The Iron Marshal: A Novel

Tom Shanaghy is another of Louis L'Amour's Irish spalpeens who arrives in the west dirty and broke and looking for work. And with the only job being open being the marshal's he takes it. Good with fists, and strong as an ox, he believes he can handle who ever and what ever shows up in town, but he didn't figure on vengeful trail drivers or an outfit of gold thieves to contend with. This is a good enough book to read with plenty of action--especially fist fights--L'Amour's specialty as he was a pro boxer himself at one point in his varied life. If you like him as a writer at all, then you will like this book.

This story by Louis L'Amour was the very first of his novels that I ever read. Novels with a western theme were not my thing when I was growning up, so imagine my surprise when I just sort of drifted into this book one rainy afternoon. I guess I was attracted to it by the fact that it opens in New York City, not the deserts of New Mexico. Anyway, I soon found that L'Amour has a writing style just as smooth as silk, and I found myself sliding into this book as easily as if he took me by the hand and led me to an alter. Since then I have read several more of L'Amour's books and have enjoyed all of them. I will review them here over the next few weeks, time permitting. This book tells the story of how a young man from New York City ends up in a small Kansas town and picks up the job of being the Sheriff one day before all hell is scheduled to break loose. Others have outlined the text already, so I won't bore you with yet another outline. I'll just say that if you have not read any of Louis L'Amour in the past, this would be a really great place to start, or even to get reacquainted. While you do that, I'm gonna find another L'Amour book to read.:)

Although most of his stories take place in the Old West, they could take place anywhere, as they are primarily about people and how they relate (or don't) to each other. The settings are authentic, though, and L'Amour is one of the very best storytellers we have had. In the Westerns genre, he is the best, in my opinion, even better than Zane Grey and Max Brand.

This book shows the true versitility of Louis L'Amour. The setting changes from the rough and tumble strees of New York to the rough fronteer of the American west.

Tom Shanaghy was a rough neck from the streets of New York. He knew how to handle himself there very well! Then he had to escape quickly by jumping on a train westward. There was no intention to stay out west long, but he found himself wrapped up in a mysterious situation. He was a man on the edge of being a criminal. Then he became the marshall that a town loved, then hated, then loved again. He still never intended to stay, but he had to stop a theft that would destroy the town. One more thing tempted him to stay long term... the girl. This one was well written and worth your time. It is a little far fetched, but what else do you expect? You'll enjoy it.

This book brings out the marshal in all of us. The love of the land and the wild frontier is in it's glory. When Tom jumps that train to get away from a street fight he ends up in a constant fight of life. This fight seemes to make him a better man. This was the first book buy L'Amour I ever read and I have not put one down sense. (8yrs.) Any one that wishes they were born a hundred years earlier like me will love this book. Mr. L'Amour wil be sorley missed, he was a great author and an even greater gentleman.