A Passable Old West Romance

The Tombstone Rose is probably the first novel written by J. Carson Black under the name, Annie McKnight. It's the 6th novel I've read by this author, so it was interesting to see how her writing developed before she became a best selling author.

The Tombstone Rose is an historical romance featuring real life Western figures like Tom McLaury, Sheriff John Behan, the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday. The famous Gunfight at OK Corral on October, 1881 comes at about the halfway point of the novel.

My first impression of our protagonist, 18 year old Charlotte, is she's rude, unappreciative and self centered. She's not the first immature, unsympathetic heroine, and I made the inevitable comparison to that other irritating and much celebrated woman of fiction, Scarlett O'Hara. Charlotte does develop as a character, but by that time, you might not feel too sympathetic.

The book contains well written descriptions of the booming Old West town and its many unsavoury characters. The plot was a little predictable, although some of the scenes were suspensefully written. Because of this and the fact I thought the ending somewhat weak, I rated it at 3.5 stars not 4.

Not too shabby for a debut novel, Ms. Black. ( )