Lee Davis Willoughby. The Barbary Coasters (1983) 333 pp. [pbo]
Publisher’s description: “Jean LeClair was a dangerous man, a convicted murderer who ruled [San Francisco’s] Barbary Coast with an iron fist, destroying anything that stood in his path, leaving countless victims in his wake. When young Beau Ashton, a battle-scarred Southern aristocrat, came to this savage country in 1862 with his beautiful fiancée, Amoreena, he found himself at odds with the all-powerful despot. Challenging the might of the infamous LeClair, Beau was soon caught up in a brutal struggle for life, land and love that would climax in a towering passion, and change for all time the face of the wild Barbary Coast.” The 36th volume in the author’s The Making of America Series.