This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
An award-winning author of fourteen books, Don Willerton has set most of his novels against the mountains, rivers, and canyons of the American West. Raised in the Panhandle of Texas, he picnicked where Kit Carson led his troops to the first battle of Adobe Walls in 1864, hunted arrowheads along the Canadian River, walked in swales made by pioneer wagons more than a hundred and fifty years ago, and adventured in the canyons of the Palo Duro. He has remained fascinated with the history of the Southwest and the people who made it.
After a science degree in Texas, graduate work in Wyoming, and another degree in New Mexico, Willerton established his home in Los Alamos, working over the years as a physicist, computer programmer, manager, and information security leader. Along the way, he built a house, restored cars, backpacked in the mountains, rafted rivers, and helped raise three sons. Writing since the 1990s, he has produced ten books of the Mogi Franklin Mystery Series, which combines Southwest landscapes, history, and lore to create mysteries involving a middle-grade sleuth and his older sister; a supernatural suspense novel centered around an abandoned house that has a personality; a thriller combining the two problems of homelessness and ocean pollution; and a WWII novel of a young man’s war experiences set against the breakdown of his family life, based on the war itinerary of Willerton’s father.
Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite
Death in the Tallgrass: A Young Man’s Journey Through the Western Frontier by Donald Willerton is a Western adventure with a difference. It is 1904, the West has opened up considerably since its Wild West days but it is still a tough, unforgiving, and dangerous place. Harry Bonner is a young man going places. From a wealthy St. Louis family, Harry is studying to be a lawyer to build a successful career. When he discovers some documents in his elderly grandfather’s safe, he is shocked to discover that the family history told to him by his grandfather and mother may be a distortion, if not an outright lie. Confronting his mother, he learns that his Uncle Sam, who was kidnapped by Native Americans when just ten years old and was believed killed may be alive and that the properties in New Mexico that his mother and his uncle should have rightfully inherited were misappropriated by his devious grandfather. Determined to find the truth, Harry decides to use the summer break from college to travel to New Mexico and try to unravel his family’s history. So begin the adventures of a rich, pampered, pompous, and somewhat entitled greenhorn in the wide frontiers of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.
Death in the Tallgrass was an absolute joy to read. Donald Willerton has created characters that are perfectly described for their roles in the narrative and has developed them way beyond their original typecasting, giving them great depth and a surprising ability to adapt. I loved the early portrayal of this bumbling, well-meaning, but incredibly pompous giant of a man who had never needed to dally with anyone deemed below his station. His relationship with Alice and how these two characters evolved together was wonderful writing. The author’s style is descriptive and laid-back as he places you inside Harry’s mind and heart, venturing out into this unknown wilderness with dreams of his Western novel heroes like Kit Carson and Wyatt Earp. His shock at discovering that the West was nothing like that described in the novels of his childhood spurred Harry on from being a gangling youth to the man he became on this journey. The use of some Native American mysticism with the dream sequences was an inspired choice and immersed the reader into the life of Harry’s kidnapped uncle, I read this book in one sitting and it was not only a wonderful adventure story but the circumstances Harry had to face on his journey raised some fascinating questions about morality, right and wrong, as well as family, and ultimately love. This was a wonderful read and one I can highly recommend.
