Free (Kindle) Valley of No Retreat by Denis Hughes [Power Vacuum Fallout Western]

[ATDrake]

Valley of No Retreat by the late British author Denis Hughes (ISFDB, SFE) is his vintage standalone western historical action adventure novel, this one featuring the consequences of the unintentional fallout of one man's ending a longstanding feud and leaving a power vacuum where his rival used to be, recovering from his wounds in a quirky village now under threat from his rival's replacement's schemes, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press' Pioneering imprint.

This was originally published in 1955 by Herbert Jenkins using the pseudonym Ken Kester.

Currently free @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and pretty much everywhere else Amazon sells worldwide, since this is being done via their KDP Select exclusive-or-else program)

Description
Fists of fury…

Floyd rode into Legas Bend for one reason and one reason only. He would be participating in a traditional duel to finally put an end to his feud with Sacks Babcock.

Entirely focused on the task at hand, Floyd had not considered what the knock-on effect to such a duel could be. Legas Bend was not his hometown and as such, he did not care to ponder any consequences.

So unbeknownst to Floyd when he rode out of town victorious, he was leaving behind Babcock’s now-vacant position of head of the town and there were mixed feelings towards Collard, the man tipped to take over.

Wounded and weakening quickly due to a bullet wound in his shoulder, Floyd made his way into the desert where he was picked up by a charitable priest and schoolteacher who nursed him back to health.

When Floyd came to, he found himself in a small community called San Diemos, some 20 miles from Legas Bend. During the days that went by in his recovery, Floyd came to love the quirky village and recognise the great debt he owed them for his survival.

So when he learnt that their very existence was in grave peril thanks to a scheme that Collard, now head of Legas Bend, had cooked up to divert the river away from their land, Floyd knew he would have to alter this chain of events he had set in motion by killing Babcock in the first place.

But Collard was not one to think about anyone other than himself and he stood to benefit a great deal from the new river course.

When talks collapsed before they’d begun and ominous accidents were occurring to those who opposed Collard, Floyd began to hunt for man power to put behind his cause.

But this manpower was found in an unlikely source – the Golden Gal and most successful rancher in all the land.

But can a woman bring peace to the wild west…?