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Take a gold strike seemingly lost to history, unexplained disappearances, Army Officers, and Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, and you'd probably think you have a recipe for a tale of the old west. However, in Reneau’s Legend Of War Creek, all of the aforementioned are place settings for a tale of the new west, replete with satellite cell phones, helicopters, private planes, and high explosives.
Washington state's Cascade mountains are the backdrop and principal locale for this modern western with a geologist, rather than a lawman, as its chief protagonist. Trace Brandon is the professional miner-cum-adventurer at the center of multiplying maladies that threaten his bank balance, his company, and his life. Plus the lives of his closest friends and loved ones. The action bounces back and forth from several small western communities to the steamy streets of New Orleans, as Brandon and his compatriots wrestle with everything from hostile takeovers, ghost tribes defending sacred burial ground, avenging ex-cons, and hired assassins
While a fondness for film and movie star allusions are often used, it doesn't keep Reneau's conversational prose from moving along at a sprinter’s pace. The plot and its pitfalls, along with the author's quirky characters, put one in mind of some of Elmore Leonard’s tawdry tales or Tony Hillerman's engaging Native American mysteries. Legend of War Creek is a fast drive down a bumpy road with lots of twists and turns along the way. If you’re up for it, you just might enjoy the ride.
The book is one in a series of Trace Brandon novels. This edition provides an excerpt from the geologist’s next adventure, The Medinandi License.