"A Death in Durango" by Doug Twohill offers a gripping narrative set against the vivid backdrop of Durango. The author skillfully captures the essence of the locale, immersing readers in a world filled with mystery and intrigue. The pacing, however, fluctuates, occasionally hindering the overall momentum of the plot. While the characters are well-drawn and the atmospheric descriptions are commendable, certain aspects of the storyline feel predictable. Twohill's writing style is engaging, yet the plot's twists could have been more nuanced. In the realm of crime fiction, "A Death in Durango" holds promise but doesn't quite reach the heights of its potential.

I don’t usually read westerns but this was much more and very good. I enjoyed the historical detail and the mystery.
Many thanks to Greenleaf Book Club and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A western spaning multiple generations, staying with a daughter's murder. I picked this up because I wanted to branch out on my genres, but it couldn't keep my interest.

This gritty western story was just what I was hoping for when I picked up A Death in Durango. The characters are realistic, the western settings of the Midwest, and a riveting mystery make for a intriguing story.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this story. I like it when stories are a mix of fact and fiction. I now want to see the places that were described in this story. I hope the author will continue to write more stories.


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Death in Durango by Doug Twohill is an unusual western and not a traditional narrative.
In a series of short vignettes that spans multiple generations the book tells of the Vanderhorns and Stricklands and the feuds that tie them together.
Imaginative and quick the book breezes by at a very fast pace.
One of the few drawbacks for me was the nature of the way the tales are told there is never really any one to get attached to as far as main characters go--they move across the broader canvas of the story so quickly.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #GreenleafBooks, and Doug Twohill for the ARC of #DeathinDurango.

I am at 3/4 of the book. I don't know if I will finish it. It is so dark in its tone, there doesn't seem to be any positives. As far as the writing, it is strong, ch.aracters are well developed. Since i haven't finished the book, I hope to avoid a star rating.

The Vanderhorns and Stricklands. Their battles for control shaped the history of an Old West town in Colorado. Truth, legends, and lies intertwine for generations until a modern day tragedy.

This...wasn’t what I was expecting. I was surprised when it begins in the present day with a father traveling west to investigate the murder of his daughter. The local police have ruled it suicide, but others in town warn that the history of the local, I guess crime family, will explain all. And then we jump into a series of short stories about the Vanderhorns and Stricklands and how much they fought. There are also occasional flashbacks to when the indigenous people lived in the land.

The author clearly had a love for the area and it showed in the details. I just wish there had been a tighter narrative, or at least a better synopsis that accurately portrayed the kind of story this was.

Readers who are looking for a gritty, tales of the worst things that happened in the past kind of story may enjoy this more than I did.

After his daughter is found dead from an apparent suicide, a New York City detective travels to Durango to claim her body and figure out what really happened. This part of the story is really just a "shell" to tell the story of Durango and southwest Colorado. Part travelogue, part history book, part western adventure, this is really a love note to the area. It's clear that the author has a particular spot in his heart for the region.

I really did enjoy reading this book, although I admit it's certainly not a great novel. I also love this area of the country, so it was a pleasure to read about Mesa Verde, the old cattle trails, the gold rush, and more. The author admits he plays fast & loose with timelines and characters. Some are fictionalized "real" characters (ex. Charlie Goodnight & Butch Cassidy), some are just fictional, all are believable and fun to meet. I guess I was looking for Lonesome Dove (this is not it!), and instead found a very readable book with lots of history and plenty of intriguing characters. This is the author's first novel, and I think he's on the right track. It's nice to read a Western novel set in a beautiful part of CO. I hope he writes more, just with more emphasis on plot and "novel" and a bit less on history & geography. OH, and by the way, we do eventually learn what happened to the daughter.

As a murder mystery, three stars. As a book of Wild West short stories? Five stars. So we will meet in the middle with four. The first chapters and last chapters are about a police officer who has to go out to Durango to find out how his own daughter died, All the chapters in the middle are a series of short stories that follow two founding families and their long-standing feud through a few generations. They are very interesting short stories and are rich with details and history. I loved the chapters about the cliff dwellings. The two families’ stories do connect to the daughter’s death, but it takes a whole book to get there. I do recommend this one for its story-telling and historical value.

As a Durango native, I wanted to love this one. Sadly, it ended up being a DNF for me. I found the writing style juvenile and the random time jumps between the stories of different characters didn't flow and was disorienting.

I loved this book. I enjoyed the old west time fictional and nonfictional aspects so much that when I got to the end of the book I had forgotten about how it started! The history, adventure, fighting, love stories in the book makes you keep turning the page and I read the book in 5 days.

What if one day you are notified of your daughter's death by suicide, how would you handle it if you are a former NYPD detective? Well Jim Barlow didn't believe that is how his daughter died. He starts a quest to find out who murdered his daughter. As Jim works to uncover her death, he also uncovers the history of Durango and the families that " run" the town. He learns about the feud between the Vanderhorns and Strickland's.
Twohill uses his own travels to Durango, to vividly paint a picture to the readers of his book. You can see yourself there as a bystander in 19th century Colorado. This is the first book written by Twohill. This read has adventure thrills tension and suspense. Twohill writes of good versus evil, betrayer, greed, envy, gold miners, deception, Native Americans, cowboys, rustlers, looters, ranchers and war along with vengeance. This reader will find themselves empathizing with the many characters of this book. If you want to read a love letter of the history along with the spirit of the Wild West then pick up A Death In Durango by Doug Twohill.
My interest of history and true crime made this book very easy to read and hard to stop. I received A Death In Durango from NetGallery and the Greenleaf Book Group. I am voluntarily leaving a review of this book in my own words. #NetGalley, #ADeathinDurango.

A Death in Durango is fast paced, full of interesting characters, and a great read. It's always interesting for me to read stories that include ranches, cowboys, family drama, and the Old West, so I truly enjoyed this one.

Fiction and History and the Four Corners Region
I so enjoyed this book! I read the Preface and wondered what I was about to read. As a native of Colorado and of the same era as the author, I understood all of his references. The story is tight and believable with a good dose of fictionalized history. He presents the old west as we like to believe it was, and the new west how we wish it were. Durango, the cliff dwellings, and the entire Four Corners are as presented. The story had humor and not too much blood and gore. I hope this author continues to write books about the region. I received this book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Hello,

Thanks to NetGalley.com and Greenleaf Book Group, LLC.

Doug Twohill's "Death In Durango" is a love letter to Durango and the American West. Through that scope we read about the death in Durango. We meet Jim Barlow, 25 years experience in the FBI. He's coming to Durango to investigate his daughters, Patti, death. Her death has been ruled a suicide, but Barlow doesn't believe that. That's how the book starts and then after that the author covers the history of Durango. Twohill covers the history of Durango basically through two families, the Vanderhorns and the Stricklands.

The death in Durango is Patty, she's a free spirit living on her own in Durango. A potential suspect in her death is a Strickland, Buck. It seems the low character and mean spiritedness moves from generation to generation just like health concerns.

To understand Durango you need to understand the Vanderhorn and Strickland families. They've been on the opposite sides of nearly every issue for the last 100 years. Their disputations started all over a woman, isn't it always a woman? That would be Miss Charlotte McClintok. Zane Vanderhorn rescued Charlotte from being raped by Bart Strickland.

To simplify it to a great extent the Vanderhorns are the "good" people and the Stricklands are the "bad" of Durango.. The Vanderhorns are fighting in the army, serving as sheriff and coming to the rescue of the less fortunate many times. Meanwhile the Stricklands are doing the exact opposite. They are the criminals, they deal in drugs, prostitution and at the end even work with cartels. That's how they make their money. There are many memorable characters. The book focuses very much on the ruggedness of the men and the women. These are the tough gold minors and the prostitutes that service them. There's a great gold rush, but the people that have the most success are the people that make money off the influx of miners.

Cliff Palace, which is Mesa Verde National Monument, history is covered in this book. Where did the people of Cliff Palace go? Reading this book we find out from a descendent of Our People. Of course the Vanderhorns and the Stricklands are drawn into this.

Butch Cassidy and Teddy Roosevelt are real people that show up in Twohill's narrative. As I mentioned previously the book is a love letter to the Western US and the rugged people that did their best to tame it.

Overall I enjoyed the book and the story. The characters are memorable, both likable and not so likable. These feel like very real people that have real lives. We empathize with these people. For a lot of the book I thought it was a collection of vignettes loosely held together rather than one complete story. Although at the end Twohill ties all the stories together well. It's a fast and easy read, the kind you can read at work or flying on an airplane. That's not a knock on the book at all.

The book is not too long or too short, it's just the right length. So much of modern entertainment is a story that has too many endings, I'm so glad this book was just about the right length of 220 pages. Sadly Barlow never gets the justice he deserved in the conventional way. However Western justice does prevail to his benefit. It feels like a near perfect ending to what was a very enjoyable novel. This is Twohill's first novel and I look forward to his second book.

All author profits from book sales will be donated to the Community Foundation of Southwest Colorado.

themusicaddict

I really enjoyed this book. I don't typically read westerns but I like picking different types of books for my book discussion group. I've been watching the tv show Yellowstone and if you like that show you'll like this book. It starts out in modern day Durango but then it takes you back to the old west and the feud between two families. The feud helps carry the story back to modern day and the mystery of a young woman's death. It also gives some history of the old west. I think the men and women in my group will enjoy reading this and will make a great discussion. Fans of westerns and mysteries will enjoy it.

I enjoyed this book. A Western with a twist! It told the story of the forming of Colorado and mentioned Western legends. It was a page turner as there was much history of the area with a story-line of solving a murder mystery. The book covered many years and expertly wove the past with the present. A page turner and hard to put down.

Reading Death in Durango, by Doug Twohill, I felt like I was reading the script for an old John Wayne movie. Twohill takes a modern day setting to learn the tales surrounding the settling and development of Durango, Colorado. Each chapter is like a short story that weaves another story from the old west. These stories are filled with just enough real characters and facts, to make you want to believe they really happened.

I was able to read this on #NetGalley.

Interesting story filled with a lot of history and characters. Enjoyed the writing style. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book