A Bullet for Mr. Texas

This western is one of at least 24 that Ray Hogan wrote having Shawn Starbuck as protagonist, of that I am quite sure for I have 24 of them on my western shelves. And I suspect that a couple more may be in the series, as well. When a reader chooses a Ray Hogan book two facts immediately appear: one the book will be very well written. And two, the story will be very interesting. From the little I know, Mr. Hogan took a few courses in writing and was off to writing, but those courses could never have afforded him the natural ability he had to tell interesting and entertaining stories. Again, I have in excess of 65 westerns by Ray Hogan on my shelves, and have never read one without appeal. In this short western novel Shawn comes to the town Brasada, later becoming involved with the troubles of the Pierce Hagerman "Hash Knife" ranch. As normal, Shawn is following a cold trail left by his brother, with Shawn always a couple steps behind. Not until book #24 does he in fact find his brother Ben. Other problems besides Ben trouble the Hagerman ranch, with the most serious being that someone has hired an unknown gunman to kill Pierce Hagerman, at times called 'Mr Texas'. Hence the title, A Bullet For Mr. Texas, and it is a very prophetic title indeed. And by the ending of this novel, we never do ascertain the identity of the killer, who is himself narrowly killed by Shawn. The many twists and turns of this western will keep most reader's attention, causing most readers wishing to finish the book in a single night. If you are an inveterate reader of westerns, such as myself, then you need to discover Ray Hogan westerns, or pull some of them out and start rereading ones you've read before. Either way you will have a very fine reading experience. Happy Saint Pat's day, as well. Semper Fi.