Murder for Greenhorns
In 1870,Wyoming lawman Sam Taggart is killed by a long-range rifle while his two traveling companions look on. Texas cowboy Monday Malone and Kate Shaw, the new schoolteacher for the isolated town of Warbonnet, are outraged by the murder. Because the lawman is unknown to the town, Monday and Kate decide to find the killer, so Monday impersonates the marshal. He agrees to give it a week or two to find the killer before moving on. Monday and Kate fall in love shortly after arriving in Warbonnet, but have to hide their affair because the real Taggart is married and has a wife living in Kansas.
Robert Kresge’s first historical mystery is also a fine Western novel with two protagonists who keep the story moving along. The characters and dialog tell the story better than the descriptive settings often found in many Westerns. The identity of the unknown assassin was predictable after the character was introduced into the story, but that didn’t keep me from continuing to enjoy reading it. If you enjoy reading Westerns, I highly recommend this book and look forward to another from this author.
