Review: Fun reading, if not altogether believable
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 3, 2012
William MacLeod Raine's specialty was the western, and TANGLED TRAILS is subtitled "A Western Detective Story." However, the novel is about as much a western as anything Agatha Christie ever wrote. The only thing westerly about it is location: Wyoming and Colorado. Otherwise, it's a modern (1921) mystery in which cattleman and rodeo star Kirby Lane sets out to help his friend Rose McLean who, in turn, is trying to help her sister Esther, who has gotten involved with a man who has impregnated her out of wedlock, a no-no in that era. The man is her employer, James Cunningham, who happens to be Kirby Lane's uncle.When Cunningham is murdered, Lane sets out to find his killer because he, Lane, is one of the numerous suspects.The book is a pleasant diversion and a throwback to an era when pulp fiction, which this is reminiscent of, was very popular. Don't worry about some of its implausibilities; just trot along for the ride. Oh, wait! It's not a cowboy tale of the "wild west." Lane mostly travels by car or train. It's more like a B-movie detective story. So cruise along for the ride.