Anyway! Time to discuss this book! Like Foley's earlier collection, The Ranch Next Door and Other Stories, this is a mix of several short stories and a novella. My favorite was the novella, "Wanderlust Creek," and I also liked "Single-Handed" and "The Rush at Mattie Arnold's" especially well.
"Wanderlust Creek" is about a newlywed couple trying to make a go of ranching on a small spread that butts up against a very big ranch. There are disputes over water, an attempted lynching, and all sorts of exciting goings-on.
"Single-Handed" follows a famous gunman who has returned to a town he knows well, harboring a secret he's afraid will make his acquaintances turn their backs on him. It has a splendid ending.
"The Rush at Mattie Arnold's" takes place in a little restaurant, where a couple young cowhands get accused of armed robbery, and it's up to the proprietor and her waitresses to figure out if they're innocent or not. I liked the somewhat unusual setting in particular -- not a lot of western stories set in an eatery.
Once again, Elizabeth Grace Foley has created some clean, enjoyable, highly readable western fun. I just hope she includes "Corral Nocturne" in her next collection, because that's my favorite story of hers so far!
If This Was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for mild western violence.
This actually looks really good! I tend not to love westerns, but this looks like a fun, not too gory book.
ReplyDeleteNo gore. This is like a 60's TV show level of violence. And there's really no gunfire in several of the stories! Same goes for her previous western collection.
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