The Hangman

ABILENE #6 of 16

By Justin Ladd

Pocket Books, February 1989

Cover art by Gordon Crabb

Ruth Carson is set to swing from a scaffold – unless Marshal Luke Travis proves that she didn’t kill Cheyenne’s mayor. Leaving Deputy Cody Fisher in Abilene, Travis high-tails it out to the Wyoming Territory to rescue his sister-in-law. On the way he saves the life of a fellow traveller: none other than P.K. Nelson, a hangman enroute to Cheyenne do the job.

Cheyenne’s sheriff wants Travis out of town. The territory’s leading citizen is gunning for blood. Everyone has something to hide – everyone but Travis and Nelson, two adversaries who hold Ruth’s fate in their hands. Now they must discover the truth – before frontier justice prevails!

The town of Abilene takes a backseat as most of this story takes place in Cheyenne or Laramie and their surrounding areas. This means the majority of people who have taken centre stage in the previous books don’t have a part to play in this fast-moving tale that takes place over a few days. The date is set for Ruth’s hanging even before Travis races to save her and time to prove her innocence starts to run out fast.

Even though Travis and Ruth don’t get along the lawman can’t bare to see her hang, especially as he believes she’s innocent. Hangman P.K. Nelson is a superb character, a man who always carries out his duty, but this time is troubled by the fact that he’ll have to hang a woman – guilty of not. 

As many western readers will probably already know, Justin Ladd is a pseudonym, and for all but the first book of the series, which was written by Paul Block, the rest are by James Reasoner, an author who knows how to pace a story, build tension, create memorable characters and write lively action scenes. His stories usually contain a twist or two making if difficult to predict the outcome of his books. This excellent entry in the Abilene series has all that, ensuring that readers will find this book difficult to put down until the last page is reached, and like me eager to pick up the next book in the series as soon as possible.