High Lonesome

Lassiter rode into a mess for $250. He was to kill a man that had killed his employer's brother.When he rode into the town of McDade, he found himself in the middle of a civil war. Two old war officers, a Yankee who hated the Confederacy and a Rebel who loved the South were vying for control of the territory. Lassiter had been in town for four hours, been braced by the Sheriff, offered a job by the Rebel, and when he tried to ride out of town, had to kill the Sheriff and his deputy.Now he's the Sheriff and charged, for a piece of the action, with getting rid of the Yankee and his pet gunman, a black gunfighter, who had already killed the man Lassiter had come to town looking for.But, as usual, Lassiter has his own agenda. Peter J. McCurtin was born in Ireland on 15 October 1929, and immigrated to America when he was in his early twenties. Records also confirm that, in 1958, McCurtin co-edited the short-lived (one issue) New York Review with William Atkins. By the early 1960s, he was co-owner of a bookstore in Ogunquit, Maine, and often spent his summers there. His westerns in particular are distinguished by unusual plots with neatly resolved conclusions, well-drawn secondary characters, regular bursts of action and tight, smooth writing. If you haven't already checked him out, you have quite a treat in store.McCurtin also wrote under the name of Jack Slade and Gene Curry. When Lassiter wants something he takes it. When people get in his way he kills them. It's a simple way of doing things, but Lassiter likes it. It works for him.