GUN LAW

By Ralph Cotton

Signet, April 2011

On the trail of four wanted men, Sherman Dahl, the hired gun known as the Teacher, finds his prey in the town of Kindred, New Mexico Territory. He kills all four in a saloon gunfight that leaves him wounded and in the care of soiled dove Sara Cayes.

Marshal Emerson Kern was hired to keep the peace in Kindred, and he doesn’t want Dahl’s kind in his town. His “gun law” forbids folks from carrying firearms, but Kern’s edict is far from altruistic. No one can stop Kern and his “deputies” – the only armed men in town – from extorting every cent the townsfolk earn. No one except Sherman Dahl…

This is the third book to feature Sherman Dahl, but in this tale, he doesn’t have a very large role to play, in fact he doesn’t appear that much at all. The story mainly follows Marshal Kern as he recruits more gunmen as his deputies and their attempts to enforce the gun law needed so they can begin to extort the townsfolk. Sounds like a simple plan, but the author has a few surprises in store as the various groups of “deputies” plot against each other. Then there are some townsfolk who begin to suspect the ulterior motives behind the gun law and refuse to hand over their weapons.

Murder, gunplay, threats and trying to convince the “lawmen” that someone is dead, all add twists and turns to this fast-moving tale. Dahl doesn’t want to get involved, wants to ride away since he’s completed his mission to take down the four wanted men. Soon though, he wants nothing more than to deal out his form of justice to three of Kern’s men when he discovers what they’ve done to a newly married couple and because of this he finds himself caught up in the town’s troubles.

Ralph Cotton has written another excellent book, a story that takes a hold of the reader from the opening scenes and demands you keep reading to find out how everything is resolved.

After the final gunsmoke has cleared I got the feeling this will be the last time Sherman Dahl will ride as his life as a fighting man seems to come to an end. Shame, as I found him to be an interesting and compelling character and his use of a bulletproof vest made him a little bit different to the majority of western heroes.