Cast a Long Shadow, an e-book assumed published, copyright and written by Kwen D. Griffeth.
The reader is introduced to the protagonist, ‘Bad Bobby Trent’, son of a Montana County Sheriff as he is engaged in a fist fight at a popular bar, somewhat distant from the area’s main town of Wapiti. The bar attracted men with occupations such as cowboys, sheep men, roustabouts and similar and the women who enjoyed their company. Bobby was a local, almost legend, star high school athlete who after a short stint in college was a popular Rodeo Cowboy with a devil-may-care attitude and a smile and piercing eyes that women found irrestible. His father arrives, jails him in just one more effort to make him ‘grow-up’ and attain his real potential. Shortly thereafter, a trailer truck suspected of carrying heroin is disabled passing through the area and must stay for repairs. Suspiciously it catches fire which destroys any evidence. The sheriff dies with a gunshot to the head and rumor suggests suicide because he was involved. The story moves into high gear with Bobby pulling out all stops to find his killer and slowly maturing to be the person whom his father believed he could be. Along the way he is helped greatly by a Cheyenne Nation Chief who is an FBI criminal investigation training graduate and now Head of their Police Department as well other members of the nation, an old flame, a young woman police officer and several other interesting individuals. The tale is replete with unexpected twists as Bobby ‘goes-with-the-flow’ of what life offers until finally attaining enough maturity to realize that he still has much to learn.
Discussion: This is a most interesting story whose genre defies specific assignment and is filled with fascinatingly described characters. It has a western setting, but should NOT be characterized as a ‘western” per se. Fundamentally, this would appear to be more of a character study where each has a story contributory to the main plot that contains large elements of crime, mysticism, romance and suspense moving inexorably toward a somewhat unexpected finale. It is another well-written, unusual tale by this author that is difficult to put down.
5* Multi-genre character study difficult to put down.