Page Murdock Books In Order

Publication Order of Page Murdock, US Deputy Marshal Books

Page Murdock is the name of the fictional character developed by the famous author from Michigan, United States, Loren D. Estleman. Author Loren, who has written all his novels in the mystery and thriller genres has characterized the central character of Page Murdock in the mystery novel series of western novels. He has described Page Murdock as a U.S. Deputy Marshal. He is depicted as a lawless law man, who works for the federal court of Harlan Blackthorn and tames the frontier of one territory at one time. The Page Murdock mystery series consists of a total of 8 books published between the years 1979 and 2010. Author Loren Estleman is currently working on the latest novel of the series and has promised his readers that he will continue writing a few more novels in the Page Murdock series. The series is loaded with suspense, clever plot twists and turns and intrigue with a sense of the western touch. In the novels of the series, U.S. Deputy Marshal Page Murdock is sent on different missions to catch the gangs of robbers and other criminals. He travels from one territory to the other in search of the gangsters and does not rest before catching the criminals and bringing them to justice.

On one such mission, Marshal Murdock is asked to catch a gang of armed robbers from Texas. He sets himself on the mission and is asked to go there in a disguised attire so that the gangsters do not recognize him and he also does not have to risk losing his life by going in the attire of the U.S. Deputy Marshal. On Many such missions, he disguises himself as a traveling preacher, having a pistol in one hand and a Bible in the other. Before disguising as a preacher, he enrolls himself for a crash course for learning about the nuances of a true priest. It is important on his part to know even the minute details about the life and practices of a preacher, otherwise the gangsters would recognize him and he will land himself in a great danger. Page Murdock has the habit of drinking Whisky very often and hence the job of disguising as a preacher does not seem to a task that he can carry out without being noticed. On the mission of Texas, for capturing the gang of armed robbers, he gets recognized by a lady friend even in his disguised attire. The lady is a sheep rancher from Texas and has a touchy history with Page Murdock. Page Murdock is aware of the fact that she is a stone-cold Ranger from Texas. Often the assignments of U.S. Deputy Marshal Murdock takes the turn of deadly gun battles in the end. A series of deaths and ambushes take place and everyone starts dropping dead on the battlefield. The novels of the Page Murdock series are very well known to have smart, suspenseful and tightly wrapped stories, which depict the efforts of the honest law man Page Murdock in catching the gangsters and the criminals.

The first novel of the Page Murdock mystery series written by author Loren Estleman was published in the year 1979 under the title ‘The High Rocks’. The novel was published by the Forge publishing house. The plot of the novel deals with the life of the main protagonist Page Murdock and his dedication and determination in capturing the criminals and the gangsters from different territories. In the opening sequence of the first novel of the series, Page Murdock is asked to ride in the dead winter of Montana and search for Bear Anderson in the Bitterroot Mountains of the region. Bear Anderson is on the run from the U.S. Marshal laws and is wanted for a number of crimes. He is notoriously known as the ‘Mountain That Walks’ and is not like some petty criminal who can be captured easily. Page Murdock vows to capture Bear Anderson and bring him to justice in front of the local Indians. Page Murdock knows Bear Anderson right from his growing days and is aware of the fact that it is going to a difficult job for him to catch Anderson. He decides to catch him alive and give him a fair chance of trial as he owes him a favor during his growing years. However, knowing that it is not easy to capture Bear Anderson, Page Murdock thinks of ways of dealing with him and coming out alive in the battle against Bear Anderson. The novel became highly successful and helped author Loren Estleman to establish himself as a noteworthy writer of the mystery genre. The success of the novel allowed it to win a nomination for the National Book Award in the Western genre category in the year 1980.

The second novel of the series was published in the year 1980 by the Pocket Books publishing house. The novel was titled ‘Stamping Ground’. As seen in the first novel of the series, the main character Page Murdock is once again depicted as the U.S. Deputy Marshal in the second novel as well. The plot of the second novel continues to revolve around the life of Page Murdock. In this novel, U.S. Marshal Page Murdock is asked to go on a mission to North Dakota by the Judge Blackthorne of the federal court. However, Marshal Murdock is not happy with the decision of Judge Blackthorne to send him on the assignment to Dakota. Page Murdock is aware of the dangers that are prevalent in the territory of the North Dakota as he has the experience of passing through the territory once before on one of his initial assignments. He does not want to put his life in danger once again as the region of North Dakota is considered to be the land of spring floods and sudden blizzards. Life is very terrible in the region and it is not very convenient to capture the robbers and gangsters in the difficult conditions of the region. The natural calamities of the region of North Dakota pose a greater threat to the life of the Marshals than the gangsters. To add to his difficulty, Marshal Murdock is given the impossible task of capturing Ghost Shirt, the renegade Cheyenne leader. Ghost Shirt is responsible for carrying out a number of massacres in North Dakota and is asked by the federal court to surrender himself for a fair trial. However, he does not pay any heed to the warnings of the federal court and hence, Page Murdock is asked to catch him and bring him to justice.