Dark Frontier

LoveReading Says

Gabriel Stokes has fled his life in London to join his friend in Oregon, hoping to leave behind the violence and corruption he’s seen as member of Metropolitan Police. But once he arrives, he discovers that Oregon provides the same violence and corruption he saw in London, just with a different accent.

Dark Frontier by Matthew Harffy takes the reader on a journey through the nascent American west, where land grabs were common, guns were prolific and justice is served by force, rather than the courts. Like all great westerns, this one has the usual cast of characters: a beyond reproach rancher who has been murdered, his stoic widow, a corrupt local sheriff, a land-grabbing cattle baron and even a faithful dog.

This is the fourteenth novel from Harffy, who is best known for his Bernicia Chronicles, an action-packed historical series set in seventh century Anglo-Saxon Britain. Dark Frontier benefits from his attention to detail and extensive research, as well as his ability to write a page-turning mystery. 

In his author’s note, Harffy writes that he always wanted to write a Western, but he waited until he saw that the themes of nineteenth-century Oregon conflicts were similar to those of seventh-century Britain. He also outlines all of the research he did in order to ensure accuracy, including reading historical accounts, firing both revolvers and rifles, as well as riding horses around Oregon.

For those who’ve enjoyed this foray into the American west, Harffy writes that there will be more novels in this series. 

Maureen Stapleton

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