This is solid western fare from Ben Haas (Thorne Douglas is a pseudonym) in his Rancho Bravo series of novels published by Fawcett Gold Medal. Haas was an accomplished novelist in a number of genres, but his westerns are usually excellent. The characters here are dynamic and interesting, and the action scenes are exciting. Haas/Douglas builds a vivid, believable frontier world here. There's no continuity worries here, so you don't have to have read other entries in the Rancho Bravo series to enjoy this fine read.