Helpful Score: 1
Ben Cameron was a Texas Ranger and a lawman of sterling reputation. But a series of dime novels in which his exploits as "The Scottish Gun" far exceeded reality and his growing propensity for drunken benders have left him alone and playing out the string. He rides into Purgatoire, an aptly named mining town, and stops at the saloon for a single drink but soon has a dozen. As he is recuperating, a series of killings brings the town's citizens to Ben, asking for protection. He is reluctant but needs a chance to put his life back on track. The killings are only a part of Ben's dilemma. He may have been the last man to see working-girl Amie Courtland's brother alive, and there may also be a killer on his trail, looking to avenge a man Ben killed in a dispute over a card game. Spur Award-winner Boggs takes a common western plot--old gunslinger looking for redemption--and injects it with genuine humanity. Solid fare from a reliable genre veteran.
