Once A Renegade

by Peter Brandvold

Berkley, June 2002

Why half-breed Shambeau killed a couple of men and scalped another wasn’t important to some. Now Sheriff Ben Stillman has a murder case on his hands and as the law prescribes, he must hunt down and hang the renegade. But nobody knows the land better than Shambeau and bringing him in isn’t going to be easy. And with the Sheriff away from town tracking Shambeau, another group of outlaws sees it as the ideal opportunity to rob the bank.

This is the fifth book to feature Sheriff Stillman and Peter Brandvold gives the reader a twist to the posse hunting outlaw plot, by having the hero being part of the posse being killed off brutally one by one by the outlaw, and at anytime Stillman could become one of the victims. This adds some terrific suspense to the hunt.

Also Stillman, knowing he must do as the law says, sympathizes somewhat with the man he is tracking, as both he and Shambeau are relics from a west where revenge was accepted - and that was why Shambeau had killed wasn’t it?

Having Stillman away from town, Peter Brandvold inserts a great subplot with the bank robbery that allows him to bring the townspeople into the story, characters already familiar to readers of this series. But can they succeed in stopping the vicious band of outlaws from getting away with robbery?

This book once more proves that Peter Brandvold can tell a gripping story and I would urge all fans of westerns to check him out if you haven’t already done so.