Reviewed by Michael McManus for Reader's Favorite
Cooper Landon is an ex-lawman from West Texas. At the beginning of our story he finds himself in a trading post near the mountains of New Mexico, where he meets Josie, a beautiful young gal who lived for twelve years with the Apache Indians after a war party killed her mother and father. Josie knows the ways of the Apache, especially the one known as No Worries, and she warns Cooper that warrior plans to attack the trading post. The two leave and spend a week in hiding in the mountains, where they trap dozens of beaver, amassing a large number of valuable skins to sell when they get back to Texas. They decide to get married and use the money from the furs to build a cabin and start a farm. The problem is, they keep running into outlaws and Indians on their way back to Texas, and everyone they meet wants to steal their pelts. Meanwhile, Cooper’s brother Yancy and his cousin Rondo Landon hear about the trouble at the trading post and head to the mountains to find Cooper and Josie. They run into their own problems, and it starts to looks like all of the trouble will come to a head in one spot. It wouldn't be much of a story if it didn't.
Tell Cotton, the author of “Cooper”, has put together a great cast of characters, reminiscent of the Saturday morning westerns that showed on TV in the 1950’s. Reading this book made me want to light out on a horse and ride to the hills, just like Hopalong Cassidy and the Lone Ranger did when I was a small boy. This book should appeal to a general audience, with its memorable descriptions, it economical dialogue and its pace that is as fast as the bullet on the book’s cover. I will be reading more from Tell Cotton, I can tell you that.