Review and interview
This is an old-fashioned western in a way that goes back to
the western’s roots. For the closest comparison, I’d offer Francis Lynde’s
first novel, The Grafters, which was
published in 1905. Both novels tell of a newcomer to the West who gets involved
in a political intrigue, where influence is bought and sold, and greed rules
the workings of government.
Both novels are tightly plotted with twists, turns, and
surprises aplenty. One of them is Best’s central character himself, Steve
Dancy, the shopkeeper of the title. He’s not the usual tenderfoot from the
east, the fish out of water you find in Zane Grey. Nor is he the traditional
cowboy drifter Louis L’Amour liked.
He’s comfortably well off, having acquired a bankroll
through some shrewd investments. He stays at the best hotel in town and eats at
the best café, where he lingers over meals indulging an appetite for good
reading. We find him in the midst of a Melville novel and looking forward to getting
a copy of Mark Twain’s new book, Tom Sawyer.
While modern western writers tend to dwell on makes and
models of firearms, as if readers were gun show enthusiasts, Dancy has good
reason for being a gun expert. Until he left the business, he was a gunsmith.
And years of practice have made him a marksman. A few short days after his
arrival in a silver mining camp, Pickhandle Gulch, he has eliminated two nasty
thugs who’ve been disturbing the peace. And thus the novel’s plot is set in
motion.
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| Shoshone mine and mill complex, Nevada, 1907 |
Plot. The arch
villain of the novel is a rich mine owner, Washburn, who has acquired his
wealth by jumping other men’s claims. With his money he’s bought law officers,
public officials, and judges, and he’s attempting to install a governor in the
next election. He hires a contract killer, Sprague, to wipe out any man who
becomes an intractable nuisance. Dancy soon qualifies himself as a target.
Without giving too much away, let it be said that Washburn
and Sprague are eventually “neutralized.” But not until after the introduction
of several Pinkertons, the buying of a bank, the writing of a forged letter,
and the use of a derringer hidden in a woman’s dress. There’s even a demo of
how to dress a sage hen.
The plot takes its central characters from dusty Pickhandle
Gulch to Carson City. Key scenes take place on the days-long trail between the
two settlements. There are stopovers at an Army fort and a ranch, where a young
widow and her battleaxe of a mother-in-law are in a fierce contest of wills. And
bustling though it may be, Dancy finds the state capital little different from
“all the other collections of slapdash buildings that Nevada called towns.”
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| Nevada Great Basin (CC) Brynn |
Style. The story is
deftly told in first person. An intelligent and resourceful man, Dancy makes a
good teller of his own story. He’s thoroughly reliable as a narrator but
doesn’t always let you in on what he’s up to. He may even reveal something
important to another character, but you have to wait until matters unfold to
find out for yourself.
Clever, that. It intensifies the suspense, which builds
steadily as Dancy’s schemes put him in greater danger of being the next name to
be crossed off Sprague’s to-do list. A confrontation bristling with malice in a
hotel dining room produces a reversal that had me laugh out loud with surprise
and relief. That hasn’t happened since I was reading Carol Buchanan’s
God’s
Thunderbolt, reviewed here a while ago.
Best also grounds the story in history, with occasional
references to Nevada’s past. There’s mention of a pony express route through
the state and Nevada’s admission to the Union during the Civil War. He casts
his Pinkertons as aids to law and order, when they are often portrayed in
fiction as hired agents of greedy corporate clients.
While thoroughly professional, Captain McAllen often finds
himself at odds with Dancy, who has to keep reminding him that he has hired
McAllen, and that makes Dancy the boss. Still, he respects and needs McAllen,
and the fine line both men must walk with each other gives their working
relationship an added complexity.
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| Capitol, Carson City (CC) Urban |
Romance. Best gives
Dancy a curious weakness of character. It does not qualify as a flaw exactly
and is more a sign of a human nature that underlies his coolly rational style
of problem solving and risk management. Still, the way it clouds his judgment
troubles him. Put simply, he has a fatal attraction for the young widow, Jenny.
Part of that attraction is a wish to rescue her from the
lecherous clutch of other men. There’s a spark of life in her pretty self that
draws him like a moth to the flame. He doesn’t seem to notice that she’s
tougher than nails and hardly in need of a helping hand. And he can’t fathom
his own impulse to settle down with her in the godforsaken isolation of
Nevada’s outback.
Lovers of western romance may be disappointed in the way all
this turns out. It comes as no surprise in the end that there is no Jenny in
Dancy’s future. She seems happy enough to share the ranch house with another
woman, also named Jenny. A thoroughly independent person, she tells him, “I
need a friend, not a lover.”
Wrapping up. The
Shopkeeper is one heck of a novel. As it ventures into matters of
politics, the law, business, and finance, you might call it a thinking reader’s western.
Its cast of characters is easy to believe in, and the storytelling is taut and
well polished. Complications are neatly and plausibly resolved after many pages
of suspenseful tension.
Dancy is the kind of man you’d like to meet and get to know.
And it’s good to know that Best has written more novels featuring his
well-drawn “shopkeeper.” You can find Best at
his website here. His novels and
other books are currently available at
amazon and
Barnes&Noble.
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| James D. Best |
Interview
James Best has generously agreed to spend some time with us today
talking about writing and the writing of the Steve Dancy novels. So I’m turning
the rest of this page over to him.
Jim, how did the idea for The
Shopkeeper suggest itself to you?
I always liked fish-out-of-water
stories. In The Virginian by Owen
Wister, the narrator came from the East to provide fresh eyes to tell us about
the American frontier. I thought it would be fun if the Easterner was a
participant in the story rather than just an observer. At any rate, that is how
I came up with the idea for The Shopkeeper. As a nod to The Virginian,
the characters play whist as the cowboys did in Wister’s book.
Was the published version
similar to how you first conceived it or somewhat different?
The storyline remained as I
originally wrote it. The first version was shorter, but a publisher asked me to
lengthen it, so I added several new chapters rather than pad the existing
story. I tend to write the story first, then do the research. This way the
story drives the research instead of research driving the story.
Talk a bit about editing and
revising. After completing a first draft, did it go through any key changes?
I start each day by revising
what I wrote the prior day. This is the way I put my head back in the story. As
a result, when I print the manuscript to edit for plot, clarity, and
continuity, I consider it a second draft. I’ll generally continue to make big
revisions up to this point. The next step is to give printed copies to three
people I trust to give me honest feedback. They give me good story suggestions
and fact-check.
Although it’s infrequent, I’ll
occasionally make a big plot revision as a result of their readings. This is
usually after I stomp around for a couple days in a snit because I refuse to
believe they’re right. Once my emotional response recedes, it’s possible for me
to take a cold look and make a better decision.
After this step, I believe the
manuscript is perfect and send it to a professional editor. Lo and behold, it
comes back with metaphorical red ink on every page. As I review each edit, time
has provided a fresh perspective, so I sometimes adjust the plot and make other
changes. Finally, there is proofreading, which is mostly nip and tuck.
How did you go about deciding
on the novel’s title?
I wanted a title that was a bit
of misdirection. The Shopkeeper sounds
innocent and non-standard for a traditional Western. I’m not sure that was a
good marketing choice, but it seems to work for people who have committed to
reading the book. The character of the protagonist comes across as a surprise.
