RANCHERO

LONG RIDER

Book 21 of 27

RANCHERO

By Clay Dawson

Diamond Books, December 1992

Born to settler parents. Raised an Indian. He was Long Rider. A man caught between the blood and hate of his two peoples…He lived by his own code in a land where death came quick and vengeance could last a lifetime.

Long Rider’s always dreamed of seeing the Pacific. But his dream turns into a nightmare when he arrives in Los Angeles and discovers a shady deal by greedy speculators out for Spanish land. But the crooks have other ways of getting what they want – and one of those ways is murder…

The book’s opening scenes see Gabe Conrad (Long Rider) saving the owner of one of the last rancheros from a crooked deal that would see his land and home stolen from under him. This leads to a shootout that leaves four men dead and Conrad promising to kill the man behind the plot to steal the ranchero if he sees him again. Conrad wonders if it was a mistake leaving the man alive and that decision will haunt him later.

The author slows the pace down after the shootout and writes of Conrad pondering whether he can become a settled man although his calling is to drift from place to place. Offered a home on the ranchero he questions his lifestyle. There is quite a lot of reflection in this part of the book as memories of how he became to be known as Long Rider are told, as are details of his original vengeance quest that was the theme of the first book of the series. Whether this is the same author who wrote that I have no idea, but if it isn’t the author has certainly done his research on Long Rider’s past. It’s not just Conrad’s backstory that is explained, there is also plenty of historical content outlining Spanish settlement and their way of life, of honor, and how the Americans began to steal their land. So, through this lengthy portion of the book, there is little in the way of action, except for a few competitive games between those who live on the ranchero.

Conrad also falls in love. This is the main reason for him to give up the life of a drifter. Marriage to Mercedes, a home on the ranchero, and acceptance from those that live there is very, very tempting and Conrad believes he can live a happy life on the ranchero.

The land grabber seems to be forgotten. Seems he’s given up on stealing the ranchero. There’s hardly any mention of him. Yet the threat of him returning is always there. There’s not a lot of the book left by the time his presence is felt again and then the action ramps up a lot. Vicious violence described in graphic gory detail sees Long Rider determined to kill the man he should have sent to Hell when he first stood up to him. 

The book is well written and very readable. For me, though, there was a lack of action. It took too long to get to the final confrontation between Conrad and the land grabber, but when it came it was certainly well done and will satisfy those who like exciting, bloody action in their western reading. For fans of the series this is a must-read book to see whether Long Rider will rein in his wanderlust and settle down in marriage. 

MOUNTAIN KILLER

LONG RIDER

Number 20 of 27

By Clay Dawson

Diamond, September 1992

Long Rider cheated death when he was attacked by a savage grizzly. Now, nursed back to health by the beautiful Ella Porter, he’s on the trail of the beast who left him scarred – and left Ella’s husband dead.

But he’s about to sniff out a different kind of predator – a greedy rancher who’s grabbing up land left and right. And Caleb Burr’s sights are set on Ella’s place next – not to mention Ella herself. Only Long Rider stands in his way. And he’ll go for the throat if he has to….

The above blurb is taken from the book and it’s not completely true to the story. Long Rider killed the bear that attacked him, but there is another that is terrorizing the valley and it’s this one he sets out to eliminate. Strangely, this creature seems to only kill those that Burr wants out of his way. Nope, this isn’t another man dressed as an animal type tale, it is a bear that does the killing. Can it really be under Burr’s control and if so how? This is the story-thread that grips the reader and ensures they keep turning the pages.

I have no idea who wrote this book under the pseudonym of Clay Dawson but the author sticks well to the character of Gabe Conrad (Long Rider) that I remember – it has been a long time since I read one of these books though. Burr makes for a terrific adversary as does his gunman Mace. Burr’s current woman, Lulu, is a great character too.

As well as the bear story-line the tale also features double-cross and a murder plot to get rid of Burr, yet the man seems too mean, too astute to be taken out. Burr always seems to be one step ahead of the game and has an easy way to get rid of those he feels are a threat.

There’s plenty of action, some quite gruesome in its description and the plot moves forward swiftly. Even though everything ends more or less as expected this book proved to be a fun read, even though the method of controlling the killer bear stretched my belief a little.

Long Rider #19

CHISHOLM TRAIL

as by Clay Dawson

Diamond, June 1992

Born to settler parents. Raised an Indian. He was Long Rider. A man caught between the blood and hate of his two peoples … He lived by his own code in a land where death came quick and vengeance could last a lifetime.

Long Rider gets more than he bargained for when he hires on to a cattle drive – raging stampedes, treacherous quicksand, and worse. Then the trail boss, the despicable Cass Dillworth, decides to herd the stock onto Chickasaw land.

The unruly cowboys wreak havoc amongst the Chickasaw – until the Lighthorsemen, the Chickasaw police force, decide to fight back. Now Long Rider’s taking aim at the men who hired him – and dealing death to the dirtiest players.

Having Gabe Conrad, Long Rider, join up with Dillworth and his cowboys is really only the backbone of this story. It’s the glue that joins all the other elements of the tale together, for the book moves from one unrelated incident to another throughout. In fact Conrad leaves the cowboys to ride with the Lighthorsemen but their duties keep bringing them back to face Dillworth.

In fact it’s the confrontations with Dillworth, who has moved his herd onto Chickasaw land that provides some of the most entertaining twists and turns to the plot. Each time the Lighthorsemen think they can move Dillworth on by enforcing one law or another, the trail boss has a legal answer that allows him to stay. How this will all be resolved makes for some fascinating reading.

One of the other set pieces, that really hasn’t anything to do with the cattle problem, is something I haven’t read about that often in westerns, and that is sport. Here, it’s a game played between to rival teams of Indians called toli. With Gabe having to play for his friend’s side, as they are short of players. I guess it’ll come as no surprise as to who scores the winning point.

Overall this is not a bad entry into this series – which ran for twenty-seven books – but I think I’d have liked the main plot about Dillworth to have taken up more of the story.

Excellent cover art.

Long Rider #9

THE LAND BANDITS

as by Clay Dawson

Charter, March 1990

Long Rider rode into the town of Bancroft along with the beautiful Lucy McCoy. But once he arrived things turned ugly. He saw the Town Company’s office turn out two poor orphans it lured to Kansas with lies. He shooed off two gunhawks trying to force Barney Lamont out of his homestead.

That was bad enough. But when he found out Ezra Bancroft was tricking Chief Antelope out of Ottawa land with a bunch of promises – promises he sure wasn’t going to keep – Long Rider got just one idea in his head: revenge!

This book starts off well enough with Gabe Conrad, Long Rider, arriving in the new and growing town of Bancroft and he soon begins to get suspicious about certain events. Standing up for the homesteaders leads to the hired gunmen setting upon Gabe, his near hanging at their hands making for some exciting reading.

Unfortunately I found the rest of the book lacking. There’s not much action and Gabe seemed to concerned about doing everything by the law - which isn’t how I remember his character from other books I’ve read in the series.

Very little was made of Long Rider’s Indian upbringing and he seemed to have knowledge of things that I found it hard to believe he could have learnt about living with Indians for most of his life - such as knowing how to drive a train.

Overall this is a readable book but one that didn’t prove to be very satisfying.

Long Rider #18

 TEXAS MANHUNT

as by Clay Dawson

Diamond, March 1992

Long Rider is heading for a new job in El Paso when he meets up with three mean-looking men and a young woman. The lady would be a real beauty if she wasn’t battered up so bad…and Long Rider doesn’t buy the story that she was thrown from her horse.

Sure enough, the trio turns out to be trouble. They’re kidnappers and bank robbers, and it is Long Rider’s job to bring them to justice. He’s been deputized by Judge Roy Bean himself – but that doesn’t help much when he’s up against crooks, liars and cheats…and even the law itself!

Long Rider doesn’t appear in that much of the first part of this book, the author spends most of this time writing about the falling out amoung the bank robbers, and how two of them rob a bank, and their former partner then taking advantage of the fact that most of the lawmen are riding in the posse, leaving the town defenceless, he robs another bank. With the outlaws heading down different trails Long Rider has his work cut out to bring them to justice.

The outlaws are well-drawn characters, particularly the headstrong Ace. In fact I found them to be just as interesting characters as Long Rider. The author also includes a couple of strong female roles.

There’s plenty of action as the book races to its conclusion and no threads are left untied.

All in all this was a satisfying read.