Spanish Crossing

BEST OF THE WEST

During the 1950s, Alan LeMay was writing classic Western novels that were being made into equally classic films, such as The Searchers and The Unforgiven. But he was also writing brilliant short stories, published in magazines such as Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post, and the best of these are collected here.

These stories include “The Wolf Hunter,” a gripping tale of a loner who makes his living hunting wolves for bounty and the crafty coyote who torments him. Old Man Coffee, one of LeMay’s most memorable characters, finds himself in the midst of a murder mystery in “The Biscuit Shooter.” In “Delayed Action,” Old Man Coffee’s challenge is to vindicate a lawman who’s been falsely accused. These and many other fine stories display the talent and skill of one of the West’s greatest storytellers.