"MATT BRAUN IS A MASTER STORYTELLER OF FRONTIER HISTORY." -Elmer Kelton Could the most feared gunman in the West Ben Thompson carved out a name for himself as a gambler and a shootist-from Dodge City to the Rio Grande. But settling down in Austin with a wife and young son didn't settle Ben's taste for the sporting life. He still found himself in the gambling dives - where the turn of a card too often led to a shootout. Become a respectable lawman in the wildest city in Texas? Soon a circle of powerful businessmen decides that Thompson is the only man who can tame Austin's wild side. They ask him to rule the streets - and take no prisoners. They want him to take on the job of a marshal in a town in which every man packs a gun. Thompson's career as a lawman is about to take an explosive turn. He finds himself at a Is his personal code of honor the price for a tin-star badge? It's a risk he's willing to take...even if there's no going back. "BRAUN IS ONE OF THE BEST!"-Don Coldsmith, author of the Spanish Bit series
A good western, this is the fictional story of a real person, Ben Thompson, named by Bat Masterson as the best gunfighter in the west. A gambler by trade he decides to run for Marshall of Austin, Texas on the law and order ticket. Several gunfights and court scenes are included in this tale. Recommended.
I had never read a work by him before. I have been delving into Westerns in the recent past. This is a fictional story about a real gunfighter. I literally could not put in down. I enjoyed the personalities the most of all. He developed his characters well.