Waco 7

Out in Wyoming it took a brave man – or a fool – to tangle with a cougar. In a land where men faced death readily, where lead flew with deadly accuracy, the speed and power of the cougar, or mountain lion, were to be respected and feared.

If a cougar or an old grizzly was prowling around, there was only one thing to do – send for Scobie Dale, the man with the specialized knowledge and equipment which most ranchers lacked, the man they called the hound dog man.

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.