The Rogues' Game

by Milton T. Burton

1947. An enigmatic man driving a fine Lincoln convertible and accompanied by a beautiful blonde, comes to a small West Texas town. Ostensibly, his purpose is to get into a poker game that had been going 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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312336810
• ISBN13: 9780312336813
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Burton Stacks the Deck

Kudo's to first time author Milton T. Burton for pulling it off - a slick and immensely satisfying read told with the flair and sophistication of an author you'd think had been doing this for a career. "The Rogues' Game" refers to, at least on the level closest to the surface, a weekly poker game held in an aging hotel of a backwater post-World War II Texas hole of a town. In classic noir fashion, we learn neither the name of the town nor our narrator whose story rolls as easily across the pages as our hero rolls into town in a grand convertible with an even grander blonde babe on his arm. From there Burton artfully leads us down what appears to be an oft-traveled path of a pair of grifters on the con, but soon we find that the author and his narrator have a much more important score to settle than a simple heist in a local high-stakes poker game. Braced by a strong supporting cast of memorable thugs with names like "Chicken Little" and "Ice Pick Willie", the author weaves a tight mystery told in dusty Texas roadhouses and smoky (...) fight galleries, settings which he knows well and relates with authority. With oil boom in truly Texan scale and murky allusions to Reinhard Heydrich and other Nazi war criminals, the initially simple block thickens deliciously on the way to an unsuspected jackpot. Well paced, gritty, and authentic, both Milton T. Burton and his debut novel are the real deal. I'm looking forward to his next hand - you'd be wise to place a bet on this one.

Good old-fashioned fast-action story

Good stuff! It's hard to believe this is Burton's first novel. HIs writing is excellent, the plot outstanding, and it's full of interesting characters. Plenty of action, lots of surprises, and a very satisfying ending. One of the better pieces of fiction I've read in several years.

Absolutely wonderful!

This is a mystery about an elaborate grift set in Post WWII Texas at the start of the oil boom. All the characters are so well done and not stereotypical; Della, the beautiful blonde is also very business smart; Manlow Rhodes, the Presbyterian banker, "Chicken" Little, an old ex-con and breeder of gamecocks; Det. Ollie Marne, the cop on the take "would like to be a better man than his job and the circumstances in this town will allow him to be.", and many others including the protagonist who tells the story in retrospect. The plotting, sense of time and place, dialogue and tension are first-rate. There is a second standalone and a series on the way by Burton and you can bet I'm going to read them.

Excellent Thriller

Because of the excellence of this novel, it is hard to believe that this is Burton's first published work. It is a "quick" but superb read. This is an exceptional thriller - the hints are there throughout the book but I never would have guessed the ending. The characters are extremely well developed. Bravo Burton!!! I hope that we'll be seeing other novels from him!!

superb post World War II noir

In 1947 a forty-three years old man drives into a Texas city in a brand new Lincoln convertible with a beautiful blonde Della. He books a room for them for two weeks at the Weilbach Hotel informing the clerk he may stay longer. The next morning as the man expected Deputy Sheriff Ollie Marne visits him to learn what he is doing here. The man bribes Ollie to get him access to the weekend poker game at the hotel's Plainsman Suite where to sit costs five thousand. Not long after meeting with Marne, the man and Della have breakfast with ex convict Herbert "Chicken" Little and Ice Pick Willie. Ice Pick is irate when the man insists the scam to con banker Clifton Robillard could take six months though Chicken Little seems calm; the man knows he has an enemy in Ice Pick. The game has begun. This post World War II noir is character driven by the no nonsense amused narrator who provides no name for himself or the city he works his game in. The story line is action-packed but clearly belongs to the poker playing anti-hero who bluffs his way through scenarios without fear of someone calling his hand. A final twist adds to a strong late 1940s Texas suspense thriller that never slows down once the man with no name begins raising the ante. Harriet Klausner