The Business of Dying

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Collected here are all the Western short stories of Richard S. Wheeler, tales which span the Western landscape from Montana to Arizona and Washington to Wyoming in a period that covers the late 19th century through modern times. Here are a wide cast of characters -- madams, miners, morticians, detectives, newsman, and lawman. Some characters are drawn from history -- the Earp brothers, Mark Twain, William Wright, a reporter for the Territorial Enterprise, and Jim Fair, businessman and mining engineer. There are tales such as "The Last Days of Dominic Prince" and "The Business of Dying," both of which play out against a backdrop of changing times. An historical approach can be found in "Hearts" and "The Square Reporter," the latter of which includes a tall tale. The reader will encounter a coffin-maker par excellence in "Dead Weight," and a career criminal in "Mugs Birdsong's Crime Academy" who decides to school lawmen in the secrets of his profession in an effort to make money upon his latest release from prison