Snow-Coming Moon

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

As he amply demonstrated in his first novel, Outlaw Gold (1996), Evans
is comfortable with the genre of historical fiction. Snow-Coming Moon
is, in effect, a sequel to the earlier book.

It is 1864 and Decker, the lawman who brought the outlaw Boone Helm to
justice, has settled in the Chilcotin country of what would become
British Columbia, where he has a homestead and a store. He soon finds
himself in the middle of an Indian war. In trying to prevent the
construction of a road from the coast to the Fraser River canyon—a
road that would traverse their land—the Chilcotin Indians have
massacred many of the road builders. Supporting characters include the
beautiful Isabel Trotter, a woman brought over from England on “bride
ship”; Decker’s partner, Bushrat Wright; and assorted British
colonial officers, rough frontiersmen, and others of dubious morals and
motives.

Evans has a fine ear for dialogue and maintains a galloping pace
throughout. The Chilcotin uprising was just one result of the
mistreatment of the Indians during the early settlement of this
territory. This fictionalized account makes that event accessible to
readers. Recommended for school and public libraries.