The trail to riches is lined with danger in this Ralph Compton western... The ranchers of Frio Springs are praying that Sam Ketchum will succeed in driving their cattle to the richer markets of Nebraska. Sure, there’s no one more reliable. But ghosts still haunt Sam from his last drive—and the road north has only become tougher. Comanches and cattle thieves lie hidden in the brush, poised to ambush, and notorious gunslingers lurk in every town along the way. And to make matters worse, the Wagner brothers have picked a fight back home, sparking a deadly family feud that Sam may have to settle before the trail finally ends…More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!
Ralph Compton (April 11, 1934—September 16, 1998) was an American writer of western fiction.
A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton began his writing career with a notable work, The Goodnight Trail, which was chosen as a finalist for the Western Writers of America "Medicine Pipe Bearer Award" bestowed upon the "Best Debut Novel". He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. In the last decade of his life, he authored more than two dozen novels, some of which made it onto the USA Today bestseller list for fiction.
Ralph Compton died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 64. Since his passing, Signet Books has continued the author's legacy, releasing new novels, written by authors such as Joseph A. West and David Robbins, under Compton's byline.
Sam Ketchem. Another rancher afraid to take cattle on another drive. But the neighbors and friends work on him and get him talked into it. There is the Ketchem Wagner feud. First over a castrated bull and then killing off each other’s family members. Ketchem hires a young widow and her four kids into his house, her being a housekeeper and cook, but he does move into the barn with his hired hand, and they make a bunkhouse. Also have to make a place for the milking cow, chicken shed, place for pigs and it goes on. There are a few laughs in the story, some interesting things, but by far not a fast paced story.
This is a basic western that I didn’t enjoy. I have found the trail drive books that aren’t written by Compton aren’t very good. There is usually some action/problem that is quickly resolved, minimal trail drive action, the characters aren’t really fleshed out. I read a few after Compton’s ended but didn’t really like any of them (I was checking out how the different authors did) but enough