NICE PLACE TO VISIT, BUT...: JOHNNY D. BOGGS' BLOODY NEWTON

Johnny D, Boggs mines the old west for lesser known, yet no less important, histories for his novels. His last book, Longhorns East,used a real cattle drive from Texas to New York. THis year's book, Bloody Newton, utilizes ione of the most violent, yet little talked about gunfights with a body count that surpassed the one near The O.K. Corral.

We follow three characters traveling to Kansas who end up in the booming new town opposite their planning. Gary Haree, a Texas trail boss, moves a herd up The Shanghai Trail , with a group including his two boys. Along the way, he learns that prices could be better in Newton than in his destination of Abilene. Cindy Bagwell, a new reporter for the Wichita Herald, is assigned to the town, possibly to get out of her editor's heir. Denise Beeber loses her brother to violence on trip, as she sets out to establish and operate her own restaurant, All become entwined in the tension between the locals and Texans drovers that escalates into the infamous incident Tuttle's Dance Hall.

The mult-character story allows us to view the rapid growth of the town and the friction between the cowboys blowing off steam and the citizens who like their money, but want peace as well. GAry struggles to keep his men and line and defend them as well. Tis coincides with him leaning when to protect his sons and allow them to take the risks that build then into their own men. As Denise's restaurant gows from wagon, to tent, to two-story building, we get a personal feel of the town's advancement. Cindy's journalism gives us a big yet detailed picture of the community. As the three people get together and work toward their ambitions, Newton becomes a character itself with its own arc and complexities.

Boggs mixes history with his fiction to give a living, breathing place and time. HIs characters rub shoulders with the likes of Shanghai Pierce, Texas cattleman Jesse Driskill, held in regard by us Austinites, and even Wild Bill Hickock. He begins each chapter with a quote from a newspaper article of the period, providing scope and authentic attitude as well as placing the story.in a larger context. As he builds toward the gunfight, we feel the town about to explode.

When he reaches the shootout, he pulls it off brilliantly. We both feel the chaos while having an understanding of the geography of everybody and where each bullet is flying. It's exciting, but not glorifying. It actually comes to full resonance in the aftermath when Cindy examines the spilled blood and devastation in Tuttle's the day after. I believe this the first time i read about the after affects of a western gunfight and it haunting as well as the best part of the novel.

Bloody Newton works both as an entertaining historical western and a look the growth and growing pains of community that comes out of the wilderness. We like the three leads and root for them in their endeavors and survival as the commerce, cowboys, blod, and thunder swirl around then. Johnny Bogg's makes you feel like he took you back in time and you're thankful for the trip.