Ramrod by Luke Short

Ramrod by
Luke Short
Pages: 232
Date: October 18 2016
Publisher: Open Road Media
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.5
Read: September 23 to 26 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Open Road in return for a fair review.*

It’s 1943 and the world is in the middle of a war, a war that does not appear to have an end in sight; war, death, rationing and into this mix comes a book by 35 year old Luke Short. No this is not the same Luke Short who was a real life gunman, gambler, and friend of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. No this would be Frederick Dilley Glidden’s pen name (Glidden apparently hadn’t heard of Luke Short before taking the name as his own).

Glidden, in addition to being an author, had been a journalist, a trapper in Canada, an archaeologist’s assistant, and, during the same time period this book appeared, he had been working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

The book is about a drifter in the old west, a man known in the town he is currently residing in as a drunk. A drifter, otherwise known as Dave Nash, who gets tangled up with a woman and her troubles. A woman named Connie Dickason.

Connie grew up under the stubborn thumb of her father, Ben Dickason, owner and operator of the large D Bar cattle ranch. She’s briefly escaped from him and from Frank Ivey by setting up with Walt Shipley (owner and operator of tiny Circle 66). Ivey, beyond a seemingly lifetime pursuit of Connie to make her his wife, is also the head and operator of the Bell cattle ranch – the other big cattle company in the area.

Frank and Ben drive Walt out of the area as the book opens, but Connie is as stubborn as her father. She’s going to make a go of Circle 66 by herself if she has to.

Frank has run off all but one of Walt’s employees, so Connie is entering into those ‘fight’ with just one man. That same town drunk, Dave Nash. Nash, though, is on his way out. He paid what he thinks he has to pay, and is going to drift. Until certain words are exchanged, and he changes his mind. He’s going to stay and help Connie as her foreman.

Nash, as foreman, sets up to get together a crew that can stand against the big boys. He first gets his friend Bill Schell to join, then delegates the task to rounding up the rest of the gang to Schell. With the idea that they are going to ‘get’ Ivey.

Two more people round out the larger players in this drama, Jim Crew, sheriff of this small town, and Rose Leland, a business owner in Signal (the town I haven’t named yet; she owns a dress outfitters – okay, she takes stuff and turns them into dresses).

Westerns, the films at least, of a certain era have a relatively simple set up. There are those who wear black hats (and are therefore ‘the bad guys’), and those that wear white hats (and are therefore ‘the good guys’). At least around the time this book came out. A relatively simplistic view of those westerns, and a relatively simplistic story line.

While things seem to be set up to showcase certain people in certain roles, when you look closer, you see mostly a sea of grey hats. There are about three people who do not fall into this ‘grey hat’ simplification. The sheriff, Jim Crew, wears the whitest hat of the bunch, though he has been a long time law man and is something of a strong man (as in he is capable of doing his job not in that he is a ‘strong man’ as in some kind of dictator). Rose Leland, if she wore a hat (and she might), would also wear something close to or off-white (the only real ‘mark’ against her is a certain reputation that she might be a little too wild and free with men (whether or not that reputation has any basis in reality is up to the reader to decide). Lastly we have one Virg Lea. Not much is known about him, and I’m not sure he even said a single word in the book, but his hat would be the blackest of black (mostly because of his actions, unmixed with any other characterization).

The rest? Wear grey. Dave’s a drunk (for reasons), and is the best of the lot that remain with Circle 66 after Walt is run off – the rest are not ‘trash’, or ‘black hats’, but are there to ‘get’ Ivey because they hate him. Not exactly great men. As a reader will learn, Connie is a tough strong woman, with a streak of stubbornness that matches her fathers, and a certain tendency to . . . well, complicate things.

Frank? Well, a real macho man, strong, determined, big man on the ranch and the territory. He’s been set up as the ‘bad guy’ of the story, but ‘set-up’ is the right phrase to use. His hat isn’t as black as it might seem. Though don’t go mistaking my words. His grey hat is darker than some. Lea is one of Frank’s men.

Ben? His greatest flaw is stubbornness and an inability to ‘work with’ a strong stubborn daughter. He does employ one guy, though, who seems to be the kind who wouldn’t necessarily mind wearing a black hat. Red, the foreman of D Bar.

The book did not unfold the way I expected. It was a lot more complicated, detailed, and wide spread than I thought I was getting myself into. Mind you, there were things easily foreseen – but then we are talking about a western, not a mystery novel.

I’ve never seen the film version of this novel, so I cannot comment on it or any kind of comparison between the two. The book, though, was quite good and entertaining. I plan to read more by this author. I’d probably rate that book something close to 4.55 stars.



Veronica Lake played Connie in the film. Joel McCrea played Dave Nash. Preston Foster played Frank Ivey. I do not know the film well enough to know if the others listed are small or big parts of the film. I do notice that Lloyd Bridges is in the film – as Red Cates.







Last thought: The women in this book were, to a certain extent, a lot stronger people than I kind of expected. None were wilting flowers, damsels in distress, or – for that matter, prostitutes.

September 26 2016