Hang-Rope at Harmony

as by Ray Nolan

A Black Horse Western from Hale, 1994

Trouble had never been a stranger to Rafferty, but at Harmony a new kind of hell waited for him. From the moment he asked, ‘Was the right neck put in the noose?’ he was up against it. Boone Areington was a power in the county, a man of ruthless ambition. If his only son had a private motive for leading a lynch mob, so be it. He protected his own. But he’d not reckoned with the likes of Lew Rafferty, who stood back for no man – especially when robbed of the most cherished part of his past. Then there was Jenny – beautiful, and with reason to be bitter and suspicious.

Ray Nolan sure doesn’t believe in giving his hero easy passage through this story of murder and deceit. Nearly every character seems to have their own agenda, wants to use the hanging of what seems to have been an innocent man to their own advantage and greed.

At times Nolan allows the reader to begin to think they’ve worked out just who killed whom and why, but then he introduces another character or twist to completely throw the reader off track.

Even when Rafferty thinks he’s worked it out Nolan points out that there is no proof to Rafferty’s theory and the struggle continues in this swift-action filled tale.

If Ray Nolan’s other books are as good as this one then I’ll definitely be hunting them out.