Outlaws of Mesquite

by Louis L'Amour

Eight vintage stories of the Old West chronicle the adventures of Marshal Lou Morgan, Leo Carver, the Cactus Kid, and other tough heroes, accompanied by notes on western history and lore

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Short Stories, Historical Fiction, Action, Adventure

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".

Reviews

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

My continuing effort to read every book ever published by Louis L'Amour is making progress as my database tells me this is the 77th of his books that I've completed.

Eight classic western short stories are included in this volume, all having protagonists who are not the typical tall, broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, square-jawed western hero. Rather these men are "bad" men but who have heroic tendancies regardless. Some have been mistaken for bad hombres while others are genuine outlaws who do a good turn. There are also some interesting women in these pages who do not conform to the sterotypical western novel template. A couple are pretty cool femme fatales and more than one gets her just deserts when she backs the wrong man. And in one story, it is the female character who overcomes the sexism of the day and manipulates events better than any lawyer could to keep the innocent man from being hanged.

It's nice to see a different take on the classic western formula story. All fun reads.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

As it is a collection of short stories, this is a tough book to give a star rating to. Some of the stories are so-so, some are great, and you can't really give them all an average rating and be fair. This is another of the collections of L'Amour's short stories he wrote for magazines and collections in the past, compiled for an official printing by the L'Amour family.

In this collection, the stories are about men who aren't exactly good guys, but aren't exactly bad guys. "Good bad man" is the description one character gives a protagonist. They have lived a shady life or done questionable things, but when the time came, they did right and treated people square.

Each story again has a short bit drawn from L'Amour's extensive past and historical studies, not to mention interviews and talks with the old men who were young in American's frontier days. There is a lot of good historical information to be drawn from these short bits.

There are typical showdown stories, cowboy stories, a rodeo rider story about an evil horse, and one particularly entertaining story about a charming bad man who is turned right by an extraordinary woman. Overall its good, fast, and entertaining reading.

[iasa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This a collection of short stories where the protagonists, although not anti-heroes, are all a bit tarnished. Entertaining enough during reading, but not spectacular enough to stay with you.

[Willow Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book! It'll always be one of my all-time favorites, not only for sentimentality's sake, but also because it's just really, really good!

This was the first book that I ever read by Louis L'Amour, read when I was stuck with nothing else to read, and it's what ignited my love for his books. He's now one of my favorite author's, and this is the story (or should I say stories) that started it all.

I've read this so many times that I can tell you exactly what happens in each and every story, and yet they're still an absolute joy to read, every single time. So here's what I thought of each story in turn, plus the author's notes that precede them, because they're all really interesting.

The Outlaws of Mesquite
Author's Note: The Mesquite I wrote about in this story is a rustler town, a holdup man's town, and it's quite unlike most towns in the West.

In more traditional towns, there were generally two sections. There was the part where the saloons and the red-light district were, what we still refer to today as the wrong side of the tracks, where most of the rough stuff like gunfights went on. On the other side there were churches and schools and citizens carrying on their lives the way normal people would.

Sometimes all the law-abiding people knew about the gun fights across the way was the sound of gunfire. They didn't know who was shooting whom until they heard about it later.

What a great start to the book! I could tell you what happens in this story action for action. At one point I actually knew exactly how the guy was going to respond, word for word. I love this book so much.

Love and the Cactus Kid
Author's Note: Nowadays when we see women riding in the West they're usually wearing blue jeans, but this was not the case during the time these stories take place. Up until World War I, or shortly thereafter, a woman wouldn't have been caught dead wearing pants anywhere. She wore a dress wherever she went.

Women never rode a horse astride unless they were miles from where anybody was likely to see them. Then they might. They rode sidesaddle, and sidesaddle only, with the dress very carefully draped over the side of the horse. I had an aunt, a wery beautiful young woman, who rode that way, and she was something to watch.

In public a woman was very careful not to show any more than her ankles. And about the only time you got to see them as when she was getting out of a stage or down off a railroad train.

We love the Cactus Kid. He's just great. He thinks on his feet, and keeps his wits about him when he's in a tough spot. This is just an overall great story, especially with the inclusion of the Herring brothers.

The Ghost Maker
Author's Note: In the early days of riding and ranching, very few of the horses were more than half broken. And likely they would start bucking the moment a cowboy swung his leg over the saddle. Consequently, he wanted that pointed toe of his boot to slip easily into the stirrup, and the high heel to prevent slipping too far.

The usual practice was to bring horses in off the range to one fellow in the outfit, usually one who was a pretty good rider, who would do what they call "break the rough string." He would saddle up these unbroken horses and ride them until they stopped pitching, and that horse was considered broken.

The animal would be left there for the next cowboy to have his own little time with him, because very few of the cowboys liked a horse that wouldn't buck. And most of them did buck in the morning, especially when it was frosty.

A thoughtful rider always took his bit to the fire and warmed it some before he put it in the horse's mouth. Or sometimes he'd get it warm by wearing it inside his shirt for a while.

Some of my least favorite Louis L'Amour books are those about either boxing or rodeos (steer wrestling, calf roping, bronc riding, etc.). This one is about rodeos, but I actually do enjoy this one. I like Marty, and I like that it conveys the message that having fear isn't a bad thing, but can actually be good. My only issue is that I don't think Peg got what was coming to her. She deserved less.

The Drift
Author's Note: In the old days it was very common to see a cowboy with one or two fingers missing. Most likely there was a bad steer on the other end of the rope he had dallied around his saddle horn. His hand would get caught and a finger might get cut off or pulled off. So in every group of seven or eight cowboys you'd find one or two who had a finger gone.

Each of these stories has a hand-drawn picture on the page before it, which I love, and I especially love this one. There's just nothing like reading a story about a guy stuck working in a blizzard when you're cold and in the snow. Don't ask me why, but there just isn't. This is one of my favorite stories of the bunch, and I love how it takes so many twists and turns!

No Rest for the Wicked
Author's Note: It takes two kinds of men to develop a mining country: the men who find the mines and the men who develop them, and they are rarely the same person. The prospector, the discoverer, is not often equipped in money and the business ability to open up and develop a mine. Many of them sold their claim off for what seemed nothing. And yet it was to them a great deal. And if they'd persisted in operating their mines they might have lost everything.

Some men only wanted what they could take out by themselves. They kept their discoveries a secret, going back again and again to take out what they needed, and when they died - of disease, accident, or gun play - the mine's location was lost.

From the ridge on my Colorado ranch I can look across a bunch of mountains where there are dozens of lost mines. At least two of them are somewhere in the range of my vision. Find them? It isn't easy. It's a big, big country and prospecting is a slow, painstaking operation. Since prospectors gave up burro for the Jeep, fewer mines are found. Jeeps can't the go into the roughest country, and many of the best mines were found at places where no man in his right mind would want to go.

Okay, well first off, I have to say that I absolutely love this title. I guess this is the least memorable one of the bunch, because even after I saw the picture and title, I still couldn't remember what it was about until I started reading. I then remembered it all in detail, but still. The main character isn't my absolute favorite, and he's kind of a loner, but not in a cool way, more like he just isn't great at making friends. But maybe it's just the small town filled with annoying people who won't listen to reason. This is a good one though, and I'm really glad Marla and the rest of the town got what was coming to them.

That Packsaddle Affair
Author's Note: One of the things you didn't do in the West was bother a woman. It rarely happened.

Women were scarce and valued accordingly. A lot of men grew up reading the novels of Sir Walter Scott and they adopted the author's notions of chivalry. There are many, many accounts in diaries and elsewhere of women traveling back and forth across the West alone and never being disturbed in the least.

If a woman got off a stage at a stage-stop to get something to eat, and a man didn't get up to give her a place at the table, somebody else knocked him off the seat so she could be seated. You couldn't even bump into a woman walking in the street without somebody knocking you into the ground for it.

Women were treated with great respect and this was universal all over the frontier. It was one thing you didn't transgress.

Every western has to have a character named Red, and this is the one that has it. I absolutely love this story, and I love Red. He's just so good! He knows how to handle himself when the going gets rough, and he even went out of his way to help some strangers who need a hanf. I also really love the ending to this story, although it is bittersweet.

Showdown on the Tumbling T
Author's Note: A man who was a gunfighter was simply a man who was good with a gun. His skill was usually the result of very steady nerves, very good reactions, and good coordination. A man might have had no intention of being a gunfighter at all, but then he got into a disagreement with somebody, and because of his ability, he was faster with a gun and he won. After he won two or three times he had a reputation as a gunfighter, whether he wanted it or not.

Very few gunfighters wanted to be known as such. The notion that a man went around trying to outdraw other people in order to build a big reputation seldom ever happened, unless they were either very young boys or somebody who was a psychopathic case.

Guns were dangerous and these men knew it. They carried guns because they were a tool of their living. You had to have them for many reasons aside from just wanting to shoot some body else.

This is probably the longest story out of them all, and the plot is really good and well thought out. I like how it ended with Hugh and Wat, it was just perfect, and Wat was such a good guy, so he deserved it.

The Sixth Shotgun
Author's Note: A lot of people in the early days of the West did not believe in courts. They preferred to judge a culprit and execute the sentence right on the spot.

For many, it was a simple matter of expediency. Suppose you caught a man branding one of your cattle out in the field. Putting a gun on him, you took him into town, which may have been fifty miles away, to turn him over to the sheriff. You then rode back to your ranch.

In a few days you had to ride all the way back into town to testify against him, and then ride back home. Sometimes you rode four or five hundred miles just to get that one criminal taken care of.

It was thought much easier to hang the man when and where he was caught, and that was often done. It saved your horse and saved your time.

This used to be my least favorite story, but now I really love it! I think that part of the reason it used to be my least favorite was because of the perspective it was told from. The narrator is a guy who lives in the town, but we never know his name or who he is at all, but he knows and sees everything that goes on. I think it used to bother me a bit, but I've actually grown to like it, and of course, you can't help liking Leo Carver.

[Brian Fagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of eight short stories, none of which had apparently seen the light of day before the publication of this book in 1990. My favorites are The Outlaws of Mesquite and The Sixth Shotgun.

The Outlaws of Mesquite: The story features one of L'Amour's tough, independent heroes, with a woman waiting in the wings as a reward for bravery. I enjoyed the cracking repartee, albeit a notch less entertaining than Raymond Chandler's.

Love and the Cactus Kid: A long excursion to find wildflowers for a girlfriend turns into a life-or-death affair.

The Ghost Maker: A bucking bronc that has killed two men and paralyzed another is the central character. Unfortunately the story is lessened by a predictable ending.

The Drift: L'Amour builds the tension with a potentially deadly love triangle.

No Rest for the Wicked: Here is a well-constructed mining story in which the protagonist takes bold action based on information not initially shared with readers.

That Packsaddle Affair: The action comes to an odd sort of Mexican Standoff that includes a man sleeping at a table in a saloon !

Showdown on the Tumbling T: I came away with a new favorite phrase of western lingo - "cut our dogs loose" - read "start shooting".

The Sixth Shotgun: The folks in a small town have to sort out the problem of a good man being sentenced to hang.

[Joe Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fine collection of western short stories displaying L'Amour's writing and story telling skills. Readers who enjoy westerns with action will find some here, but this reader enjoyed best the stories that weren't the traditional good guy versus bad guy set up, such as the champion rodeo-rider who is scared of a mean horse or the marshal who finds the citizens of the town he serves against him.

With some of the stories you know where the plot is headed. The fun is how the author spins it out. With others, the ending may not be what you expect, as it was for this reader with "No Rest for the Wicked," the story of the previously mentioned marshal. In this short piece that I rate 4 stars, L'Amour provides the reader a nifty study of loyalty and human foibles.

A nice feature of this collection is the brief author's note at the beginning of each story in which the author gives a brief commentary on western lore, values, and traditions.

[Gabe Herrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'amour strikes again! A wonderful book, only reason I am giving it four stars is because I don't really enjoy the suddenly ending short stories which are only a few pages long. Honestly, I think that each of those could have been expanded to entire books lol

[Joshua Griffiths · Rating 2 out of 5]

You're in an outlaws town, saving a damsel in distress. Now you're intertwined in a romantic love story. Next you're looking through the eyes of Marty Mahan, and experience horse breaker about to break the infamous ghost maker. All of a sudden you're thrusted into the middle of a winter blizzard during a Cattle drive to Texas. Now you're looking through the eyes of Clanahan, a thief turned good to stop a potential kidnapping. Finally you settled down with a story of the controversial hanging of Leo Carver. Whether you love mysteries action love stories, or all of the above have no fear because this book has all of them.

(this is just one of the 13 stories within the book)
In the short story Outlaws of Mesquite, L'Amour writes about Milt Cogar. Cogar is a man of pride and honor and doesn't take lightly to disrespect. He isn't out looking for trouble, however he often find himself in the mites of it. He is a strong individual, hardened by the frontier. Cogar stops in a town on his way to the West Coast. He finds himself sleeping on the wrong side of town whittled with criminals. He meets a young girl in this town by the name of Jenny Lewis. Jenny was a young woman who never had to meet the realities of the real world. Her marriage was arranged with the bully of the town, Dan Spencer. Dan has grown up with Silver spoon and never had to fend for himself. Right from the beginning we see the external conflict between Milt and Dan. Milt eventually liberates Jenny from the criminalized town, but not without a fight. The author uses loaded language to hint at the tone of his piece. He used a harsh tone which created a serious mood throughout this short story. The author often uses diction relating to the Western era to enhance the authentic feel of this book. Using concrete language the author helps the reader discover the theme of don't conform to the crowd, stand up for what you believe in.


L'Amour uses a lot of concrete language. He cleverly intertwines the characters throughout each story. He often takes a scene and describes it great detail, however the next scene might lack in description. Most of the stories I enjoyed, but two of the stories I had to stop short of the ending because they didn't appeal do what I like to read. nevertheless the majority of the stories grasped my attention. I'm not sure if I'm just getting tired of Westerns, but his style of cut and dry lesson he wants to relay to the reader bored me after a few stories. It was hard getting used to all new characters at the start of each story, however if you don't read them all in a row you're fine. Although all the stories were different it seems as if there was a underlying universal theme, stand up for what you believe. This reminded me of a lesson I was taught, don't conform to the crowd all too often we don't stand up for ourselves or others because we don't want to stand out. Specially in high school I find myself keeping my mouth shut when I should probably stand up for some. I just wish L'Amour would have made it more interesting to learn this lesson. Bottom line, would I recommend this book to a friend, no. However I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it either.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

After I started listening to audio books on my drive to work, I started listening to westerns. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be reading westerns, I would have laughed. Not the case any more. They are a treat and joy to read. Good guy (white hat), bad guy (black hat), and for good measure, a pretty lady in the middle. Then, there is the story......

Westerns are all about life, real life. And this book fits the bill to the tee. Within this book are eight short stories. They cover the gambit of life, but most of all, they speak to what honesty and integrity mean (or used to mean). A man's word was worth more than what he had in his pockets. His reputation was usually all that he had, and that was more sacred than anything else. Then there is right and wrong, and life's choices. The mistakes some make, some they recover from, and others you don't.

Men stood up for what was right. They especially stood up for a woman, to be respected and honored. Especially if you found yourself in love with her and had taken a fancy to her. Then you would give your all just to be in her presence.

Each of these eight stories were written by the master of western stories himself, Louis l'Amour and these stories captures some of his simpler and more enjoyable writings. Simple and to the point stories which are chalked full of wisdom and sage, which has stood the test of time.

If you are looking for a quick read and something to tide you over until you have chosen another novel to curl up to, I would readily recommend this book of western short stories. You will not regret it and come away having enjoyed some very well written literature.

[M.L. Bushman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, the cowboy. Louis L'Amour captures the essence of these white knights of the old West like no one else. This collection of short stories kept me entertained from page one. Not a disappointing story in the lot either.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'Amour is such a consummate snake oil salesman that it is hard to rate his fantasies dressed up as Western Genre without a fond chuckle. Much of what is annoying and dull about genre fiction is exactly the strengths behind the lasting readability of Louis L'Amour. Like all the best production paid-by-the-word authors, he first inhabited the world he was imagining, then established rules and expectations for the reader, and then bent the rules to see if it would still work - the same can be said of Agatha Christie.
I recall the first time I noticed that L'Amour had copied an entire paragraph three times in the same novel. Rather than let the repetition bother me, it is now something that I look for as added interest. His plots are always the same four or five in a rotation, the outcomes are always the expected, the rolling hip lock and left jab will be mentioned, and more coffee will be consumed than was actually produced in the year of writing. Yet, L'Amour's little fantasy West was a quaint and honorable place, and this collection of short tales gives you the most explicit list of rules and precepts of any of L'Amour's works in that he wrote a short blurb to head each of the tales in this collection explicitly telling you what rule he had in mind while writing it. It's all bogus mid-20th century gender norms and macho posturing, because really the audience for these stories was always the vaguely insecure He Man crowd who wants to believe there ever was a time when Men was Men and Women were Ladies. This is why we are expected to guffaw at the premise of a pussywhipped premiere gunhand hunting up wildflowers, accept that a lady really loves when her man punches/shoots down his romantic rival, and that all will be forgiven when, even after a lengthy period of her calling him a yellow coward that she could never love, he demonstrates a greater bravery and strength of character than she could imagine.
These gender roles matter because L'Amour know his audience, and knew that nothing would warm the tiny testes of an insecure He Man type more than a romance novel with guns. It's a proven formula, and one that L'Amour excelled in adapting endlessly. If the fine figure of a woman (with spirit!) doesn't spurn the affections of the thin-hipped, broad-shouldered quiet man with reasons for his actions, well then what hope was there for the guy reading the book?
Anyway, it's fun if not exceptional writing, and the collection is well chosen for a range of premises.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Outlaws of Mesquite" by Louis L'Amour is 8 short stories each with an dynamic climax action illustration by Bob Larkin, and introductory 'notes', adapted from Bantam Audio dramatizations (on cassette tapes) relevant to western lifestyle, not always the particular story. Having read before does not decrease the pleasure of revisiting old friend repeating successes, in times and places strange and appealing, wild and beautiful, fast involved physical action unlike this centuries sedentary observational viewpoint, clever, humane, understanding goodness in the heart and soul does not always play by the book.
http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/loui...

1 The Outlaws of Mesquite - Milt Cogar 50ish with a string of 16 gentled wild ponies, passes through Mesquite population 27 run by Dan Spencer who gets what he wants. He wants orphan Jennie Lewis 18 "a slim, lovely girl with soft gray eyes and ash-blond hair .. looked like the wind could blow her away
(Spoilers:
"but there was quick bubbling laughter in her, and sometimes a look in her eyes that touched something away down inside of a man" p15 (in excerpt), so Milt promises her freedom, a ride out.)
Note: This rustler town differs from the typical setup dividing the red-light wrong side of the (railway) tracks - saloons, brothels - from law-abiding houses, churches, schools, shops.

2 Love and the Cactus Kid - The Cactus Kid aka Clay aka Nesselrode to his sweetheart Jenny Simms, fetching wildflowers to her birthday party, as boasted by her to the whole town, escapes from the Herring brothers - vicious murdering leader Red, thin saturnine clever Ben, and slow shambling Joe
(Spoiler: - and brings them in carrying bouquets after fast gun and fist fights.)
Note: Before WW1, women wore dresses in U.S., rode side-saddle.

3 The Ghost Maker - is a vicious zebra dun who kills men and horses - the saddle horse and best friend of rodeo rider Marty (not Martin) Mahan in Calgary. Now his girl Peg Graham listens to loudmouth Yanell Stoper cry "yellow", but quiet bystander Old John knows courage includes fear "takes a good man to admit he's scared" p88. Idjit female, I'd dump such a selfish, thoughtless, useless etcetera. (Did L'Amour wife Kathy choose names Beau and Angelique, because Louis obviously fancies Jenny (not Jennifer)?
(Spoiler:
Old John owns the Willow Ranch and will "sell it mighty cheap, to the right couple!", so they can raise "Lots of kids! All rodeo riders!" p103.)
Note: Good riders "break the rough string"; broken still buck in morning, expecially frosty so warm (horse mouth metal!) bits by fire or under shirt.

4 The Drift is when cattle slowly follow en masse, even to death, here pushed by bitter norther (wind), opposed only by new hand Johnny (not John) Garrett. His eye for pretty Mary Jane Calkins led previous jealous beau Smoke Larsen, foreman, to give the kid the "lowest" jobs.
(Spoiler:
He freezes all night, blows arryo edge to turn tide, catches eye of newly arrive boss' niece Betty, who helps save him when Mary Jane betrays him to rustlers.)
Note: One of 7-8 cowboys lose 1-2 fingers wrapped in rope.

5 No Rest for the Wicked - Sheriff Lou Morgan knows Lost Village road was empty, arrests newcomer Larik Feist with railroad ash on clothes and behind ears, who came from other direction to hoodwink investment from townsfolk. His girl Marla drugs his coffee and jails him instead, claiming jealousy. Dipstick chick.
(Spoilers:
He sends skeptical sound fellow to rescue foolish abandoned folk, then alone "rode out of town, and I never looked back. Not once." p155 Hooray.)
Note: Finders usually had to sell to operators for mines to pay; if they died, location lost. Burros found mines jeeps now cannot, many mines will stay hidden forever.

6 That Packsaddle Affair - Outlaw Red Clanahan, out-racing posse, detours to Packsaddle Stage Station to help girl seeking her father and his claim. (Why are girls Blondie, but guys not?)
(Spoilers:
Red convinces thieving kidnappers to buy the map he got from dying prospector, for $15K, when claim only worth $1K. He escorts Elaine to safety. Rescued also, Sam has heard "he is a real badman", but Elaine recognizes "A good badman" p181, yet he rides on alone. So "Happy Ever After" is not always standard marriage.)
Note: Frontier women could travel alone and always be treated respectfully.

7 Showdown on the Tumbling T - Papago Kid, wanted as Wat Bell, sent by cousin Hugh to Bill Keys at Tin Cup Ranch, adds accusation of killing Old Tom Ludlow to Uncle Tom (enough Tom's for you?), finds ambush waiting, Shorty Carver investigating huge rustling ring, and pretty Maggie Dolliver, already engaged "the girl I had been looking for all my life .. was meant for me" p201. "How long does it take? Is there a special time .. There isn't any time limit and there never has been" p209
(Spoilers:
Hugh masquerades as Howie Taber fiance, masterminds rustlers, and fatally shot in showdown, defended by Wat. Suspect is tossed ammo by trusting bystander and brought food and his beloved stallion Rowdy by Mag, and cleared by other confessions.)
Note: Asking for shootouts was not the norm - "a gunfighter was simply a man who was good with a gun", seldom "wanted to be known as such". p185

8 The Sixth Shotgun - Pete narrates hanging of stage coach robber who shot two family men guarding, by rifle. Judge Hadlin's daughter Ruth points out Canyon Gap only has six rifles, so whose was used, and Leo "never kept a dime" p257 so where was the "twenty thousand in gold" p256? Everyone knows suspect Leo Carver is a fine guitarist and singer, generous spendthrift, caring, helps everyone without recompense, but "what we knew wasn't evidence".
(Spoilers:
Ruth, with friend Mary Ryan from "other side of the Street", smuggled two files in his guitar, bought a big black, and vanished on her gray mare the same night as Leo filed through the jail cell window bars. The last rifle unaccounted for belonged to the bank and gold owner, Ruth's former jealous suitor Mort, so the ending is "We hung Mort Lewand". p273)
Note: Execution often followed sentencing "easier to hang the man when and where he was caught .. saved your horse and .. time" p249

Typo? p209 "before she can admit she likes him? [no closing quotes, new paragraph, another set of quotation marks] "There isn't any time limit..", I told her.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'Amour wrote a lot of short stories for magazines or collections and some of them he later stretched out into longer novels if they achieved some popularity ("Bannon" and "Hondo" come to mind). "The Outlaws of Mesquite" is a collection of eight western short stories. These eight don't hold up to those higher standards but are still a little fun.

The eight stories are about:
1) a drifter who plans to save a girl from being forced to marry the town bully,
2) a teen who is on an adventure to find flowers for his true love,
3) a rodeo rider who has to ride a man-killing bronc named "the Ghost Maker,"
4) a young cattleman earning his stripes and finding out about some rustlers,
5) a sheriff who knows that a visitor claiming to know the location of a lost gold mine is trying to swindle his town,
6) an outlaw who steps in when some bad guys in a saloon try to push a woman into giving them her dead father's gold claim,
7) a gunfighter who stumbles into a killing by accident while running from the law and then there's a mystery to solve, and
8) an accused killer sitting in prison while waiting for the townsfolk to figure out who may have actually committed the crime because some of the evidence is a bit suspect.

Verdict: Eight decent L'Amour short stories but they didn't really do much for me and the characters nor situations were very memorable. "No Rest for the Wicked" and "Showdown on the Tumbling T" stand out but I'd not recommend this collection to anyone who wasn't already a L'Amour fan.

Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: G

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of tales, strangely the weak link is the title story. Not sure why they wanted to name the collection after that tale but after you get that one done, it's nothing but masterful shorts done by the master of the Western.

The standouts are Showdown on the Tumbling T, No Rest for the Wicked, and a great conclusion with The Sixth Shotgun. Showdown is the longest story and one I think could have been made into a full length novel, has a great main character and plot with a strong ending. No Rest for the Wicked is a solid tale where a town gets gold fever though their sheriff tries to cap it. Lastly a great tale to end on, The Sixth Shotgun is a tale about an outlaw but solid guy who is in jail waiting to be hung for a crime he didnt do and how a privileged gal and the town itself solves the matter.

Again highly recommended, L'Amour is the master of the Western short. This collection definitely doesn't disappoint even the title story I didn't think measured up isn't unreadable just doesn't stand up to the rest of the book.

[R. W. Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of some of Louis L’Amour’s short stories (written for and published by western magazines) was a pleasure to read. These short stories were written before his first published novel, Hondo (1953j. I just can’t seem to get a fill for the western genre, especially Louis L’Amour. Although, Lonesome Dove is, to this point in time, my favorite western novel, Louis L’Amour remains my favorite author of the western genre. Interesting to me, however, I do possess a copy of Hondo, though I’m waiting to enjoy it sometime down the road. Some folks rate Hondo at—or near—the top of Louis L’Amour’s greatest novels. For that reason, I’m kinda’, sorta’ procrastinating starting to read that book.

[Colton Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Outlaws of the Mesquite was one of the best Ive read from the phenomenal author Louis L'Amour. This book had very interesting short stories from a man getting chased by Pinkerton's for something he didn't do to being a drifter going town to town. Louis L'amour has very simple characters but they all seem unique to each other all having an agenda like being a legendary outlaw being feared by all who come across him or a young man searching for a treasure sought to be a legend.

I really liked this book it had many stories to follow but was easy to remember each plot of the many different adventures of outlaws.

"Not only that Im a outlaw Im a friend as well"

[Stephanie Ricker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun but fairly standard collection of L'Amour short stories. I enjoyed it, but none of them were particularly stand-out. I do find it funny that L'Amour's male characters have unique, manly names (Milt Cogar, Smoke Lamson, Red Clanahan, Wolf Kettle), while the female characters are almost always named something like Jenny (several of them in this collection), Betty, or Maggie. That does rather parallel the levels of character development; L'Amour's male characters are always more fleshed out and interesting than the female ones, at least in the stort stories (some of his novels are definite exceptions).

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exceptional grouping of L'Amour's short stories. The most memorable is the last one in the book where a man decides not to rob a stage because his buddy is riding shotgun. Then, further along the trail, his buddy is killed. He is convicted and sentenced to hang. No one wants to, but he was convicted. He is saved from and unexpected source and justice is served. It is funny.

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I good collection of short stories by Louis Lamour. He is a classic western writer that I realized I have not read at all before. It is a good introduction to his stories, and even though I may not grab his books first, they are a classic western read and would be ideal for many people and Lamour is a leader in this Genre. Worth the read.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of super-pulpy early short stories clearly written for the magazine market. Entertaining, but not as complex as some of his other stories can be. (and that cover! can't take it seriously)

[Oleta Blaylock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book of short stories. All a good. This leather bound edition it printed a little differently from the others I have been reading. There are illustrations and other additions. I really do enjoy Mr. L'Amour's writing. I wish I had read more of his books when I was younger.

[Delonna Oskouee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Louis L'Amour!

It was a great book, and I'm getting used to reading Mr. L'Amour's short stories. I'm glad I didn't have all the hard times in the old west, but I sure miss the feeling of friendship and community.

[Peter Charleston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relaxing western adventure.

[Andrew Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of these stories gives a strong, clear description of courage, and what it means to be brave.

[Lynda Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has about 8 short stories and all are great!

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were better than others, but all were quick and decent reads. Good for “I’ll just read one before bed” type stuff because they’re short.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was just hanging around the house so I decided to read it. I so enjoyed these short stories of the frontier.

[Kathy Dobronyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories. All were good except for “Love and the Cactus Kid.”

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a truly excellent book that brings you back into a time that was not perfect but it was understood. Great stories where there was no guessing the meaning or the outcome.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect reading while playing Red Dead Redemption. Nothing fancy, just good old-fashioned Western stories.