What do you think?
Rate this book
Ralph Compton the Trail's End
In this brand-new, suspenseful Ralph Compton Western, a reformed gambler races to unmask a murderer. After years as a professional gambler—and a deadly shootout on a riverboat casino—Tom Calvert and his young protégé, Asher Smith, have survived an arduous journey across the frontier to Friendly Field, Idaho. The bucolic Quaker community welcomes them with open arms, and soon Tom is courting a widow and learning, to his surprise, to enjoy the quiet life. Then an elder of Friendly Field is found murdered, and the townsfolk start whispering about the work of the devil. Tom doesn’t believe in the devil, just the evil that men do, and he resolves to solve the gruesome crime before fear causes the people of peaceful little Friendly Field to turn against one another.
302 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 12, 2021
8 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 13, 2023
Tom Calvert, and his companion, Asher, have come to Friendly Field, a Quaker community in Idaho. Tom is recovering from a gunshot wound, and is looking for a place to lay low. He is welcomed into the community and given the job of sewing pillowcases.
Asher and Tom go out one night looking for mushrooms. They run into two men who threaten their lives. Tom shoots both but one gets away.
They hear that the Porter gang is on the run after their most recent bank robbery. Tom concludes the men he shot were members of the gang. He warns the elders of trouble and ask that they send a messenger to a nearby town to send the law.
Samuel, one of the elders of Friendly Field is found one morning with a knife in his chest. Tom thinks it’s the result of some past hidden crime. He also thinks the murderer is a woman. He learns that twenty years ago, the community hanged some woman for witchcraft.
Tom goes looking in the woods for the Porter gang and finds them. His goal is to convince them to leave the area.
When he returns to Friendly Field, he asks Asher if there has been any new information about the murderer and is told no.
Then Jeremiah is killed.
And then the action really picks up. Tom stops another attack at great cost.
This must be what is meant as a new, modern western. It plays like an episode of Law and Order: SVU and Criminal Minds. And maybe a little 24 in the wilderness.
The author spent a great deal of time writing about Tom’s thoughts about what to do, about what might’ve happened and about his own past. The book could’ve been cut by 100 pages. It took a long time to read this.
Asher and Tom go out one night looking for mushrooms. They run into two men who threaten their lives. Tom shoots both but one gets away.
They hear that the Porter gang is on the run after their most recent bank robbery. Tom concludes the men he shot were members of the gang. He warns the elders of trouble and ask that they send a messenger to a nearby town to send the law.
Samuel, one of the elders of Friendly Field is found one morning with a knife in his chest. Tom thinks it’s the result of some past hidden crime. He also thinks the murderer is a woman. He learns that twenty years ago, the community hanged some woman for witchcraft.
Tom goes looking in the woods for the Porter gang and finds them. His goal is to convince them to leave the area.
When he returns to Friendly Field, he asks Asher if there has been any new information about the murderer and is told no.
Then Jeremiah is killed.
And then the action really picks up. Tom stops another attack at great cost.
This must be what is meant as a new, modern western. It plays like an episode of Law and Order: SVU and Criminal Minds. And maybe a little 24 in the wilderness.
The author spent a great deal of time writing about Tom’s thoughts about what to do, about what might’ve happened and about his own past. The book could’ve been cut by 100 pages. It took a long time to read this.
May 31, 2021
Since Ralph Compton appears to be a pseudonym I have found titles with his name to be very hit and miss. This time, this one is marked with the name E.L. Ripley and I found it to be spot on. The basic plot is simple-- a reformed gambler settles among a group of Quakers, who are eventually threatened by a group of outlaws. However, the novel is much more complex than that. About the same time our hero is accepted among these kind and quaint folks, someone murders one of the elders. That begins a series of these murders and it becomes apparent that the group is harboring and old secret.
Our hero sets out to protect the Quakers from the outlaws and once he secures their position he turns his attention to solving the murder mystery. And therein lies the complexity of this novel-- as tightly written as any mystery with a twist ending worthy of a Hitchcock film. The author attempts to delve into the complexity of the communal life just enough to provide the story flavor, but not enough to begin boring the tale.
The final conclusion was rousing and startling, more like a mystery than a western. The gambler's handling of the outlaws was a bit far-fetched, but not so much to mar my enjoyment. The book is less of a traditional western, but that lends it strength. A fine novel.
Our hero sets out to protect the Quakers from the outlaws and once he secures their position he turns his attention to solving the murder mystery. And therein lies the complexity of this novel-- as tightly written as any mystery with a twist ending worthy of a Hitchcock film. The author attempts to delve into the complexity of the communal life just enough to provide the story flavor, but not enough to begin boring the tale.
The final conclusion was rousing and startling, more like a mystery than a western. The gambler's handling of the outlaws was a bit far-fetched, but not so much to mar my enjoyment. The book is less of a traditional western, but that lends it strength. A fine novel.
February 9, 2022
This started well. Very well, in fact.
Except it seems to be a follow-up to another so the characters have to be introduced or re-introduced in what seems to be the middle of a story.
The premise and setting are nicely unusual, and interesting.
I was all set to give this a 4-star rating ... right up to the last couple of pages.
Then it fell apart and I was so disappointed, I gave it -- rather reluctantly -- two stars.
Except it seems to be a follow-up to another so the characters have to be introduced or re-introduced in what seems to be the middle of a story.
The premise and setting are nicely unusual, and interesting.
I was all set to give this a 4-star rating ... right up to the last couple of pages.
Then it fell apart and I was so disappointed, I gave it -- rather reluctantly -- two stars.
November 26, 2025
Excellent Book!
A strange , compelling and not quite the Western books I’m used to but still a great read! I love the twists and I love how it kept me guessing. I like how the author brought mysticism, religion, secrets together yet keeping it under the Western category. Interesting book.
A strange , compelling and not quite the Western books I’m used to but still a great read! I love the twists and I love how it kept me guessing. I like how the author brought mysticism, religion, secrets together yet keeping it under the Western category. Interesting book.
April 7, 2024
I felt the book jumped around a bit. The ending took me by surprise. It wasn’t what I expected. It was good.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews