A trio of thrilling Old West tales—“Lawman’s Heart,” “White-Water Sam,” and “Black Thunder”—from “the Shakespeare of the Western range” (Kirkus Reviews). In “Lawman’s Heart,” Larry Traynor is driving a stage with his shotgun guard, Sam Whitney, the man who has been his mentor in life, when a hold-up occurs. Sam is shot dead. Traynor is determined to bring the thief to justice, but then fate intervenes. Although he does not recognize the symptoms, or what they mean, Traynor is suffering from heart failure. He is deputized to give pursuit even though, given his condition, it can only lead to his ruin. Sam Bridgeman in “White-Water Sam” once tried to shoot the rapids of Miles Canyon in a river boat, but the vessel turned sideways and smashed against the rocks. The experience has haunted Sam ever since. But when a man arrives with enough money to buy the Thomas Drayton, a fine boat moored in Lake Bennett—useless unless someone can get it downstream through the rapids—Sam may be his only hope. In “Black Thunder,” Dan Harrigan and Angus MacTee are partners in a mining claim. What divides them in Kate Malone. They both love her, but she loves only one of them, and has gone into hiding. MacTee learns her whereabouts, and heads out, with Dan Harrigan in pursuit. “Brand practices his art to something like perfection.” —The New York Times
