WESTERN NOVELS
UTAH HELL GUNS
AKA:
RANGE TROUBLE
I love her, Keegan, and I intend to marry her—if and
when she says she’ll have me. Right now the worst thing I could do for my own
case would be to refuse to help you. Some women want only winners, but Laraine
isn’t that kind, and if you go under you’re going to have the advantage of
sympathy. I can’t afford to let you have any advantage, Keegan.
On the outs with his Union-loving family since leaving home to fight for the South, young Reno Keegan is on his way to Utah, answering his dad’s call for help, unsure what he’ll find. Old Liash Keegan, foreman at a tough-as-nails railroad construction camp, is bed ridden, shot through by an unknown assailant for unknown reasons.
Was
he attacked by a disgruntled worker? Or was it the competing road-grade outfit
run by Penrose Capps? Or does someone else hope to end the old man’s progress
on the west-moving grade? When young Reno narrowly misses his own date with a
bullet, the son sets out to find an answer and, hopefully, regain his father’s
trust at the same time.
A native of Colorado, Charles Stephen Frazee (1909—1992)
worked in mining and construction, served in the Navy, and taught high-school journalism
while doing his best to write honest
westerns for the pulps that reflected the men and environment around him.
He won first place for My Brother Down
There in the 8th Annual Best Ellery Queen story competition, and
eventually saw his tales printed in the slicks and carried to the movie and
television screens. Frazee also penned a variety of media tie-in titles for
young people including Lassie, Bonanza, and Walt Disney’s Zorro.
In
everything I’ve read by Steve Frazee, the father-son relationship is featured
one way or t’other. He also seems to have a lot of personal expertise at
construction work and the daily relationships between men toiling together
under a hot sun. I enjoyed the technical details of building and grading a rail
bed, none of which came across overly pedantic. There’s wasn’t an over-abundance
of action in the story, but enough mystery to keep me guessing until the end.
TO BUY A COPY OF UTAH
HELL GUNS CLICK HERE
CONTRIBUTOR: RICHARD PROSCH
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