Devil's Rim

When Concho Smith enters Devil's Rim, he assists Judith Van in hanging a tall pole gate and in return she offers him a position at their rapidly declining ranch, and he helps save the Van family from their ruthless and cruel neighbor, Bob Shiner

Once again mixing action and everyday turn-of-the-century cowboy life, Brown (The Long Drift) adds to his reputation as a competent, traditional yarn-spinner in this tale of a good-hearted drifter in love with the boss's wife. Traveling through eastern New Mexico, Concho Smith encounters Judyth Van, mail-order bride of Sid Van, an alcoholic rancher crippled in a riding accident only a few weeks after his marriage. A pretty ex-schoolmarm with frontier grit, Judyth instantly arrests Concho's attention and affection when she hires him to pull the ranch into shape?though neither one knows that it will be up to Concho to save the ranch from the gang of nefarious cattle baron Little Bob Shiner. The plot is saved from banality by twists that reveal Concho's flaws and self-doubts. (How many tough guys throw a punch at a drunken cripple? How many get punched back?) Lively and believable dialogue and a comic sidekick offset a somewhat puritanical (and not entirely credible) treatment of the love triangle in this workmanlike tale. (Mar.) FYI: Devil's Rim is the final volume in the longtime Walker Western series.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

On his way to Mexico, Concho Smith hires on to mend fences for a woman, Judith Van, who's running a ranch on her own while her crippled husband, Sid, takes solace in whiskey. A cloud hovers over the Van spread in the form of Bob Shiner, who's eager to buy the Vans' land and add it to his own mega-ranch. He's not pleased when, with Concho's help, the Vans' spread begins to turn around. After the Van home is reduced to ashes, and Sid dies in the blaze, Shiner points the sheriff at Concho. After all, everyone knows Concho and Judith have eyes for each other. Former cowboy Brown once again has all the details right. Readers could utilize his books as instructionals on cowboy skills if they were so inclined, but what distinguishes his work is his exploration of the human heart. Brown knows people as well as he knows the routines of ranch work, and he tells us about them with skill and compassion. Wes Lukowsky