Judgment at Gold Butte - Hardcover

Bowers, Terrell L.

4.55

420 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803499302 ISBN 13: 9780803499300

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer, 2008

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Joe Bratt grew up like an unbroken mustang, and trouble has never bothered to move out of his way. He has had to claw and scratch through a life of hard knocks and daily struggles. Fortunately, these trials have taught him three things: fight when you must, never sit down to a fixed game of chance, and never, ever, get involved with a good woman. Joe holds true to his three rules until he meets up with Raylene Stanfield, a judge's well-educated daughter from the East. Joe has never met a more headstrong woman in his life, but he owes the lady, and he always pays his debts. Although running from the law and a hired killer, Joe takes on the chore of becoming the town judge--a job about which he knows practically nothing! As usual, trouble is ready and waiting for Joe in Gold Butte. It's a town ruled by greed and power, with a sheriff who is more concerned with collecting taxes than making Gold Butte a safe place to live. Genuine judge or not, Joe determines to do what is right. . .even if it means taking on a passel of gunmen and maybe getting killed in the process!

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About the Author:

Terrell L. Bowers sometimes thinks he was born with boots and spurs. His father was his inspiration. He provided Terrell with his own horse and cows to ride and rope. Whether on small acre lots or fair-sized farms, he always had a horse and rope handy. Terrell shared his father's enthusiasm for westerns and grew up rooting for Bob Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Roy Rogers, and John Wayne. Western blood is in his veins, and he loves to create a new story, new characters, and then let his imagination run wild. 'Fortunately,' Terrell writes, 'I have a beautiful, loving wife and two angelic girls, who understand and accept my endless hours at a typewriter. My principal desire is that somewhere there are western lovers who find my stories entertaining.'

From Booklist:

Here’s a solid genre western with a slightly weird premise. Joe, a professional poker player on the run after gunning down a mayor’s son (in self-defense), meets a woman whose late father had been appointed the new judge of Gold Butte. The woman convinces our hero that he should impersonate the dead man, and suddenly Joe is sitting on the bench, trying to act like he knows what he’s doing. And, if trying to keep the townspeople from getting wise to the scheme isn’t hard enough, it isn’t long before trouble shows up, in the form of men who want to give Joe his comeuppance for killing the mayor’s son back home. It’s a story of a basically good man trying to do the right thing, which would be easy enough if the right thing didn’t keep turning out to have such awful consequences. Bowers keeps the proceedings light, but he never turns the novel into an outright comedy. This isn’t Blazing Saddles, but it is a fun, lighthearted western with colorful characters and plenty of atmosphere. --David Pitt

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