#riverboats

The Louisiana Star ~ A Riverboat

ill (attempt) to be more active

Anyway, we have here an independent steamboat captain on the Missouri river bucking a newly-consolidated combine that wants to dictate prices all along the river. He has a rival and potential love interest in a lady captain, and a range of antagonists at cross purposes with each other. Heuman plots this nicely, building up the combine as the ultimate menace only to have our hero taken by surprise by another outfit and keeping the reader in suspense nearly to the end about the alignments of several characters. Once upon a time people consumed this stuff like candy. It might not be to most people's taste now; the subject matter is probably not so much politically incorrect (the boat crew repels a Sioux attack and there's scare talk of indigenous torture methods) as simply no longer of interest. I found it an entertaining trifle, but I can't help wondering whether, if people were interested in riverboats and pioneer battles today, a novel of this style and size would be enough for them.

Scenes from home, past and present.

10/12/25