Gunfighter, The quest for Peace Dusty Saddle Publishing, an e-book copyright and written by John D. Fie, Jr.
This volume consists of 3 individual stories by the same author and assumed to be part of the Western Adventure Series. The lead story is that of the book’s title and follows this adventure of the protagonist of The Morgan Deerfield Western Saga. It portrays the attempt of Morgan to quit the life of a gunfighter and become a rancher with a life more in accord with that of a rancher of the era.
The second tale is “The Town Tamer Harmon Bidwell. The United States Marshal Western Series Book 4. It chronicles the problems of Cattlemen’s Crossing, a central point for buying and shipping cattle. It follows the activities of the protagonist, a judge and other lawmen as they must find, apprehend and or kill the man behind crocked cattle sales and his murderous henchmen.
The 3rd consists of introductory material from another of Fie’s books. The title is “Cattle Queen of The Pecos”. The story begins as two wandering cowhands suddenly become aware of Indian activity and aid a young girl to escape from Indian raiders who have killed her parents and brothers. Apparently, they were on the way to Texas where her father was to help his aging father to handle his large ranch. The tale stops as they are about to continue on the journey to get the little girl to her family.
Discussion: The author provides slightly different approaches to the old and well-worn western plots. They are well-written, nicely paced and have interesting characters who perform well.
4* Well-written, interestingly characterized, slightly ‘different’ westerns