FIVE STAR WESTERN NEWS:

RAINBOW RIDER: A Western Trio
by Wayne D. Overholser,
0-7862-2738-9, Hardcover, $22.95, 223 pgs.

Wayne D. Overholser has won legions of readers with a depth of characterization and complexity of invention that are rare in Western fiction. The three short novels in this trio amply demonstrate the range of his imagination.

"The Leather Slappers" is set in Colorado where Rick Marvin and Pete Fargo work for the Grant Company. The right of the Grant Company to seize homesteads once filed upon and deeded to numerous claimants through the U.S. Land Office has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark decision. Claimants must now either buy back their claims from the Grant Company or face eviction and sale of their property to others. Rick Marvin is beginning to have serious doubts about this action, while Pete Fargo's position is that one should always be on the side of the winners.

"The Fence" is set in eastern Oregon. For almost two generations the ranchers and farmers in the Stillwater country have recognized the Wyatt family as virtual land barons. Jim Hallet, sheriff of the county, is in love with Kitsie Wyatt, granddaughter of old Latigo Wyatt and daughter of Boone Wyatt, Latigo's son. Boone is opposed to the marriage and forces Kitsie to break off with Jim. This happens on the same day that both Latigo and Boone are assassinated, and Jim can expect no help in solving the murders. Kitsie who becomes owner by default of the vast Wyatt land holdings is quite possibly the next victim on the short list of Wyatts who are to be killed.

"Rainbow Rider" is what Delphine Baggot calls Mark Prentice, a man in her opinion unworthy of her niece, Carla Baggot. Judge Baggot agrees, simply because his bank in Tumello depends on funding from Delphine, and Carla feels she owes it to her father to follow her aunt's preference in suitors. Delphine is being courted by a man claiming to be Rolly Benson, but who is actually a confidence man named Nick Munger. Munger has left a string of impoverished widows behind him and is wanted for murder in New Mexico. There is danger ahead everywhere that Mark Prentice looks.