Silver Trail: A Western Story

(Paperback)

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At twenty-two, John Signal is old enough to have been in a shooting scrape. It was a fair fight, but the man he killed was well-connected. Fleeing Signal arrives in the mining town of Monument, calling himself John Alias.Almost immediately his horse is stolen. He learns the name of the thief, Sam Langley, and even where he is. Sheriff Peter Ogden, rather than pursuing the thief, Alias he will make him a deputy if he succeeds in retrieving his horse. Alias manages to get his horse back, but not without violence. Sheriff Ogden makes good on his promise while explaining the local power structure. The Bone faction is behind most of the crimes in the district. On the other side is Town Marshal Fitzgerald Eagan, his brothers, and consumptive gambler and gunman Major Paul Harkness. Of the two, Sheriff Ogden is partial to the Bones faction and advises Alias to follow suit.

But Alias is impressed with Eagan, especially when the marshal sides with Alias in a gunfight with two assassins from the Bones faction. Aliass escape from the trap makes the Bones faction more determined than ever to do him in and the Eaganswho turn out to be just as crooked and bloodthirsty as the Bones factionmore anxious than ever to have him join them.

Reviews

Brandpractices his art to something like perfection. --The New York Times
MaxBrand is the Shakespeare of the Western range. --Kirkus Reviews
Brand practices his art to something like perfection. --The New York Times
Max Brand is the Shakespeare of the Western range. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Max Brand is the best-known pen name of Frederick Faust, creator of such beloved characters as Destry and Dr. Kildare. Eighty motion pictures and many radio and television programs have been based on his work. Faust went to Italy as a war correspondent during World War II after the United States entered the conflict, and was killed during a night attack on a hilltop village held by the German army. His literary output was so prolific during his life that he averaged three new books per year for seventy-five years, including many years after his death. Brand lived in Hollywood, California.