Lightning Swift

by William Colt MacDonald

Chuck Jenkins had been framed into a fight and then thrown in jail. The one man who would have given him an honest break, Sheriff Deming, had "committed suicide" only a few days before. The worst of it was that he had only a few more days to raise the money to pay for his T-Bench ranch; if he didn't pay off on time, he would lose the T-Bench to Craig Kimball and Fisher Cochrane. There seemed to be nothing to do but call on his old friend LIghtning Swift for help--because if Swift couldn't do anything, no one could. Lightning was as good as his name, but he arrived to find that things looked pretty hopeless. The man who had promised to lend Chuck money had vanished, and the cook at the T-Bench had been murdered. LIghtning had to take drastic meaures. He began by discovering the people who were plotting against Chuck & decided to administer a dose of hot lead. Before he was through, more than one crook had met his fate, and more than one mystery was cleared up.

188 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1953

Reviews

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1953, 'Lightning Swift' is a traditional Western novel written at the peak of popularity for the genre, and features many of the most common themes including a corrupt businessman taking control of a small town and attempting a land grab with the help of various henchmen and a corrupt town sheriff, whilst an incorruptible outsider steps in to sort things out. All quite common themes, but well realised in the hands of an experienced writer.