This trio of short novels presents award-winning author Lewis B. Patten at his exciting best. In the title story, Lew Harvey was forced to leave home because of a shooting incident. Now a letter from his former girlfriend has summoned him back. His parents are about to be driven off their spread and they need his help, but his father hasn't forgiven Lew...and more gun trouble may be on the way. In "Summer Kill" a man seemingly without enemies is murdered on a nighttime trail ride, and it falls to his two sons to track down the killer. And "Rustler's Run" tells the story of young Burt Norden, who has been doing a man's job running the N Bar Ranch since his father's death. But now he may really have to prove himself. Rustlers have swept into the area and there's a confrontation brewing with a local hardcore. Patten creates Western adventure so real you can almost feel the trail dust, and he was never better than in these classic tales of action and emotion.
Lewis Byford Patten was a prolific author of American Western Novels, born in Denver, Colorado. Often published under the names Lewis Ford, Len Leighto and, Joseph Wayne.
Three solid stories from the pulps of the 50s. Has some details of Patten's life in short blurbs before each story which I enjoyed almost as much as the stories themselves. Patten is good at getting you interested in the characters themselves as much as the story. Here we having a returning son who is summoned back by on old flame when a range war erupts because he alone can help her and his parents. Another has a rancher who sees that his bookkeeper was stealing from him, after confronting him he takes a ride only to be shot. Leaving two sons, who have been somewhat estranged, the ranch and the burden of finding out who killed the old man. The last story has another father who is killed, this time because of rustling going on. The ranch duties fall to his son who is just 18. He seems to have problems with a large family in the area, especially one of the sons, a rivalry that seems hard to explain til the conclusion.
Highly recommended for fans of the western genre. These tales are pure westerns that would all be good outlines for a 50s black and white western film.
(1) Summer Kill: A ranch owner is murdered. His accountant embezzled money. His friend, the banker has quietly purchased his mortgage. When he discovers the trickery he is shot, but his son then gets involved. (2) Ride the Red Trail: a young man becomes a gunman defending a woman. His family tells him to leave. Years later he received a letter that his parents are in trouble and need help. The opposing side starts a range war. (3) Rustler's Run: A Ranch owner is murdered and his son begins to run the ranch. The ranchers in the valley begin to lose cattle. The son finds the way the hustlers are getting the carried out to sell. These three short stories are excellent reads for the genre.....DEHS
Three short novels first published in TRIPLE WESTERN (1953), WESTERN ACE HIGH (1954) and THRILLING RANCH STORIES (1953) all featuring guns, horses, adventure and maybe a romance or two. Fun western pulp stories.