SIX-GUN SERENADE - Mason Macrae

 Jim Finch left his home, Featherville, over a year ago.  He's back now but he's returned to a community that doesn't really resemble what he left.  Some squatters (or 'nesters') have moved into the valley. They are settling on ranch land and trying to claim it as their own. Sam Broadner might be one of the worst of the nesters - he's a greedy man looking to wrest control of as much land as he possibly can.

Broadner isn't Finch's only problem.  Finch is the ward for a young woman, Sheila, who has told Finch that she has romantic feelings toward him.  He, however, doesn't return those feelings and now she feels jilted and angry.  To 'get back' at him, Sheila begins to sell her half the ranch putting Finch's control of the area at great risk.  But her boldest move is to marry Finch's worst enemy, a man by the name of Felderman. Somehow, Finch needs to keep one eye close to home and another on the threats in the surrounding area.

I found this to be a straightforward, easy, and enjoyable read. The characters were well-defined (of course it helped that they were kept to a minimum), but like a lot of older westerns, they were also pretty clearly white hat/black hat, good/bad characters without a lot of depth to them. 

I like this kind of read at times - if the rest of the book is enjoyable and this book is.  Author Mason Macrea's writing is crisp and sharp and very engaging. He doesn't have the depth of character and character background that Louis L'Amour often has, but he does have the readability I find in a lot of L'Amour.

Looking for a good book? If you're looking for a western by someone other than one of the 'big names', Six-Gun Serenade by Mason Macrae is worth checking out.

3-1/2 stars

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Six-Gun Serenade

author: Mason Macrae

publisher: Pioneering Press

Kindle Edition, 184 pages