Winter Range

by Alan LeMay

CATTLE WARTimes were tough in Wolf Bench...and they were about to get tougher. Low beef prices had all the cattlemen going hungry, and rumbling bellies led to itchy trigger fingers. Only one man had been able to keep things under rein, and that was John Mason, not only the most powerful cattleman in the area, but the head of the bank to boot. But then Mason was killed.With Mason dead, all bets were off—and everyone knew it. Every spread for miles around was arming themselves for an all-out range war. Boundaries were going to be re-drawn, fences moved and moved back...and men were going to die. Before it all ended there would be a lot of blood spilled on the...WINTER RANGE.

Genres: Westerns

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1938

Reviews

[Jeff Tankersley]

Wolf Bench's resident power-broker John Mason is dead and now everyone is on edge. Mason alone, as the banker and cattle-broker who had ties to every operation in the county, was able to hold this unwieldy range of competing ranchers in business. Now that he's gone and with the 1920's beef market at record-low prices, all of these ranchers are eyeing each other with potential violence as they consider how they'll stay afloat.

Kentucky Jones is our protagonist in this classic western tale. In the opening sequence, the inquest being held for Mason's death, he learns that the Sheriff suspects foul play even though the inquest ultimately rules it was an accidental suicide. Jones is passed a key piece of evidence by Jean Ragland, the daughter of a local rancher, and he starts to puzzle around the case in order to figure out the truth.

"Winter Range" (1932) has a smart and tense setup, with the threat of a massive country-wide range war hovering over a whodunit murder investigation. Kentucky's and Jean's interest becomes more than a passing one but they are unable to trust each other because neither of them are willing to share all that they know about the crime.

Verdict: A really good western crime tale and love story.

Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG

[Rob Smith, Jr.]

LeMay's writing within this modern day (written in '30s) western story is far above what most all accomplish. The trouble is LeMay writes like a current contemporary novelist with 3/4 of the book easy to excise. Was LeMay's work kept away from editors?

It's established early on that this is part of a series. There are parts where I wished I'd read the earlier books. However, maybe the series should be called "A - Detective - Kentucky Jones Western". Through the book, Jones is investigating bad guy stuff, despite his claiming over and over he brokers cows. Why didn't LeMay just make Jones a detective? Not doing that, makes the character uneven and the story hard to place in reality.

The characters are good and also over written. Settings are the same.

Bottom line: I don't recommend the book. 4 out of 10 points.

[Bob Cantrell]

A Western Whodunit

This story is one that has a murder at the core of it and a range war brought on by the murder. Wait did I say a murder what I meant was two murders with no suspects for either one. Then there are too many suspects. I liked this story simply for the murder mystery part of it and trying to put all the pieces together to solve it before the hero does. It was a tight race to discover the murderer, but it all came out in the end. One nice thing was the clues were there for you to find for yourself. For me Alan Kemah did an excellent job of telling the story of a more modern West.

[M Hewitt]

For Die-Hard Cowboy Fans Only

Not bad if you really love Westerns and Cowboys.

Lots and lots of clichés and recycled western genre stuff but if you’re a fan then it’s unputdownable until the end.

Lots of stuff to get the brain into escapism mode to a different era.

More of a modernised (1920’s/30’s) sort of western where early cars and the odd telephone makes an appearance- as opposed to mainly horses and Indian blanket smoke signals.

A fairly complex script though. Still - the good guy gets the real killer and of course the girl at the end.

Glad I read it.

[Steve]

I really couldn't get into it. There wasn't enough action going on. It maybe a good read for some but I wasn't too thrilled. Trying to solve who killed this one guy and a cook was later found dead, a real who done it !

[Pat Daugherty]

Who knew Alan Lemay wrote mysteries? Good read from an older western writer. If you like " Oaters" this would be a good one for you to try.

[Stephen Renner]

Not really a western; more of a noir detective novel set among cowboys. It got off to a fast start but I found the ending a bit too pat and unsatisfying. Still an entertaining diversion.

[D. E.]

A Modern Range War/Murder/A Bank Near Collapse/One Woman@One Man

SO has penned a modern day western, which could take place anytime between 1950 - 2020. The man that held the ranches together through the good and bad times is murdered. The Banker had worked for years with the ranchers to keep everyone afloat. However, a land grab is in the offering and the banker is murdered to keep him from using the bank against the rancher attempting thr e land grab. This is an excellent read for the genre!....DEHS

[Jason Crow]

This was a diverting cross between Zane Grey and Dashiell Hammett. There is some dry-gulching and horse chases, but also the "all the suspects are in a tiny room" trope. Worth reading just for its uniqueness, but it's no great masterpiece.