A Tale Out of Luck

June 9, 2008
Country music legend Nelson and novelist Blakely (Come Sundown
) collaborate for this predictable western. When a rustler’s body turns up on the open range outside Luck, Tex., with “ghost” arrows embedded in his chest, local rancher and retired Texas Ranger Hank Tomlinson’s past returns to haunt him. Years earlier, three Rangers were killed by similar arrows, and many suspected Tomlinson at the time. News of the rustler’s murder brings the son of one of the late Rangers, now a state police investigator, to Luck with an eye to avenging his father’s death. Staying one step ahead of the law, Tomlinson races to solve the mystery and cheat the hangman. There’s a wagonload of subplots (an Indian war, a prized mare’s disappearance, an orphan searching out his parents, a barmaid’s love story), and while rookie novelist Nelson and veteran Blakely write convincingly of the Old West, the plotting is cumbersome, the characters familiar and the dialogue strained. Nelson’s legions of fans probably won’t mind, though.

September 1, 2008
Veteran singer/songwriter Nelson and Spur Award-winning cowriter Blakely have crafted a fine novel set in and around Luck, a Texas hill country town founded by a retired Texas Ranger, Capt. Hank Tomlinson. He makes a living out on the Broken Arrow Ranch, where he's raised a grown son named Jay Blue along with an adopted half-Mexican son nicknamed Skeeter. These two young men get into hot water with the Captain when his thoroughbred horse is stolen on their watch. Jay and Skeeter enlist the help of a music-loving albino mustanger named Jubal Hayes and set out to find the missing horse. The plot thickens when a suspected cattle rustler is murdered, and Comanches go on the warpath. More complications ensue when the Captain is blamed for the murder of the cattle rustler. Add a few saloon girls, Native American lore, and lots of local color into the fast-paced mix, and the result is a lively Western with widespread appeal. "A Tale Out of Luck" is slated for the big screen, starring Willie himself. Recommended for all libraries. [Nelson wrote this novel as a backstory for the false-front Western town he built outside of Austin.Ed.]Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston

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