BookList - Wes Lukowsky
Al Murphy ("Murphy's Stand" [1993]) has a second chance at life. When he arrived in Turrett, New Mexico, he was broke, filthy, and aimless. But the affection of Christine McCormick provided a reason to live and the job of sheriff a means. When rancher Travis Price rides into town, barely alive, with an Apache arrow in him, Murphy fears the worst. His fears are confirmed when he finds Mrs. Price and two children murdered, apparently by Apache renegades. Murphy chases the Apaches, but matters are complicated when Price is murdered in the doctor's office, obviously not by Apaches. Murphy is arguably the most intriguing series character in current western fiction. What is developing here--this is the fifth Murphy novel--is a multivolume fictional biography of a man striving to make a meaningful life for himself in the Old West. Quality fiction by any standard.