“Sunset Trail: A Western Duo,” by Wayne D. Overholser (Five Star Western, 206 pages, $25.95)
Wayne Overholser, three-time Spur Award winner and author of a long list of fine Westerns, was one of those writers who paid as much attention to the accuracy of his stories’ backgrounds as to the stories themselves. A schoolteacher and principal before he started writing full time, he was known for “walking” the territory and digging into the history behind an event before he ever sat down at his typewriter.
Originally published in 1947, “Sunset Trail,” the first of the two stories, opens in Independence, Mo. The year is 1846, and Bruce Shane, a frontiersman and federal agent, has just returned from Washington. His charge is to locate a shipment of rifles and ammunition intended either for the provincial government of New Mexico or for the Comanches.
With reason to suspect the shipment will be on a wagon train about to leave for Santa Fe, Shane wants a reliable guide and knows the right man for the job. But even before he can track him down, Shane is nearly killed in a saloon fight. Then he finds the man he is after dead on the floor of his shack with his teenage son pointing a gun at his heart.
He soon come to realize the boy is a girl – and that his mission is no longer a secret.
“Twelve Hours Till Noon,” the second and longer of the two stories, takes place in the small town of Amity, Colo., soon after the Panic of 1893. The town has raised the money to build a dam project and no less than the Populist governor, Benjamin Wyatt, who is running for re-election, has been invited to speak at its official opening.
But the sheriff is uneasy. Though the celebration appears to be going smoothly, he knows the dam has its enemies and he prepares for the worst.
He is particularly worried about the safety of the girl he plans to marry. As the daughter of the local banker responsible for inviting the governor, she and her family might become targets. And when three men manage to invade the banker’s house, the sheriff’s fears appear justified.
Supported by first-rate casts and unusual settings, the two stories are examples of Overholser at his best.
“Acres of Unrest,” by Max Brand (Five Star, 254 pages, $25.95)
Frederick Faust uses the pen name of Max Brand to retell the classic tale of two brothers who follow very different paths.
Ross and Andy Hale are ranchers. Each man intends to leave his life’s work to his son, but there the similarity ends. Ross sends his son to a fine Eastern college while Andy brings his son up on the ranch. On the day their sons come of age, Sheriff Will Nast will decide which is the most successful.
Ross is forced to sell many of his holdings to pay for his son’s education. With little cash to travel east, he keeps up with Peter’s progress, taking pride in the accounts of his athletic prowess.
Finally, the day arrives for Peter’s homecoming. Yet to everyone’s shock, the young man they have waited so long to see requires crutches to climb down onto the platform.
Though crippled by an accident on the football field, Peter has learned to use intelligence and guile. His uncle watches him, wary of his intentions.
Peter realizes that what he lacks most is money. Knowing of a rich mine in the hills, he robs one of its ore wagons, then forces the unscrupulous Mike Jarvin to hand over management and bullies Soapy, a huge and unwilling mulatto, to become his sidekick.
Before long, the men become a feared trio whenever they come to town. One night, tensions build during a high-stakes poker game and a fight breaks out. A lynch mob gathers and the story takes another twist as it heads toward a heart-stopping and unexpected ending.
Sybil Downing is a Boulder novelist who writes a monthly column on new regional fiction.
