Down-on-his-luck cowboy Drift Garrity lives up to his name, wandering through Arizona on an unspecified quest and taking what jobs he can on various ranches. His aimless ways take him to a ranch that’s plagued by rustlers and also involve him with an eccentric old prospector who lives with his two beautiful daughters in a ghost town. Could those things be connected? Well, sure they could, along with a notorious Mexican bandit and some long-buried secrets.
I’ve read and enjoyed several of author Chap O’Keefe’s novels featuring range detective Joshua Dillard in recent months, but GHOST TOWN BELLES is an equally entertaining stand-alone yarn. It was published originally in hardback by Robert Hale in 2006 as part of the Black Horse Western line, reprinted in large print in 2008, and is now available in new e-book and paperback editions.
Chap O’Keefe, of course, is veteran author and editor Keith Chapman, who is one of the best in the business at producing gritty, offbeat Westerns. GHOST TOWN BELLES has some fairly lurid aspects to it, along with a plot twist or two that I found genuinely surprising. The action barrels along in satisfying fashion, and Drift Garrity (a great name) is a really likable protagonist. I really enjoyed this novel, and if you like traditional Westerns that aren’t completely traditional, I give GHOST TOWN BELLES a high recommendation. I love that title, as well.
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