Paperback cover of Ray Gaulden's High Country Showdown
➽Ray Gaulden's High Country Showdown
There's no publication date on this western novel by Ray Gaulden. It's printed by Starbooks out of Sydney, Australia.
A bit of an oddball western in that it's not about a range war, cattle rustling, gunman, cattle drive, mining town, cattle town, frontier fort, stagecoach run, wrongly accused cowboy or saving the ranch, but there is lots of gunplay and some fist fighting.
The story is about a fella named Grady Galloway, who has gone looking for his missing father who went to Denver to get a bank loan to save the local ranchers. His father is being held captive in a high stakes poker game where he has won a large sum of money and the losers want a chance to win their money back. Hence, the captivity.
The son finds him there, helps him escape and the rest of the story is the son's attempt to get the money back home to the local ranchers.
Grady, inscrutably, leaves his six shooter at home despite being worried that his father has encountered some trouble in Denver. First thing he has to do in Denver is buy a pistol. That, I could never figured out. If you're expecting trouble, why leave your pistol at home?
And then there's Libby Blue, a saloon singer desperate to escape a bad situation. Her path keeps crossing that of Galloway's and she ends up taking the same escape route. Thus, she and Galloway share the dangers of the pursuit. Yes; there's some romance, but it's a gruff sort of romance. Gruff as in, neither seems to be much impressed with the other, but in the end, it's 'Yeah, well, what say we get married?'.
I love comparing the front and back cover descriptions the ad copy folks come up with for these paperbacks to see if it lives up to the story or not. The front cover of this one says "A bounty on his head." Technically, not true; there is no bounty as he hasn't broken any law. Galloway is just in trouble because he had to use gunplay to free his father from the poker game. But there is a gang out to get him and a gunman that has been paid to kill him.
The back cover is accurate though. And the inside cover description of Libby Blue is fairly accurate; although it turns out she's a better person than the initial impression Grady receives.
Not really impressed with the story, but it's not bad writing.
Still haven't figured out why he left his six shooter at the ranch.
Backcover of Ray Gaulden's High Country Showdown
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| Inside front of Ray Gaulden's High Country Showdown |
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Starbook Publication brand from Sydney, Australia - no date.
Cigarettes lit up: 11
Cigars lit up: 1
Pipes lit up: 3
Fistfights: 2
Pistol-whippings: 1
Gunplay: 8
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