Book excerpt: When oil suddenly gushes from the ground in Whitney, it makes prospectors very happy, but not the inhabitants, for a pestilential smell soon covers the small town. Abandoning her home, Whitney’s elder Miss Bluemarket moves to Smithville with her three pets – three adult buffaloes. Her search for a new home makes her easy prey for unscrupulous estate agents, and soon she finds herself owning a property whose mere name has the locals shaking in their boots: the Bates ranch...