Calamity Jane 9

It seems when a lady’s called “Calamity,” chaos follows wherever she goes – even to the mostly peaceful railroad town of Mulrooney, Kansas. Martha Jane Canary’s always been free as the prairie wind, tied to no place or person, so she never expected to inherit a hardscrabble ranch that other folks have been working. She might have even ignored the legal summons to claim her property ... if someone hadn’t tried to kill her first.

Now, whether she wants the spread or not, Jane’s going to fight for what’s hers – taking on bushwhackers, crooked lawyers ... and a woman with a cold and greedy heart, and a plan to steal Jane’s land with bullets and brutality. But Calamity’s got an ally – a baby-faced Texas gun called the Ysabel Kid – not to mention stony courage, a strong and sure whip hand ... and a mule-stubborn willingness to lay down her life for what’s right.

J. T. Edson was a former British Army dog-handler who wrote more than 130 Western novels, accounting for some 27 million sales in paperback. Edson’s works - produced on a word processor in an Edwardian semi at Melton Mowbray - contain clear, crisp action in the traditions of B-movies and Western television series. What they lack in psychological depth is made up for by at least twelve good fights per volume. Each portrays a vivid, idealized “West That Never Was”, at a pace that rarely slackens.