Rawhide Flat

by Joseph A. West, Ralph Compton

U.S. Deputy Marshal Augustus Crane must escort convicted bank robber Judah Welsh to Virginia City. But the townsfolk of Rawhide Flat still want their $30,000 back from Welsh—even if it means taking on Marshal Crane...

Genres: Westerns

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 21, 2009

About the author

Joe West was born and raised in the seaside town of Saltcoats in Scotland. At 19 he became a police officer, but soon turned his love of writing into a career as a journalist, working for the Daily Mirror in London among others. In 1972 West was recruited as a reporter for the National Enquirer, and began working in the United States. Traveling the world in search of stories, West almost froze to death on an Alaska mountain, and a spider bite nearly killed him in the Amazon rainforest. 'I swelled up like a balloon and turned a real pretty violet color,' he recalls.

Now a full-time novelist, West and his wife Emily reside in sunny Lake Worth, Florida, where he enjoys tamer pursuits like canoeing the alligator-infested swamps of the Everglades. His daughter Alexandria attends a local college where she studies forensic technology. She will have absolutely nothing to do with canoes and alligators.

West researches the settings of his novels by exploring the terrain in person, usually with little more than a sleeping bag and a can of coffee.

Recently he and Emily celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at the Lodge in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a gift from the students at Rio Rancho High School who use West's first novel as a textbook. They then spent a month in the mountains and deserts of New Mexico, often pitching their tent where the air is thin at 9,000 feet above the flat.

Reviews

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deputy Marshall Augustus (Gus) Crane goes to pick up a criminal and walks into a can of worms. Also has problems with some insane religious fanatic with over 500 followers. Gus meets a thirteen year old girl, Sarah who the fanatic wants to marry and have kids with. Gus tries to help her out. Interesting enough story, although not at all fast paced by any means.

[Shari Duke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read dozens of westerns in my life. This one is just stupid.

[Violet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good one; would make a great movie. Two good guys; one a deputy U.S. marshal and the other the town sheriff, against a crazy man with 2 -3 hundred followers. It all starts with the robbery of $50,000 from the town bank and and thereafter everyone wants the money. It ends a little surprisingly and disappointingly to me ... the money could have been used to rebuild the town of Rawhide Flat.