June on the Range Week 3 Update

Have you heard of "the Dakota Kid?" No??? Well, since we didn't even learn of his existence until chapter 25 (of 27), I'm not at all surprised!

My third western novel for this year's June on the Range reading event was West of the Law by prolific author, Al Cody (Archie Joscelyn). Originally published in 1947, I read the Pocket Book edition from 1949. 

The hero of our story is one Tom Chisolm, a smart as a whip gunslinging lawyer who finds himself in the middle of a wild scandal in a town under the control of Symes Gallister and his loyal band, a few of whom are unwilling partners due to threats of extortion.

Chisolm soon meets Gallister's "wife," Molly who insists that she is married against her will and is seeking an annulment. We later learn that she was drugged and wed while out of her mind. We also eventually learn that Gallister married Molly in order to wrest control of her ranch and sell the property to the railroad for an extraordinary amount of cash!

A brutal and fatal encounter with one of Gallister's thugs results in Chisolm being arrested and sentenced to hang for murder, but he manages to escape from his cell via a rather ridiculous twist of fate whereby he discovers a pistol in a rat's nest under his cot. Seriously.

Eventually, Chisolm partners with Molly to do whatever he can to ensure she escapes from her marriage and gains control of her ranch once again, and this takes place over several days, involves driving a herd of cattle to a purchaser, and eventually gunning down Gallister in a pretty wild, close-range battle.

There's a lot of cool stuff in this book (having the protagonist be a lawyer is pretty unique), but the prison cell shenanigans, the arrival of a terrible storm that coincides with a significant part of Chisolm's plan, and the introduction of a nearby ranch manned by a band of eager allies, makes for some fairly unrealistic stuff as well as a few crazy examples of deus ex machina.

Of the two Cody books I've read, I much preferred Bitter Creek, but West of the Law was certainly entertaining despite my issues. I give it two slightly tarnished sheriff badges out of five. ★★

Up next, and for my final book for June on the Range, it's Showdown at Sunset by Harry Sinclair Drago. A slim volume, but a nice way to ease out of this month's reading event.