Brush Country
Two Texas Novels
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3.7 • 10 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Step into the untamed brush country of southwest Texas in this riveting omnibus from the greatest Western writer of our time.
In Barbed Wire, the first novel in this collection, former cowboy Doug Monahan runs a fencing crew outside the town of Twin Wells. Monahan and his workers dig post-holes and string red painted barb wire for ranchers as protection against wandering stock, rustlers, and land hungry cattle barons. But their fencing operation is opposed by Captain Andrew Rinehart, a former Confederate officer and old-school open range cowman of the huge R Cross spread. With his brutal foreman, Archer Spann, Rinehart wages a violent barb wire war against Monahan.
The second gripping tale, Llano River, follows Dundee, a onetime cowboy from Monahan's crew. Dundee wanders into Titusville, broke and itching for a fight. Town patriarch John Titus hires him to find out who is rustling his cattle, with Blue Roan Hardesty as the prime suspect. Once Titus's friend, now a sworn enemy, Hardesty is the perfect scapegoat—but Dundee is determined to uncover the truth, even at the cost of his job.
With vivid characters and authentic historical detail, Elmer Kelton brings to life the beauty, danger, and spirit of the Texas brush country like no other Western author. This omnibus showcases his unparalleled skill in capturing the essence of the American West.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kelton has been writing westerns for nearly 50 years; the keystones of his suspenseful, carefully drawn style can be found in these two early, previously published full-length novels. In Llano River (1966), cattle tycoon John Titus hires Dundee, a drifting cowboy with a quick temper, to find out who is stealing Titus's cattle. When Dundee rides into an outlaw town filled with rustlers, killers and other undesirables, what he finds leads to murder, revenge and vigilante justice on a large scale. In the aptly titled Barbed Wire (1957), hapless cowboy Doug Monahan makes a living putting up fences in south Texas but he also makes a lot of enemies among the big cattle ranchers who don't favor fences. When one of Doug's friends is shot down in cold blood and Doug is burned out of business, he vows revenge. Unintended loss and suffering among some nice folks result, but the baddies misjudge the good guys' resolve. Both novels offer frontier excitement, suspense, a bit of mystery and romance, and plenty of flying fists and fast-shooting six-gun action. Kelton's first books are as good as his most recent work.
