Title: The Bone Orchard
Author: Abigail Roux
Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Run Time: 3 hours and 20 minutes
Category: Historical, Western, Paranormal
At a Glance: I liked what Abigail Roux did with the paranormal aspect of the story. As for the narration, it was more of the goodness I’ve come to look forward to from Nick J. Russo.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: A Haunted Blender Tale
After leaving a trail of terror and death in his wake, the notorious “Missouri” Boone Jennings finally meets his match in San Francisco when US marshal Ambrose Shaw catches up to him. The story of his capture, and the marshal’s bravery, has already become legend back east by the time Pinkerton inspector Ezra Johns gets off the train from New York City to testify in the murderer’s trial.
When Ambrose is unable to give witness to the evils he’s seen, Ezra becomes their lone hope for putting Jennings in a noose. But if Ezra thinks that’s his biggest problem, he’s got plenty to learn about life – and the afterlife – in the spirited West.
Fortunately, Ambrose is there to assist, and more than happy to oblige Ezra – in the courtroom or the bedroom. He spent his life bringing justice to the Wild West, and if he has a say in it, that’s how he’ll be spending his death too.
Review: What an unexpected and cool little novella! Other than the fact that it’s by one of my favorite authors, and that it’s a Western, I knew absolutely nothing about The Bone Orchard when I saw it pop up on Audible a few weeks ago. But, given the fact that it’s by Abigail Roux and narrated by Nick J. Russo, I didn’t hesitate a moment before snapping it up.
It started out much as I thought it would…We meet US Marshal Ambrose Shaw in San Francisco, where he has finally caught up to Boone Jennings, the serial killer he has been chasing across the states. Unfortunately, however, Jennings is a little quicker on the draw than Ambrose, and though Jennings is captured, the marshal isn’t able to be the star witness he intended to be during Jennings’ trial. This is where things deviated away from the path I thought we were on—which was that of a more typical historical Western—and headed in another direction.
Ezra Johns arrives in town a couple of weeks behind Ambrose, ready to see Boone Jennings face the judge, and hopefully hang for his crimes. Ezra is a lawman himself, with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, and was an eye-witness to one of Jennings’ many offenses, and is therefore set to testify against him. When people who were involved with the trial start turning up dead, Ambrose and Ezra need to quickly figure out how to work together to catch the killer, and to watch each other’s backs.
I liked what Abigail Roux did with the paranormal aspect of the story, and it was also fun to read a historical from her. She has said that she would like to write more historicals, and I absolutely think she should. She also managed to sneak in some familiar faces at the end in a super cool way that I wasn’t expecting at all. I enjoyed the romance between Ambrose and Ezra as well. I bet she had fun with how creative she had to get with it.
As for the narration, it was more of the goodness I’ve come to look forward to from Nick J. Russo. His performance is always solid, no matter the genre. He does period pieces, angst, and comedy all equally well. Like I said, when I saw he was narrating this one, I jumped on it. I can’t believe I hadn’t read it yet, even though it was released over three years ago, but the audio made it worth the wait!
You can buy The Bone Orchard here:
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