Rancher's Blood

"Rancher's Blood" is the third Jefferson Birch Western written by W.W. Lee, who is better known as mystery novelist Wendi Lee. Birch, who works for Tisdale Investigations, is hired to find and deliver Clem Johnston, who is accused of killing Frank Ashton, a wealthy rancher in Carson City, Nevada. Johnston was found standing over Ashton's body with a bloody knife in his hands. Birch finds Johnston quickly. Birch and his boss Arthur Tisdale (who goes along to see how Birch operates) begin the journey to Carson City. They lose Johnston when his sister Emma helps him escape. Birch does not believe Johnston killed Ashton, and sets out to prove it. This novel is a Western with a mystery as are the other Jefferson Birch novels. The thing I enjoy about Lee's Westerns is that she puts the reader back in the Old West, something not all Western writers accomplish. I really enjoyed this novel, and look forward to reading the other 3 in the series.