WESTERN NOVELS—SIEGE AT HIGH MEADOW

WESTERN NOVELS

SIEGE AT HIGH MEADOW

LOUIS TRIMBLE (1962)

ACE BOOKS

Louis Trimble was an accomplished writer in three separate genres. Perhaps best known as a science-fiction author (The City Machine, The Wandering Variables) he also wrote hard boiled crime (Stab in the Dark, Bring Back Her Body) and thrilling traditional westerns. Siege at High Meadow begins with lawman Hart Cordell laying in wait for Mont Lansford, one third of an Army gold heist. Cordell has already captured one of the other two men, Lebow, and uses him as bait to snare Lansford. But when he does catch the head man, it seems too easy, and it’s a long transport back to jail. Could Lansford be setting a trap of his own?

 

There are some good twists and turns in this one, and I especially like how Lansford’s character is drawn. So often we have either a Confederate or a Union man, but in this case we’ve got a villain who sided with both armies during the war—whoever was most profitable to him at the time. This sets up a rich backstory to the character that makes him more interesting than the run of the mill—Recommended!