The Rogues' Game - Hardcover

"Milton Burton's THE ROGUES' GAME is a sassy western noir novel set in the post World War II Texas oil patch. The combination of petroleum, poker, and revenge makes for a satisfying stew, and I'm already casting the movie in my mind's eye." --Don Graham, J. Frank Dobie Regents Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, editor of Lone Star Literature and the author of Kings of Texas "Wildcat drilling and high stakes poker and more intrigue than you can say Grace over, and all of it set in post World War II West Texas, where the men got separated from the mere pretenders right quick. Milton Burton has dealt us all a winning hand in THE ROGUES' GAME." --James Hime, author of The Night of the Dance "A long-running poker game, a sting operation, a heist, a secret Nazi past, and to top it all off, a thundering West Texas oil boom. THE ROGUES' GAME pulls them off in a fast-moving thriller." --Elmer Kelton, author of Texas Vendetta and a bestselling Texas Ranger series ""The Rogues' Game" is full of so many schemers and connivers, you'll want to clean the West Texas crude out from under your fingernails afterward. A hell of a fun read." --Ben Rehder "Milton Burton writes with a ruthless charm rivaling the great Raymond Chandler. "The Rogues' Game "is as rich as a pan shot in Giant, as human as a closeup of a narrow mind. It deals with poker, crime, love, oil, and Texas--and finding what you like and letting it kill you. Hard to believe it's a first novel."--Kinky Freidman

1947. An enigmatic man driving a fine Lincoln convertible and accompanied by a beautiful blonde, arrives in a small West Texas town. Ostensibly, his purpose is to get into a poker game that had been going on at the infamous Weilbach Hotel. But as the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that he has a darker motive, one that centers on a sinister local banker named Clifton Robillard. Aided by an old-time hood named Chicken Little, the protagonist maneuvers Robillard toward a shattering climax in which we discover that nothing is what it seems to be. With its wildcatting spirit, "The Rogues' Game" is a high stakes novel and an exquisite quest for revenge.