Longarm and the Pleasant Valley War

Marshal Billy Vail sends Longarm to Claireville,West Texas,to find out what is going on and resolving a dispute between ranchers in what is becoming known as The Pleasant Valley War. Things have been heating up with cattle missing and people being killed;but who is to be blamed? Longarm,as expected ,meets up with some real interesting characters,some savory and others not so. The writing in this story gets a little drawn out,there is lots of description,some heavy fighting,Longarm is badly injured and almost dies.At times the descriptive writing gets good,as we see here; "Sure as hellfire in a pool of screamin' sinners,the good deputy is not bluffing.I have a feelin',dear Verna,he might be a man to ride the river with,even climb a mountain or two." In the end,Longarm finds himself alone and far outnumbered,when a very unusual thing happens.Not only is our hero saved by the unexpected,the culprits creating all the trouble,are even more unexpected.