Publisher: Five Star Publishing
Date of Publication: February 19, 2020
Rio Ruidoso offers a gripping blend of history and story as two-time Spur Award-winner Preston Lewis explores the violent years before the famed Lincoln County War in New Mexico Territory. Seamlessly weaving fact with fiction, the author details the county’s corruption, racism, and violence through the eyes of protagonist Wes Bracken, newly arrived in the region to start a horse ranch with his alcoholic brother.
Bracken’s dreams for the Mirror B Ranch are threatened by his brother’s drunkenness, the corruption of economic kingpin Lawrence G. Murphy, and the murderous rampages of the racist Horrell Brothers. To bring tranquility to Lincoln County, Bracken must defeat those threats and stand his ground against the ever-changing alliances that complicate life and prosperity in multi-racial Lincoln County.
“Wes nodded. “The Horrells are rattlesnakes, but Murphy’s a bigger one and more dangerous because he’s missing his rattle. He strikes with little warning.”
In January 2020, Melany and I stopped in Lincoln, New Mexico on our way back to Texas. I have been through Lincoln many times, stopped a few times, but never went to the museums dealing with the history of the town and the infamous Billy the Kid. It was a Monday and thankfully the museums were open. The coffee shop, however, was not.
Immediately, as I began reading Rio Ruidoso I was transported back to the historic Wild West of Lincoln. It is easy seeing Lincoln through the words of author Preston Lewis. Lincoln, while beautiful it is isolated. Even in the present day you feel the rusticness of the town and smell the dirt turned up by wagons and horse hooves long ago.
Enter Wes Bracken. A man after my own heart. He’s noble and honest. Wes is the man you want on your side in a gunfight or as a friend. Wes has come to Lincoln County to start a horse ranch and what he has to deal with instead is horse thieving, a lot of ruthless people, but also tons of decent people. In the span of this first book, I was immersed in the historical richness of the place of Lincoln. As with all our history racism is a part of our collective history and Lewis touches on racism in a moving manner.
While the story may be fiction, there are many historical truths and natural history accuracies. I’m sure cockleburs were as bad back then as they are now in certain areas. The defensive torreón (tower) for the Lincoln Village and the Wortley Hotel are still there to visit and the later you can dine at.
Rio Ruidoso by Preston Lewis is an authentic historical ride to this tiny little town of Lincoln and Lincoln County. If you travel Lincoln make sure it is never on a Tuesday. The museums will be closed.
As a side note – I kept expecting something bad to happen to the young filly who was born. Thankfully, the author was kind and allowed nothing to happen to that young horse.
Preston Lewis is the Spur Award-winning author of thirty novels. In addition to his two Western Writers of America Spurs, he received the 2018 Will Rogers Gold Medallion for Western Humor for Bluster’s Last Stand, the fourth volume in his comic western series The Memoirs of H. H. Lomax. Two other books in that series were Spur finalists. His comic western The Fleecing of Fort Griffin received the Elmer Kelton Award from the West Texas Historical Association for best creative work on the region.
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2ND PRIZE: Signed Copy of Rio Ruidoso
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2/18/20
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Scrapbook
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2/18/20
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BONUS Post
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2/19/20
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Review
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2/20/20
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Excerpt
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2/21/20
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Review
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2/22/20
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Author Interview
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2/23/20
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Excerpt
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2/24/20
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Review
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2/25/20
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Author Interview
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2/26/20
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Review
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2/27/20
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Review
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Forgotten Winds 
Lincoln is a wonderful place steeped in Old West history. Thanks for taking the time to read Rio Ruidoso and for our kind comments. Best from the author. –Preston
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Thank you, Preston, for stopping by and reading my review. You’re welcome!
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You’re so welcome!
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Great review — you nailed it with summing the book up as authentic. Absolutely the best word to describe it. Thanks for the post!
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