A Long and Winding Road (The Rendezvous Series)

“Loaded with action, drama, and colorful historical characters, this is a whopper of a yarn.” – Publisher’s Weekly

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD, the fifth book in The Rendezvous Series, begins as Sam and his trapper friends are whooping it up at a Mexican double wedding in Santa Fe. Since leaving Pennsylvania, Sam has made a name for himself and become friends with such historical notables as Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and Tom Fitzpatrick.

Shortly after the ceremony, the two brides are kidnapped by Navajo raiders. Sam is enraged—the women are his adopted daughters. Accompanied by his hot-headed son, Tomás, and trapper Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the hunt begins.

Although Sam sets out in hot pursuit, his heart is heavy. His vibrant lover is dying of cancer. She insists that she travel alone to the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and he must accept her decision.

The rescue mission is hampered, threatened, and deceived by a corrupt Mexican governor, manipulative Indian chiefs, devious white men and murderous raiders. The search for the captive girls takes him deep into Navajo, Ute, and Blackfeet Indian territory, to Bent’s Fort in Colorado, and near death at the hands of a companion.

By the time Sam catches up with the two captive girls, he is faced with a surprise involving the missing girls and a trapper called Pegleg Smith.

“Blevins is a master of mountain man lore, and he certainly knows the beaver and buffalo hide business, as well as the politics of the region and era. Loaded with action, drama, vivid descriptions and colorful historical characters, this is a whopper of a western yarn.” – Publisher’s Weekly

“Blevins has re-created that long-ago world where the improbable was commonplace, and where courage and audacity made anything possible.” – Lucia St. Clair Robson, author of Ghost Warrior.

"The glory years of frontier life, fresh and rich." –Kirkus Reviews

"Win Blevins has long since won his place among the West's very best."—Tony Hillerman

"Blevins possesses a rare skill in masterfully telling a story-to-paper. He is a true storyteller in the tradition of Native people."—Lee Francis, Associate Professor of Native American Studies, University of New Mexico

"One of the finest novels to come out of the American West in a long time...an amazing book, grandly conceived, beautifully written."—Dallas Morning News on STONE SONG