The Duke

by William R. Cox

She was too pretty to hang, but the law said she must. Kitty Devlin had been railroaded for the rope by a cutthroat sheriff, and a woman-hating judge. They needed her out of the way...and she was going to get it right in her lovely neck. But, the two schemers weren't counting on Duke Parry. The soft-spoken, hard-playing gambler hated a dirty game; Holiday's crooked lawmen were playing with a loaded hand, and the Duke was determined to even the odds...

126 pages, Paperback

First published July 18, 1962

About the author

See also: William Robert Cox

William Robert Cox (1901-1988) was a writer for more than sixty years, and published more than seventy-five novels and perhaps one thousand short stories, as well as more than 150 TV shows and several movies on film. He was well into his career, flooding the market with sports, crime, and adventure stories, when he turned to the western novel. He served twice as president of the Western Writers of America, and was writing his fifth Cemetery Jones novel, Cemetery Jones and the Tombstone War, when he passed away. He wrote under at least six pen names, including Willard d’Arcy, Mike Frederic, John Parkhill, Joel Reeve, Roger G. Spellman and Jonas Ward.

Reviews

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty similar to other pulp westerns I've read from Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour. Very capable and entertaining writer with a surprisingly large vocabulary! There's a Miss Kitty in the cast of characters and a faint whiff of "All the Pretty Horses"...

Looks like Mr. Cox wrote for "Bonanza" as part of his output.

- A bit of Hispanic sociology...
- Mentions Mary Suratt...

And now done with this well-written but standard story from the prolific Mr. Cox. The ending was a blaze of gunfire of course... How realistic was/is this or any of the genre stuff? Who knows...