How To Spot a Bad Western

A few quick peeks at a western novel can often tell you whether it's worth reading. If the plot is resolved by bullets, it's going to be bad. If no one grieves for the dead, it'll be bad. If the gunman hero (usually a lawman) never wrestles with himself about all the killing he's done, it's going to be bad.

Western fiction, once the richest and most diverse of the genres, has largely sunk into gunfighter stories, with high body counts. you can protect yourself from these with a bit of caution at the book racks.