The Search for Hezekiah's Gold

By Carol Lavelle

ISBN 0-5952145-4

iUniverse

Lincoln, Nebraska

2002, trade paper, 238 pages, $14.95

There were only seven people left in Last Chance, Colorado.  It was Christmas eve; bitter cold and everything was covered in snow. The snow shut down the few mines still in operation around Lost Chance.  Smart miners had left for Denver to wait out the snow.  They would not return until the thaw.  No matter how much the Ned stoked the stove; the temperature stayed below twenty degrees.

            Ned Thompson, Patrick, Gus the Storekeeper, Bessie Hadley and her sons Jonathan, Jason and Willie were a little edgy.  The wind wailed around the saloon.  The lamp weakly illuminated the table, but the corners of the room were cast in gloom. Just when the clock struck midnight Hezekiah came in the door.  The opening filled the room with frigid air.

The cover blurb of The Search for Hezekiah's Gold asks, was Hezekiah a ghost? -- was he an illusion?--an apparition that appeared to all seven residents of Lost Chance at the same time?  If he wasn't real, where did the books come from?

This was an enjoyable read.  The characters are rounded and interesting. Carol Lavelle has crafted a fine story that clearly respects the reader's intelligence, allowing room for his or her participation in the conclusion.

A.H.Holt, editor

WesternFictionReview

June 2004