Passin’ Through

by Louis L’Amour

First published 1985

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4.5(2,374)

A drifter known as Passin’ Through is looking for a quiet place to disappear when he takes work repairing an isolated ranch owned by a former actress. The refuge becomes dangerous almost immediately. A Pinkerton detective arrives asking questions about a missing woman, an old will raises doubts about the ownership of the property, and another claimant appears insisting that the ranch belongs to her.

Passin’ Through has no desire to become involved in a legal battle, but the competing claims soon attract men willing to use violence rather than courts. Staying may expose him to enemies who are already searching for him; leaving would abandon people who have given him shelter. The novel turns a disputed inheritance into a frontier mystery in which written documents matter only if someone can survive long enough to enforce them.