Undercover Marshall
Sometimes the only way to catch a criminal is to be one…
The town of Dry Acres is under the oppression of a two-pronged, crooked alliance between Mark Grayson and Sheriff Henry Binalt.
Having diverted the watercourse to his own ranch, Grayson has starved the local ranches – including the Dalman’s Roaring G spread – of water.
And Binalt’s high taxes to the homesteaders are starving the people off the land.
Fed up of all the corruption, the local newspaper editor, Gil Radford, tries to expose them both.
But he ends up murdered before he can publish his expose.
Having witnessed his death, Radford’s niece, Ann Dalman, resolves to carry on the fight and calls in the help of his old friend, Blake Carson.
While Carson manages to flush out Grayson, Binalt is a harder nut to crack. All Carson can do is run for Mayor in the upcoming town election.
Determined to protect his secret interests and continue his illegal stint as Mayor, Binalt hires a notorious gunman to eliminate Carson – the outlaw Jeff Oakroyd.
But what Binalt doesn’t know is that “Jeff Oakroyd” is already dead at the hands of the law.
“Jeff Oakroyd” is in actual fact, Parry Kelby – a US Marshall from Caradoc City investigating the allegations asurrounding Binalt.
As far as Kelby is concerned, Binalt is guilty but he needs proof of his crimes.
However, Binalt is a slippery man and at any sign that a US Marshall is sniffing about, he’ll destroy anything that implicates him.
If Kelby plays the undercover game right, he might just get the evidence he needs to save Carson and the citizens of Dry Acre.
Can he fool Binalt long enough to bring him down for good?
Based on a short story by the classic Western writer John Russell Fearn, Undercover Marshall is a suspenceful, nail-biter of a novella – perfectly balancing out thrills with blood-pumping action.
Praise for Philip Harbottle
‘A classic of the genre’ – Tom Casey, bestselling author of Trade Off
Pioneering Press is a western imprint of Endeavour Press – the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We publish new and classic westerns by authors from the US and the UK.
