Last Stand at Saber River and The Law at Randado: Two Classic Westerns – A Haunted Veteran and a Sheriff Fight for Justice in Arizona Territory

by Elmore Leonard

From New York Times Bestselling Author Elmore Leonard comes two of his early, beloved westerns—now collected in one volume LAST STAND AT SABER RIVER
A quiet, haunted man, Paul Cable walked away from a lost cause hoping to pick up where he left off, but things have changed in Arizona since he first rode out to fight for the Confederacy. Two brothers—Union men—have claimed his spread, and they’re not about to give it back, leaving Cable and his family with no place to settle in peace. It seems that this war is not over yet. But no one is going to take away Paul’s land and his future—not with their laws, their lies, or their guns. LAW AT RANDADO
Phil Sundeen thinks Deputy Sheriff Kirby Frye is just a local kid with a tin badge. And when the cattle baron’s men drag two prisoners from Frye’s jail and hang them from a high tree, there’s nothing the untried young lawman can do about it. But Kirby’s got more grit than Sundeen and his hired muscles bargained for. They can beat the boy and humiliate him, but they can’t make him forget the job he has sworn to do. The cattleman has money and guns on his side, but Kirby Frye’s the law in this corner of Arizona. And he’ll drag Sundeen and his killers straight to hell to prove it. “Elmore Leonard is an absolute master.”
   — Detroit News

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published December 24, 2018

About the author

Elmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.

Father of Peter Leonard.

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published 1959. And you can tell because it’s not so slicked down. Lots of layers, lots of complexity, not just black and white, lots of gray. But ultimately, though some roles have been reversed, the sun comes up bright and clear in the morning.

3.75

Read by Richard Poe who I’ve listened to before. Very good.

[MH · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of the two novels is great - a Civil War veteran and his family return to their Texas spread to find that it's being occupied, and the conflict gets escalated by outside forces with their own agendas. The shadow of the war hangs over the novel, and it's tense, tight, thoughtful, and a great read. The second novel, The Law at Randado written five years earlier, isn't nearly as good - it's a lot more messy and uncentered, with some surprisingly clunky writing ("In the directly above them sunlight of noon they entered the widening in the canyon that was the site of the mine"), a padded plot and lengthy anticlimax, and a genuinely angry-making love interest for our protagonist.

[J.C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found both these books to be entertaining, but I don't read a lot of westerns so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. I enjoyed Last Stand a bit more than Law at Randado, the latter had a feeling of being a little to reliant on familiar western storytelling tropes (Randado was Elmore Leonard's second book ever so I'd throw some bail his way in regards to the tropes thing).

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book containing 2 early western novels by Elmore Leonard. Both are quite good and already have the typical Elmore Leonard characters and dialog. Classic western tales with slightly more psychological insights into the characters. Both are 4 star novels.

[S.T. Harker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best, but two good stories of myth making in the west.

[Tom Stadler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early work by Elmore Leonard, not writing at the top of his power yet though the themes and character types are already being created.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just Last Stand at Saber River. Solid western.