Over on the Dry Side

by Louis L’Amour Book 4 in the Talon and Chantry series.

First published 1975

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4.4(3,094)

Doby Kernohan and his father travel west looking for a place to begin again and find an abandoned cabin that appears suitable until they discover a dead man in the yard. With few alternatives, they stay, but the killing proves to be part of an older feud involving land, greed and men prepared to use violence to settle claims that the law cannot easily reach.

The Kernohans are drawn deeper into the dispute as threats multiply around the isolated homestead. Doby must learn which neighbours can be trusted and whether avoiding the conflict is still possible once both sides believe his family has taken a position. The novel uses the sparse ranching country of the American West to create a story in which distance and weak local authority turn a private grievance into a cycle of retaliation that newcomers cannot simply ignore.