The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 2: Frontier Stories
L'Amour published 90 novels, 27 short story collections, a memoir, 2 nonfiction books, and even a volume of poetry. He is the only novelist to win both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. This is the second volume of his western stories to be released posthumously. The 30 tales collected here reflect the qualities on which L'Amour's timeless popularity is based: memorable protagonists, excellent plots, moral clarity, and plenty of action. About half of these tales feature Chick Bowdrie, a tough-as-nails Texas Ranger with a Holmesian ability to analyze a crime scene. Bowdrie solves a 20-year-old kidnapping, ends a nascent range war, and brings to justice the killers of 14 outlaws slaughtered in an ambush, among other heroics. Beyond the Bowdrie offerings, the standout tale in the collection may be "Law of the Desert Born," in which Shad Marone, on the run for a crime he didn't commit, draws his pursuers into a trap in which only one man will survive. Great reading from a genre master.Wes LukowskyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved