Rodeo Ranch: A Western Duo

by Max Brand

Doc Willis, despite the nickname, is just an unemployed cowboy in "The Valley of Jewels." Daggett Valley holds many secrets from the past, including a now deserted mining camp. Buck Logan lures Willis to the valley with the promise of great riches to be gained. But Doc will have to play a part in a most subtle feat of deception in which the man who first discovered gold in the valley will be conned into believing that he is reliving his past.

Genres: Westerns

263 pages, Library Binding

First published December 1, 2014

About the author

Frederick Schiller Faust (see also Frederick Faust), aka Frank Austin, George Owen Baxter, Walter C. Butler, George Challis, Evin Evan, Evan Evans, Frederick Faust, John Frederick, Frederick Frost, David Manning, Peter Henry Morland, Lee Bolt, Peter Dawson, Martin Dexter, Dennis Lawson, M.B., Hugh Owen, Nicholas Silver

Max Brand, one of America's most popular and prolific novelists and author of such enduring works as Destry Rides Again and the Doctor Kildare stories, died on the Italian front in 1944.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume contains two novellas, "The Valley of Jewels" and "Rodeo Ranch". It was my first foray into Max Brand and I am interested in reading more of him, especially something longer, where the characters get fleshed out more.
Of these two stories, I liked "The Valley of Jewels" just a little bit better than the second offering. A nice, clean short story that delivers on mystery, action, suspense and romance. Both contain "love at first sight" romances, but "Valley" pulls it off more effectively.