up figuring I'd only read a chapter or two, almost two hours later I was already a third of the way through the book. The chapters are mostly pretty short, only a few pages each. In total there are 60 chapters not including the prologue and epilogue, and it seemed like a few of them could have been combined into the same chapters so that number could have been cut down, but the chapter points do feel rewarding and make you feel like hey might as well read another chapter it's only a couple pages.
August 16, 2018
I'm rounding up a bit.
This novel will be of interest to fans of Parker's Spenser series and those who enjoy stories about the Earp brothers. Parker's Wyatt Earp has some resemblance to both Spenser and Hawk, a mixture that doesn't always feel credible but makes for an intriguing character. The book's style is also reminiscent of the Spenser books, but with a hint of Hemingway. From my limited checking after I finished, the sequence of events matches the latest historical conclusions. Doc Holliday comes across as a crazier loose cannon than in some other versions of the story, especially different from the portrayal in Mary Doria Russell's excellent novel Doc.
This novel will be of interest to fans of Parker's Spenser series and those who enjoy stories about the Earp brothers. Parker's Wyatt Earp has some resemblance to both Spenser and Hawk, a mixture that doesn't always feel credible but makes for an intriguing character. The book's style is also reminiscent of the Spenser books, but with a hint of Hemingway. From my limited checking after I finished, the sequence of events matches the latest historical conclusions. Doc Holliday comes across as a crazier loose cannon than in some other versions of the story, especially different from the portrayal in Mary Doria Russell's excellent novel Doc.
June 11, 2023
A sufficient little novel that moves along at a steady clip and offers a view of the Earp family (particularly Wyatt) in the time leading up to the famed gunfight at the OK Corral. Parker takes the view that this much explored event in the Wild West was all a result of Wyatt Earp stealing Josie Marcus (who would become his second common law wife and stay with him until his death) from Johnny Behan. Cherchez la femme, he supposes.
A blend of fact and fiction, which expands on the known series of events in ways necessary to create a novel and not a history text, I enjoyed the dynamic between the Earp brothers most.
A blend of fact and fiction, which expands on the known series of events in ways necessary to create a novel and not a history text, I enjoyed the dynamic between the Earp brothers most.
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