The second novel in the Colter Farrow series picks up with Colter attempting to make a new life as a ranch hand in the Cheyenne Mountains of Wyoming. He’s on the run from bounty hunters but hopes the word has not reached this far north. Difficult to do considering his face is prominently branded from a horrendous feud with a corrupt sheriff in his past. Now he works for Cimarron Padilla. It's hard but honest work, and it also has its perks, including Cimarron’s beautiful adopted Hunkpapa daughter, Pearl. Of course, life can’t stay that ideal for long and indeed, a band of ornery killers who have previously robbed a cache of Army gold, invade Colter’s new idyllic life followed but a whole lot of double-fisted pot boiler action.
Frank Leslie is a pseudonym of the always reliable Peter Brandvold. He's probably best known for his other western series characters such as Yakima Henry, Lou Prophet, Sheriff Ben Stillman, and others but I'm here to tell you not to skip over this Colter Farrow series. I’ve read a lot of westerns over the years, including Louis L'Amour-style traditional westerns, adult westerns like Longarm, and Slocum, and those from the Piccadilly Cowboys like Edge, Crow, and Gringos. This series is almost a combination of all of them, filled with some traditional themes but told in a modern syle, and a bit rougher around the edges. It’s definitely violent and has some titillating sexual innuendo, though not blatant. And as with most Brandvold westerns, you have no guarantee of a happily ever-after ending. The prose is excellent with some descriptive passages almost poetic in nature. It was exactly the type of western I was looking for when I picked it up: a great story filled with edge-of-your-seat suspense, action, intrigue, and even some wry humor.
I enjoyed the main character of Colter a lot but I have to say the other main character, Spurr Logan, really stole the show in this volume. He’s an old deputy federal marshal out of Denver, one that should probably have retired several years ago. His “ticker” is on borrowed time, but his libido and cantankerous attitude are both full speed ahead.
While this is the second book in the series, I found that reading it as a stand-alone is perfectly fine. Previous events are referred to a little bit but not much. It does however create a great need on my part to read the remaining books in the series!