Shorty

by Clifton Adams

With professional thoroughness the marshal searched the ground that the raiders had littered with so much killing. He was not a squeamish man, and this was not the first time he had seen wanton slaughter and burning, nor was it the first time he had seen a dead mutton puncher in cow country — nevertheless he was shocked. For four years he had rested comfortably in the belief that cowmen and sheepmen had learned something from the last bloodletting. He had been wrong.

Genres: Westerns

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

Reviews

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shorty is a 5'6" mail-carrier with a temper to match his name. He wakes with a head wound in a sheepherders wagon. His height worked in his favor—someone tried to shoot him in the head, but the bullet only grazed his scalp. Whoever shot him, stole his mail, too. After getting patched up, Shorty comes back to town to find out that the residents believed he was dead. The bad news is that they lynched a stranger who they thought killed Shorty. It doesn't take Shorty long to realize that the lynched man was innocent and the victim of a conspiracy that might also involve Shorty's stolen mail and the sheepherder who saved him.

I thought at first that this was going to tread familiar ground when the whole town turns on Shorty at the story's start, which was a motif in the last Adams book I read. But the novel quickly becomes a different animal, evolving into a somewhat complex collection of dots that need to be connected.

Adams mainly keeps the 3rd person narration in Shorty's head, but he sometimes wanders into the thoughts of other characters, mostly Shorty's companions who get wrapped up in the web around Shorty's almost-murder. I'm not a lover of 3rd-person omniscient narration—I prefer to hear a story from one angle—but for 90% of the book, this is Shorty's story, and it's a good one.

[Simsd953 · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was growing up as an avid reader (who had read everything in our small town library) I always enjoyed when one of my uncles would give me a huge paper bag full of books - mostly western. This was one of the last he passed along. Thanks. R.T.

[Mark Ennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best western I enjoy reading about Gibbs.

[Gloria Jorg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only 223 pages large print with a compelling story about the lawless west. Wonderful writing. I will definitely be looking for more books by Clifton Adam’s.