author
Virgil D. (Virgil Dillin) Boyles
1872–1965
A quietly prolific early Western novelist, he wrote with close knowledge of frontier life and often teamed up with his sister Kate Boyles Bingham on stories set in the Dakotas. His work helped turn regional history into popular fiction for a broad early-20th-century audience.
1 Audiobook
Langford of the Three Bars
by Kate Boyles Bingham, Virgil D. (Virgil Dillin) Boyles
About the author
Virgil Dillin Boyles was an American writer born in 1872 and died in 1965. Public-domain library records and author listings identify him as Virgil D. (Virgil Dillin) Boyles, and show that he is chiefly remembered for Western and historical fiction.
He is best known for collaborating with his sister, Kate Boyles Bingham, on several novels, including Langford of the Three Bars, The Homesteaders, The Spirit Trail, The Hoosier Volunteer, and A Daughter of the Badlands. A South Dakota historical study describes the pair as a brother-and-sister writing team whose novels drew on South Dakota settings and history.
Boyles's fiction belongs to the era when magazine and book publishers brought regional American stories to a wide readership. While he is not as widely known today as some Western writers of his time, his books remain accessible through projects such as Project Gutenberg, which has helped preserve his place in early American popular fiction.