Comanche Gap

A lawless town west of the Pecos. A motley collection of rough-and-wooly nail-eaters who treat law and order with careless disregard. A lone rider whose reputation as a gunfighter proceeds him wherever he goes. Once on the other side of things, he's now an upright citizen with an inclination to set things right when he encounters injustice.

Boiling like a coffee pot, Comanche Gap is an isolated, squalid little town squatting astride a mountain pass in West Texas. "The law don't go" in Comanche Gap. There aren't many decent folks in the town because decent folks are afraid to settle here. With his cattle disappearing at an alarming rate, Fort Stockton rancher Colonel Alfred Ward sends Ian Murphy to Comanche Gap to stop it. When Murphy rides into town, he notices that the dilapidated buildings slump and lean as though anxious to uproot and sneak away. To stop the cattle thieving, Murphy will have to clean out the nest of cattle rustlers inhabiting the town along with a motley collection of other bandits and cutthroat idlers. When Murphy serves notice on an unscrupulous local rancher in cahoots with the rustlers that he intends to cut his herd in search of cattle wearing Ward's brand, the tension escalates quickly. Murphy knows that shoot-outs and duels are bound to happen, and that danger is imminent. He expects gun smoke will soon fill the air in this small, sinister, and secretive town. Everything may blow sky-high in one gigantic explosion, as the blistering heat only gets worse. But Ian Murphy has no problem with killing when it's called for—he never has.

Comanche Gap is the second novel in the Lone Rider classic western series, but you may enjoy reading the books in any order.