O'Doul - Wayne D. Dundee

Wayne Dundee is quickly making a name for himself as a top-notch Western writer. His short story "This Old Star" won the Peacemaker Award for Best Short Story from the Western Fictioneers. His novel DISMAL RIVER has been acclaimed as one of the best Westerns of recent years. And his e-book novella THE GRAVE OF MARCUS PAULY has been very well-received as well.

His new e-book novella O'DOUL was published recently, and it's another winner. O'Doul is an old cowhand with a grim secret. He works on a ranch where the owner and his much-younger wife are haunted by a tragedy of their own. There's also a young puncher involved, but he's an honorable man and the complicated relationship between him and his boss's wife doesn't work out exactly like you might think. All of it leads inevitably to violence.

There's not a lot of action in this story. It's more of a low-key, intense, character-driven yarn, but Dundee's fine writing keeps things moving along just as briskly as if there were a gunfight every few minutes. I have a lot of admiration for a writer who's skillful enough to make human emotions as exciting and compelling as action scenes, and Wayne Dundee definitely fits that description. O'DOUL is an excellent novella, and I highly recommend it.