Mistakes Can Kill You: A Collection of Western Stories

What can you tsay? Louis L'Amour is one of the best writers ever to put pen to paper. He had a way with story telling that just made his characters seem more than alive. You want to wish that you could could meet him now and here about his life and times.Enjoy and relax. Keep reading !

I love Louis L'Amour. For so many reasons! His biography reads like one of his novels. That's because, unlike other writers of Western tales like Zane Gray, who came from "Out East" in order to learn about the West, and largely wrote thinly disguised historical fiction--L'Amour wrote from experience. He left his Western home at an early age, punched cows, shipped out on a merchant vessel, traveled the world, read voraciously...and to finance his adventures, became a bare-knuckle prize fighter. Read his stories closely and you will find in almost every one, a joyfully crafted fist fight!So since I love Louis so much, why did I give this collection four stars rather than five?Grammar and style. L'Amour wrote nearly everything in passive voice, mostly in past perfect, which makes for awkward reading. It makes my teeth itch to read something like (example is mine, not his):"Joe had been expecting the outlaws, and had tied his zebra dun to a mesquite bush that he had found in the wash that he had discovered..."Why not just say,"Joe tied his zebra dun to a handy mesquite bush above the wash. He was expecting outlaws."It seems to me that these stories might have been early ones, since I've read many others that flow much better. Since I happen to be an editor and proofreader, my reading experience inevitably gets either delighted by style (think Melville or Kerouac) or hung up on it. But I'll keep on reading my Louis, because he's a master storyteller who always comes across with atmosphere and suspense, whether he's writing about range wars or adventure on the high seas.

Came with a tear on the cover. Little disappointed.

This is a great read! I’ve been a Louis L’Amour fan for over twenty years! The greatest western author ever!

I DO NOT LIKE THE LARGER SIZE BOOKS WHICH WE SEEM TO GET TODAY. THE CONTENTS AS USIAL ARE VERY READABLE

Ths book and his many short stories were absolutely amazing, quite a bit of action packed scenes and moments of sadness and joy. Definitely a must read, enjoyable and lots of drama and mysteries solved, don't miss it, a quiet read for a slow Sunday! (Or what ever day you pick!)

I own all of Louis books, and read many of his short stories. This book has some I'd never read.

I bought the book because I have read a lot of L’Amour full length novels but never any short stories. I was not disappointed. The stories are short and the action is quick and most characters are well developed. Some of the plots are a bit more complex than others, with one of them reading like a Zane Grey storyline. Overall the stories are reasonably good and if you like the western genre, you should like these.

This is not a reflection on the author but more on the presentation. I don't mind short stories but these are very short and just as the story is getting interesting they come to an abrupt halt. After the fourth story, I started to find this irritating. I think I will have to look into longer stories as I liked the style of writing

Another good collection of western tales by the godfather of western writing stories. There is no other western writer who can take you into feeling that you are part of the story that you are reading

It's Louis L'Amour, the greatest Western writer who ever lived. This man never wrote a story that wasn't worth reading, somewhere in the region of 20 of his novels have been made into films.

Enjoyed the books, love western stories. Some of the best from the greatest western writer.he is so missed. We need more like him.

Good value