Price of a Horse

The day I found out Ralph Cotton and I shared the same grandfather, the main character of this book, I went out and found Price of a Horse and dove in. I didn't know what to expect, since I'd never heard of Ralph's work and had grown up reading the wonderful novels of Louis L'Amour. No way could this new guy, let alone a long lost relative, prove to be a writer of merit. Boy was I wrong! Price of a Horse is one of the finest Westerns I have ever read, and the other two Cotton novels I have read are at least as good or better. He uses beautiful turns of phrase, slam- bang action, nice period detail and well-drawn characters. You don't find all this usually in one Western novel. Usually you have to pick and choose the merits of regular Western fare. Not with Ralph, though. He has many more stories to tell, hopefully all about our rapscallion grand- father, James H. Beatty. Read on--you are sure to enjoy.

Cotton's use of humor ranks right up with the old master of American literature and he uses it in a way that weaves itself into the dark drama of the story page by page. Like his other work he is telling us much more than the title and story line implies. He exposes such things as spouse abuse, women's rights, and the male mindset of the 1800s while at the same time depicting the tragic depths man will sink to in order to defend some warped belief in right and wrong. The price of a horse becomes the value we place on the one thing we think we must have in life and the exagerated lengths we will go to to have it. (Did Billy the Kid really smoke pot?) His wisedom and insight into human nature is enchanting and enviable

Ralf Cotton is the only writer with the energy to put Billy the Kid and Doc Holiday and Clay Allison together under the same roof and pull it off in way that doesn't read like a history book. First western I've enjoyed in years becaus it has action in it instead of sommebody trying to prove that they know what really went on in them days. Keep it up, pleas