Hard-hitting, hard-drinking deputy marshal Page Murdock has undertaken all kinds of assignments, but none so unusual as posing as preacher to break up a gang of robbers on the Texas panhandle. After a three-week crash course, he goes south from Montana to a little Texas town to deliver sermons from the pulpit and unmask the bandits.
Along the way, we are treated to a western adventure and deep insights into the lawman’s character. The plot is really inventive and the story a treat. Not only do we read about the cattlemen vs. sheep herders, but descriptions of the hot and dusty landscape, the importance of the railroad and stagecoach in the building of the west, and most important of all, law enforcement on the frontier. All written with a flowing conciseness that is a joy to read.
Recommended.
