Louis L. L’Amour Utah Blaine (1954)

     Louis L. L’Amour Utah Blaine (1954) Originally published under the pseudonym of Jim Mayo, this story is a workmanlike tale of a man who decides to take up the cause of rightful owner of range rights. The usual cast of gunslingers, weak bankers, greedy psychopaths, and similar riffraff lines up against Utah and his sidekick. A couple of beautiful women (their roles aren’t fully developed), and some loyal retainers round out the cast. Utah takes a hell of a lot of punishment, which makes this story (like all L’Amour’s stories) more realistic than most adventure romances, but in the end the hero wins and gets his woman, as required. L’Amour describes fistfights in some detail, an effect of his training as a prize fighter, no doubt. ** (2004)