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The Wyoming Bubble (Western Series Level II
Tagline: Gamblers and gunmen tangle in a million-dollar swindle.
Cheyenne in 1883 was an acre of hell: thirty saloons, forty dance halls and street killings too many to count.
King of this lawless land was cattle. Grubstakes were parlayed to fortunes as spectators recklessly bought and sold large herds.
Russ Hyatt was a cowboy who hadn't paid much heed to this crazy boom. Then the beef buyers tried to swindle his best pal.
Russ set out to square the deal. The con men measured Russ for another notch on their bloody guns. They figured wrong!
This lone cow poke was spoiling to bust the whole Wyoming bubble with a couple of well-placed shots from the fastest gun in the west.
Cheyenne in 1883 was an acre of hell: thirty saloons, forty dance halls and street killings too many to count.
King of this lawless land was cattle. Grubstakes were parlayed to fortunes as spectators recklessly bought and sold large herds.
Russ Hyatt was a cowboy who hadn't paid much heed to this crazy boom. Then the beef buyers tried to swindle his best pal.
Russ set out to square the deal. The con men measured Russ for another notch on their bloody guns. They figured wrong!
This lone cow poke was spoiling to bust the whole Wyoming bubble with a couple of well-placed shots from the fastest gun in the west.
500 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1956
4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 7, 2025
I originally chose this book from the library simply because it was new and in large print. I sure am glad I did! This is actually the first western I've read. It's odd that I've never chosen to read a western before because I love all the old western TV shows and have seen almost all of them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It reads like an episode of The Virginian with a wee bit of Gunsmoke sprinkled in. If you enjoy either of those old TV shows, especially The Virginian, you will love this book. I am going to look for more books by Allan Vaughan Elston. He wrote an easy flowing and entertaining story here!
June 23, 2017
Four years later, and this book turned out to be surprisingly memorable. I picked it up from the house where I was staying on a complete whim, and when I tweeted about liking it, one of the author’s descendants thanked me for reading and enjoying it! How cool is that?
I think part of my great enjoyment of this was not being familiar with conventions of this genre, but honestly, pulp fiction was meant to be really readable, right? The pacing was perfect, like you could read it slow or put it down for a while and not fall out of it at all.
I loved that the dame the main character was into was interesting and not just a pretty face, even if she didn’t do much for herself. I liked that stage-coaches had a bigger presence than trains. I really liked that I didn’t know what would happen, or how large the scope of the adventure would be. Mercenaries, corporate scheming, camping, gambling… all your wild-west staples, and thankfully lacking in racism and aggression against indigenous peoples. Well, they weren’t in the book at all, but that’s a different problem.
I think one of my issues with it though is that it didn't feel like a book set in the 1880s, it felt like the era it was written in. Which is a shame, I suppose. But it had such a neat ending.
I think part of my great enjoyment of this was not being familiar with conventions of this genre, but honestly, pulp fiction was meant to be really readable, right? The pacing was perfect, like you could read it slow or put it down for a while and not fall out of it at all.
I loved that the dame the main character was into was interesting and not just a pretty face, even if she didn’t do much for herself. I liked that stage-coaches had a bigger presence than trains. I really liked that I didn’t know what would happen, or how large the scope of the adventure would be. Mercenaries, corporate scheming, camping, gambling… all your wild-west staples, and thankfully lacking in racism and aggression against indigenous peoples. Well, they weren’t in the book at all, but that’s a different problem.
I think one of my issues with it though is that it didn't feel like a book set in the 1880s, it felt like the era it was written in. Which is a shame, I suppose. But it had such a neat ending.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews