Blake’s Rule

by J.R. Lindermuth

Blake’s rule has always been to do what’s right…not what’s easy.

Range detective Sam Blake is after cattle rustlers—but when a beautiful woman is accused of murdering her employer, he has to step in and see justice done. Miriam had her reasons for the brutal killing, and though she’s not talking, Blake understands there’s more to this crime than meets the eye.

When the local sheriff, James Fremont, asks Blake to spirit Miriam and her two children out of town before a lynch mob comes for her, he agrees. But Cyrus Diebler, the influential rancher who is intent on seeing her pay for her crime, is not about to be stopped. He will go to whatever lengths he must to see her dead, though it means putting his own family in harm’s way.

As Blake and Miriam stay one step ahead of the relentless Diebler and his deadly henchmen, a relationship begins to build between them. When Blake learns the real story behind the murder, and the dark secrets of Diebler’s motivation to see Miriam dead, he vows he will protect her and her children at all costs—even if it means his own life.

158 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2018

About the author

J.R. Lindermuth lives and writes in central Pennsylvania. A retired newspaper editor/writer, he is also librarian of his county historical society where he assists clients with research and genealogy.
He's the author of 20 published novels and two regional histories He has published stories and articles in a variety of magazines, both print and on-line.
He is a member of International Thriller Writers and is a former vice president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Reviews

[J.R.]

This is my new western, which will be released July 24, 2018 by Sundown Press. It's now available for pre-order. I'd give it five-stars, but I don't believe writers should rate their own books. I prefer to let the rating up to readers.

[Andrew McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

One reason J. R. Lindermuth’s westerns are worth reading is that he always provides unusual twists to what is a very familiar form. Detective Sam Blake arrives in a Colorado mountain town on the trail of a wanted rustler. Unexpectedly he is caught up in the affairs of Miriam, a mulatto women charged with murder and pursued by a racist lynch mob. Given that ‘Blake’s Rule’ is do what’s right, not what’s easy, he comes to her aid. Out-of-the-blue twists – the intervention of a swarm of bees, a train wreck – keep things surprising in a brisk, entertaining novel. Recommended.

[Lyndon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair western set adventure with an interesting set up and reveal near the beginning, but then was mostly an escape/chase/shootout/capture plot after that.