Linda Corley

A Deal on a Handshake: the Story of Wildcatting and the Search for Oil Linda Corley

The author's 5th novel has topped her first! While drilling for oil, wildcatters battle competitors and sabotage. A story of treachery, betrayal and treason - with rich sights and sounds of a unique place, alive with passion, dark with greed and desperation, this novel is an unforgettable reading experience. Magical, bold and untamed, this is the story of an American wildcatter. A novel from the flat, red, dusty plains of Texas to the swamp lands of South Louisiana and the rich black oil pulsating beneath their surface. It is an eerie, feverish, delicate tale of Texas men and women and one man in particular, J. W. "Blackie" Corley, a patriarch who charmed his family to destruction. With his wild recklessness, his magic touch, and his rash ways, J. W. was a born wildcatter, staking his life and livelihood drilling for oil in unlikely places. But oil would twist and break J. W. and take a price, finally, from his family. Based on actual events.