There is nothing inherently wrong with "Sierra Skullduggery". Author Jerry S. Drake is an able enough craftsman to keep the story moving, literally and figuratively. As a native Californian, I enjoyed the staging of the story in the historic Gold Country in the western Sierras. For the most part Drake is accurate in his details, and since this is a novel that is more than enough. There is sufficient action, and the characters have some depth.
There is just something missing from "Sierra Skullduggery". Being a fan of Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey, maybe I set the bar too high. I really wanted to like this book. I even re-read it, thinking I must have overlooked some key point.
Finally, it occurred to me: I couldn't FEEL the story. If I closed my eyes and tried to envision the main characters, it was mostly a blank. The hero is "tall and lean", his wife is "a pretty blond woman." No clear picture evolves in the course of the story. I have spent time in the Sierras, but the scenery I know doesn't come across in "Skullduggery". Instead I see a sort of generic Western landscape that doesn't do the real setting or the story any justice. When you read a Louis L'Amour story you can smell the creosote bushes, and you can taste the dust of the trail. It's the difference between a Western movie filmed on location, and one that was shot on a sound stage. It's a matter of atmosphere.
"Sierra Skullduggery" is a good enough story on the face of it, but a Western is more than just a tall, lean man wearing a six-shooter. With some minor changes this story could be happening in Los Angeles, or Chicago, or Timbuktu, in a variety of time periods. A painless way to kill an afternoon, but not much more than that.
