Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Morrie Morgan is back, accompanied by our favorite loopy characters from Doig's acclaimed Whistling Season and Work Song. It's 1920, and after a whirlwind honeymoon, Morrie and wife, Grace, return to Butte, MT, where despotic power resides under one mighty thumb, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Morrie and Grace start life in an outsized mansion, thanks to their benefactor and new boarder Samuel Sandison, cattle king, vigilante, and city librarian. To pay for the upkeep, Morrie begins working for a start-up newspaper, Thunder, backed by Jared Evans, leader of the mine workers and now a state senator. Writing salty, hard-nosed editorials, Morrie wages battle on behalf of the miners for fair wages and safe working conditions with the rival Post, Anaconda's mouthpiece. But big trouble follows Morrie. He's mistaken for the local bootlegger, the Chicago gambling mob sends a thug to shoot him, he's up against a muckraking journalist imported from Chicago by the Post, and his beloved Grace leaves him when she discovers his Chicago past. But Morrie remains steadfast in his mission. VERDICT With a master storyteller's instincts and a dollop of wry humor, Doig evokes a perfect landscape of the past with a cast of memorable characters. A treasure of a novel.-Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Palisade, CO (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Morrie Morgan returns to Prohibition-era Butte, MT, with his new bride in Doig's series' third installment (after Work Song). Morgan has hired on as a columnist for a pro-union newspaper dedicated to taking down the evil Anaconda Mining Company. With the help of quirky characters including an eccentric librarian, a scrappy newsy, a hard-boiled editor, and a jovial bootlegger, Morgan trades editorial blows with Anaconda's own columnist. Ultimately, the fate of the paper-and the miners it protects-hangs in the balance. Jonathan Hogan's rocky yet urbane narration fits with the urban Montana setting. Verdict Recommended to fans of the series or setting and adventure-loving librarians.-Mark John Swails, Johnson Cty. Community Coll., Overland Park, KS (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Morrie Morgan returns (Work Song, 2010, etc.) to again confront the evil Anaconda Copper Mining Company, as well as several unwelcome reminders of his checkered past. Just back in Butte after a yearlong honeymoon with Grace, who's temporarily given up her boardinghouse but not her suspicions that her irrepressible spouse isn't much of a provider, Morrie needs to find a job fast. Not only has he nearly run through his winnings from a savvy bet on the fixed 1919 World Series, but he has an expensive mansion to maintain; wealthy cattleman-turned-librarian Sam Sandison hands over his home in an upper-crust neighborhood sardonically known as Horse Thief Row with the proviso that Morrie has to pay for its upkeep. So Morrie goes to work as the editorial writer for a new newspaper funded by the miners' union to counter Anaconda's propaganda for unfettered capitalism. Many, many complications ensue--this is Doig's most elaborately (and occasionally improbably) plotted novel--but they are less interesting than the marvelously atmospheric portrait of the bygone newspaper trade and an engaging cast of characters sketched with the author's customary vigor. Among the familiar figures are careworn union leader Jared Evans, devising strategy from his new post as state senator; and the semireformed street kid known as Russian Famine who leads Morrie to a gut-clenching climax high atop the mineshafts' towering headframes. Unscrupulous but gifted columnist Cedric "Cutthroat" Cartwright, recruited from Chicago by Anaconda to bandy editorials with Morrie, makes a colorful addition who gets a highly satisfying comeuppance. It's mostly a lighthearted romp, right down to the striking likeness to Montana's "number one bootlegger" that enables Morrie finally to make sure the Chicago mob won't dare come after him. Yet Doig also quietly conveys the injustices and cruelties of American history, particularly in the realistically depressing and temporary resolution of the union's struggle with Anaconda. An enjoyable change-up from The Bartender's Tale (2012) and welcome evidence that Doig, in his 70s, is more prolific and entertaining than ever.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Not only does Doig continually sing the praises of libraries and books in personal appearances, he writes about them, too. This is his third historical novel featuring Morrie Morgan, con man turned librarian (How often does one get to use that phrase?) and now crusading journalist. The setting, as in Work Song (2010), is Butte, Montana, and the theme is once more labor strife, with the Anaconda Mining set against the seemingly overmatched miners' union until Morrie, recently returned to Butte with his bride, Grace, enters the fray in the guise of editorial writer for an upstart left-wing paper that strives to expose the chicanery of the mining company. Think Shane but with dueling journalists instead of gunfighters. The rival newspaper, mouthpiece for Anaconda, brings in a hired wordsmith from Chicago (Jack Palance at the typewriter) to trade linotype punches with Morrie. There are plenty of personal stories on the sidelines (Morrie's marriage, doings at the library), but this time the focus is on hot type and the role journalism played in a rowdy western town. A stirring tale given a melancholic edge by the fading influence of print newspapers in our very different modern world. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Doig's fiction may not always hit national best-seller lists, but it is perennially popular in libraries. This one will only increase his reputation as a librarian's favorite.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist