From Missouri by Zane Grey; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Tom Weiner

Rumor has it that a schoolteacher from the East is coming out West to teach school. Three Springer Ranch cowhands have tried to discourage her from coming by forging letters. But their strategy has failed to overpower the more persuasive love letters from a certain mysterious Frank Owens. No one knows who he is.

When Jane Stacey arrives, everyone is amazed to discover not a middle-aged matron but a very attractive young woman. The Springer ranch hands are falling over themselves to impress her. Or maybe it’s because they’ve had too much to drink.

Bill Springer is the only one sober enough to take matters in hand and drive her out to the ranch. But the lecherous Beady Jones has his own idea of how the new schoolmarm should be introduced to the West.

“[Zane Grey] knows the West.”—New York Herald

The prolific American writer Zane Grey was the pioneer of the Western literary genre. Grey produced well over 100 books, in which he presented the West as a moral battleground, where his characters were either destroyed or redeemed. His semi-outlaw heroes were his most enduring creation. He sold some 17 million books during his lifetime, and an estimated 100 Hollywood Western films have been based on his stories.

Born with the name Pearl Grey in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1872, Zane was the son of a farmer and part-time preacher. His mother was a second-generation Danish Quaker. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in dentistry in 1896 and practiced in New York City until 1904. That year, Grey wrote and self-published his first book, Betty Zane, after it was turned down by several publishers. The colorful frontier story was based on his mother's journal and eventually became a critical success. He married Lina Elise Roth, who encouraged him to become a full-time professional writer.

In 1908, Grey made a journey to the West with Colonel C. J. "Buffalo" Jones, who told him tales of adventure on the plains. This trip turned out to be a turning point in Grey's career. In 1912, Riders of the Purple Sage was published. It sold 2 million copies and was filmed three times. Grey's formula---in which a mysterious outlaw fights to protect the innocent and the good---shows up in many of his novels. In 1918, he moved to Altadena, California, where he lived for the rest of his life. Grey died on October 23, 1939.