Just finished up Crossfire Trail. This is in my opinion one of the stronger L'Amour books out there. It was made into a movie, with I believe Tom Selleck as Rafe Caradec, and I'm not sure but I think it was Virgina Madsen as Ann Rodney.

The basic storyline is that Rafe Caradec and Charles Rodney are both shanghaied. Charles Rodney is beaten by the captain one too many times and is dying, but Caradec promises the dying man that he will bring the paid mortgage for his ranch back to his wife and daughter and make sure that they are able to keep the ranch working.

So Caradec and three others leave the ship by rather brutal means and make their way to Painted Rock, which is the town closest to the Rodney ranch. Caradec finds out that the wife is dead and the daughter has moved into town and is engaged to the man that holds the note on the ranch.

The story revolves around Rafe and his companions making good on Rafe's promise to take care of the Rodney family while making sure that the people responsible for Charles Rodney's death are punished.

With a good amount of gun fights and fist fights and a great description of the landscape of Wyoming. (classic L'Amour) you will find yourself caught up in this story in no time. Rafe Caradec is the typical hard western man that L'Amour likes to write about and you find yourself really cheering him on at times in the book. All in all I really enjoy this book and this made about my 6th read of it. At only 157 pages you can afford to read and reread a good number of L'Amour books, which is in my opinion one of the reasons they are so dang popular even today.

If you have a few extra hours I highly recommend this one.