The latest Western from Dusty Richards puts the reader in the West like no one has since Zane Grey, yet the story moves with the action of the likes of Elmer Kelton and Louis L’Amour.
It’s a pleasure to see the time portrayed with no modern political correctness. Richards writes westerns so you can believe you’re there. The challenges he places in the road of this worn weary couple kept me guessing.
Richards knows the West, its people, the land, and the time like no one writing westerns today. His line referring to the Apache chief is one of my favorites. He writes, “His eyes were diamond-cut black coals that missed nothing.”
Our hero Vincent lives in Arizona in a tent next to a corral where he pens the mustangs he catches to tame and sell. It’s a sparse life, but he has his eye on a ranch up in the mountains. His life is freedom, peace, and quiet. He has little time to be bothered by this lady who rides in scantily clad on a half-dead horse. She’s running from killers and at first rejects his solution to protect her. It’s rather grisly to dig your own grave and hard to choose a new identity. Reluctantly, she allows him to cut her hair and becomes May. Soon, an attraction grows between the two. They work together to catch and tame the wild horses, till the Apaches steal May while Vincent is away.
If you’ve never read a western, this is a terrific one to begin with and if you’re already a fan, you’ll enjoy this breathtaking story fraught with excitement, danger and a trip through some of the most beautiful wilderness in the West, written by someone who’s been there.
Velda Brotherton 