This week we are featuring three western novels written by Clay More, which just happens to be the western pen-name of Keith Souter. You may have guessed, the choice of the name is a homage to Clayton Moore, the first TV Lone Ranger.
Keith, aka Clay More, has been writing westerns for several years. He is a member of Western Writers of America, Western Fictioneers; both organisations for professional writers about the Old West. You probably know him best on this blog as the author Keith Moray, who writes the West Uist crime novels for Robert Hale of London.
Keith's western novels were first published by Robert Hale, but have now been republished as ebooks by The Western Fictioneers Library. There are three out now and all have been well received. They are traditional westerns, but each of them is also a mystery, since nothing is quite as it seems. The plotting is very much in the style of Keith's crime writing.
Here is the outline for Judge on the Run.
Wesley Talbot is a respected frontier judge devoted to the law. So why does he adopt the identity of wanted desperado Diamond Jim Chance and go on the run? Why is the ruthless bounty hunter known as The Deacon on a bloodthirsty quest to track down the judge? What dangers lurk in a hidden canyon in the Pintos Mountains? Who is the real mastermind behind a gang of vicious killers? And what secret that leads to a gunpowder-laced showdown lies in the church of a small Mexican village?
The answers to these questions can be found in JUDGE ON THE RUN, the action-packed novel that's the latest release from acclaimed author Clay More and the Western Fictioneers Library. Previously published as a Black Horse Western by Robert Hale, this newly revised edition is full of excitement and thrills.
The latest out is A Rope for Scudder, another fast-paced, traditional western.
Jake Scudder is just a drifting, peace-loving cowboy. So why does he find himself in jail, convicted of the murder of an old-timer he had befriended and sentenced to hang for that crime he didn't commit? Jake gets a chance to clear his name when the train taking him to the gallows crashes, but was that wreck an accident? Who's the real ringleader of the gang of vicious outlaws known as the Marauders? Jake Scudder has to dodge not only the law but also a cunning murderer as he attempts to save his own life and that of a beautiful young woman. A ROPE FOR SCUDDER is another classic, action-packed Western from bestselling author Clay More and the Western Fictioneers Library.
His very first western, Raw Deal at Pasco Springs, published by Robert Hale back in 2004 was also the very first novel to be reprinted by Western Fictioneers Library, thanks to the ever-working, multi-talented, best selling author Livia Washburner.
Here is the outline.
Lady Luck smiled down on ex-lawman Tom Mallory when he won the Diamond T ranch in a poker game. Tom begins to wonder if it was actually bad fortune when he is ambushed and then rides into a gunfight where a hooded man in a long duster coat shoots a man pinned under his horse. Furious at this bushwhacking, Tom takes cards in this deadly game, and soon it starts to look like this gamble is going to be his last hand . . .
So, if these have whetted your appetite for a traditional western novel, then you can easily obtain copies from Amazon, all for around £2. Just check the Amazon links on the left and join Clay More out on the trail.
Along with a whole host of other western novelists Clay More is busily collaborating on a series of novels about the Kansas town of Wolf Creek. But that's another story that we'll come back to in another blog, real soon.
Calum Steel
Editor
Keith Souter
Associate Editor
