FIST FULL OF GRIT

By Merle McCann

Whenever we think of suspense either a thriller or a mystery springs to mind. McCann does a wonderful job of reminding us that suspense can be found in any type of genre, and proves it with her extraordinary western. Set in the late 1800’s, she has written a tale with a female lead, a heroine so young she can barely be called a woman, who faces up to almost impossible odds to keep her inherited ranch out of the hands of robber barons.

Cooper Hughes left school as a young teen to take up the running of the ranch when she was orphaned. The bank owners attempted to hornswoggle the land out from under her, knowing the railroad was due to come through and offer a lot of money for their rights. This forces Coop to take on a role as singer at the saloon in the next town over—and risk her reputation—to make enough money to pay off the last few payments and avoid foreclosure.

With the temperance movement in full swing threatening to expose her moonlighting, and threatening to have her young brother removed from her care, Coop finds life to be very stressful. It all comes to a boil when two local girls are murdered, stabbed to death. Certain she can do a better job at finding the murderer than the local sheriff, Coop investigates the killings on her own.

The timing of a new suitor makes her even more suspicious. Where will her trust lie? Is he for real or a plant? The suspense builds and comes to a screeching halt faster than being thrown by a bucking bronco. When the dust clears, we’re left to find out if Coop survives to fight another day on the frontier streets of her cowboy town. My best guess is this tough little woman will be running the town when it’s all said and done. An endearing story of the American West and the characters that led to its creation.