South of the Border - Softcover

Students of outlaw lore may enjoy the careful research evident in this second novel from the author of The Snow blind Moon (winner of two Golden Spur awards); others, however will find it a slow read with few surprises. Styled along the lines of a cowboy autobiography, the narrative voice is given to a real figure from the old frontier, ex-Pinkerton agent Charlie Siringo. In language ripe with authentic phrasing, Siringo recounts how in 1919, at age 65, he and outlaw Butch Cassidy are guarding a silent film company's payroll during a shoot in Delgado, Mexico. When Cassidy finds romance with the film's lead, Victoria Hartford, Siringo (who is the only one aware of the undercover Cassidy's true identity) strongly disapproves. A battle between the Mexican government's federales and Pancho Villa's rebel forces wraps up the drama. While Cooke handles his many characters with care, he is annoyingly verbose and constantly derails the pace of his story with unnecessary historical asides.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Charlie Siringo, writer and retired Pinkerton detective, runs a Hollywood boarding house in 1919 which houses cowboys and Indians who split their time working in Wild West shows and Western movies. Into Siringo's world comes a reportedly dead outlaw from Charlie's detective days, Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy. The two join up with a production company to film The Trail of Pancho Villa in Mexico. Villa himself and his army capture the company and, in a case of life imitating art imitating life, insists on playing himself in the movie. When federal troops arrive, a pitched battle takes place. As he did with his earlier novel, The Snowblind Moon , Cooke has done extensive research into the historical figures of Villa, Siringo, and Parker. Though not as good as that book, Cooke's implausible Western is above par.
- Robert Jordan, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.