Gunsights and Forty Lashes Less One: Two Beloved Westerns by Elmore Leonard Where Legends Become Adversaries and Enemies Become Allies in Arizona

by Elmore Leonard

From New York Times Bestselling Author Elmore Leonard come two of his early, beloved westerns–now collected in one volume GUNSIGHTS Together, Brendan Early and Dana Moon have tracked down Apaches and gunned down scalp hunters to become Arizona legends. But now they find themselves fierce adversaries in what newspapers are calling The Rincon Mountain War. Brendan and a gang of mining company gun thugs are dead set on running Dana and the “People of the Mountain” from their land. Which of these former friends-turned-foes will triumph in the end? FORTY LASHES LESS ONE The hell called Yuma Territorial Prison can destroy the soul of any man. It’s worse for those whose damning crime is the color of their skin. The law says Chiricahua Apache Raymond San Carlos and former black soldier Harold Jackson are murderers, and they’ll stay behind bars until they’re dead and rotting. But even in the worst place on Earth, there’s hope. Now for two detested inmates—first enemies, then allies by necessity—their chance at salvation waits at the end of a mad, violent contest . . . on a bloody trail that winds toward Arizona’s five most dangerous men.

512 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published August 28, 2018

About the author

Elmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.

Father of Peter Leonard.

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

GUNSIGHTS
audiobook

It's gritty, high-quality writing - pithy, lean and tough, approaching McCarthy, but not as poetic or as philosophical as his; approaching McMurtry, but not as epic, sweeping or tragic as his. You could put the story up with 3:10 to Yuma or The Magnificent Seven, except the author does not romanticize the Old West one bit, no more than McCarthy or McMurtry do. A great narrator.

A solid 4 star read.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before he wrote crime novels, Elmore Leonard wrote Westerns. One suspects that the Old West was a lot closer to what Leonard writes than Gunsmoke and Bonanza ever were. Rough men living rough lives doing rough work. If that's what you like, you won't be disappointed with these two novels.

[Miles Krassen · Rating 5 out of 5]

All his books are enjoyable easy reads.