BILL PRONZINI – Starvation Camp.

Berkley; paperback reprint, December 2001. Hardcover: Doubleday, January 1984. Large print hardcover: Thorndike, March 2003.

   There’s no doubt that the most well-known gold rush in North American history was the one that took place in California, circa 1849. But to those of us who grew up listening to the radio in the 1950s and the frost-bitten tales of Sergeant Preston of the Mounties and his lead dog Yukon King, there’s another: the rush for gold that took place in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon Territory in the early 1900’s. Incessant winds howling across the airwaves, and cold? You’d better believe it.

   And when supplies ran low, food became as scarce and as valuable as gold itself. In this recently reprinted novel, published as a western, when Corporal Zach McQuestion’s good friend Molly Malone is murdered for her storehouse of provisions, he becomes personally involved.

   As a crime or mystery novel, which this definitely also is, the plot is essentially one-directional. Simply follow the killers, wherever they go, and in this case, down the coast from Skagway to Seattle to San Francisco and beyond.

   What Pronzini offers as background is even more of a leading attraction: the rough and tumble life of a boisterous young frontier America, just after the heyday of the cowboys, as towns were growing up and open spaces were just starting to fill in.

   The result is pure entertainment, save for one small-sized caveat: The story ends begging for a sequel; unfortunately, it never happened.

[UPDATE] 11-14-08.   I asked Bill whether Zach McQuestion has ever appeared in any of his short stories, or if perhaps he’s shown up in one of the Sabina Carpenter and/or John Quincannon tales. Here’s his reply:

  Steve:

   Re the McQuestion character: Starvation Camp was intended to be the first of a trilogy featuring him and his quest to find George Blanton and bring him to justice. Two things kept this from happening: I got sidetracked into other projects, including a plethora of anthologies that took up a lot of my time; and my editor at Doubleday was replaced and the new one didn’t seem as keen on the trilogy idea. Too bad. I’m pretty sure I’d’ve have enjoyed writing another McQuestion or two.

   No, McQuestion hasn’t turned up in a Quincannon story. But since they’re contemporaries, it’s a good idea; I’ll see what I can do along those lines.