Tombstone 1881. A brief clash of wills, commonly known as the gunfight at the OK Corral, became indelibly etched in the American imagination. Loren D. Estleman takes this familiar story and fleshes it out into a whopping good yarn. But beware! You don't gulp "Bloody Season" like a hastily eaten meal; you savor every bite of this well-written tale. From the opening page of Doc Holliday hacking over a sink on a crisp October morning to the closing narrative regarding the outcome of "Season's" principal players, you'll be hooked by Estleman's exceptionally well-penned, descriptive prose. If you think you've been to Tombstone, think again. You've yet to relive its graphic past until you've been there during the "Bloody Season."

The first sentence of Bloody Season grabs you and the book won't let you go: He was dying faster than usual that morning . . . Estleman introduces Doc Holiday with those painful words.

Then with careful detail, he dismantles the fiction of the OK Corral, replacing it with fascinating reality. I used to sip well whisky in saloons in Tombstone back in the early 70s. How I wish I had Estleman's vision when I was there.

I have been privileged to read many books on the Troubles in Tombstone from S. Lake's larger than life treatment to A. Barra's recent offering. I found Estleman's treatment, the novelization, to be refreshing while very informative. He gives a certain life to the principals of the ever popular 1881 incident rather than the stiff renditions of the facts.