The Waiting Gun: A Western Story

by Wayne D. Overholser

Young Bill Varney just can't get ahead. His father treats him like just another hired ranch hand while lavishing attention on his twin sister, Vida, his girlfriend can't commit to marry him, yet entertains attentions from a wealthy shop owner twice her age, and now a gunfighter named Ace Kehoe has come into town challenging his aging, arthritic father to a gunfight and his sister wants him to take his father's place.

182 pages, Hardcover

First published February 6, 2013

About the author

Wayne D. Overholser (born September 4, 1906 in Pomeroy, Washington; died August 27, 1996 in Boulder, Colorado) was an American Western writer.

Overholser won the 1953 First Spur Award for best novel for Lawman using the pseudonym Lee Leighton. In 1955 he won the 1954 (second) Spur Award for The Violent Land. He also used the pseudonyms John S. Daniels, Dan J. Stevens and Joseph Wayne.

Reviews

[Kellyt]

A fairly short Western with lots of action. The plot is very straightforward. Not Overholser’s best work but not bad. I vacillated a little bit, but a straight up 3 is pretty fair for the rating.

[Bryant]

Not bad. Picked this up on a whim at the library because I have an apparent family connection to the author. Entertaining for sure, and the plot never drags.