Robber's Roost — William MacLeod Raine

This Western duo presents two of William MacLeod Raine's finest short novels appearing now -- for the first time -- in book form!

Troubled Waters is set in Wyoming during the conflict between cattlemen and sheepmen. Rowan McCoy, owner of the Circle Diamond, is a man of rare integrity. When sheepman J.C. Tait belligerently crosses an agreed line of demarcation with a herd of sheep, he precipitates a crisis that McCoy decides to solve with a night raid on the sheep herd. McCoy gives a strict order that there is to be no gun play. That order is obeyed by everyone except Hal Falkner, a man who has a deep personal grudge against Tait. He starts a gun play that results in the killing of two men and reverses the situation. Now if the cattlemen do not stick together, they all face life in prison.

In Robber's Roost Val Collins, sheriff of Pima County in Arizona Territory, is riding on a train held up by the notorious Dolf LeRoy gang. Through a ruse -- young Helen Meredith is carrying the $100,000 that the gang is after concealed on her person -- the robbery attempt fails. But for LeRoy that isn't the end of the matter, only the beginning. When he learns the truth, he manages to kidnap Helen Meredith and hold her for ransom. That way, surely, he and his gang will get the money they didn't get in the hold-up. Val Collins's job is to see that this new plot is also foiled and to do it without any harm to the hostage.