No Man's a Mountain

Cramer's debut sports all the ingredients for a deceptively clever western whodunit. What starts out as a predictable hayburner, with an honest rancher fighting the arrogant tycoon, becomes a complex mystery with clues and red herrings spread all over the Kansas prairie of 1876. Mort Kane and his young son, Joey, ride into River Bend, Kans., to take over the Circle K cattle ranch after its original owner, Mort's uncle, is killed in a suspicious shoot-out. Mort is the best of the good guys, honorable, forthright and unarmed. He quickly runs afoul of Colonel Felix Burkhalter, a cruel and ruthless land baron with lots of secrets and plenty of blood on his manicured hands. The Colonel and his psychopathic son, Duane, rule the county through extortion and intimidation. Backed by an unscrupulous sheriff and a fake U.S. Marshall, the Colonel tries all the old owlhoot tricks to get ownership of Mort's ranch. While Mort struggles to survive, he is also confounded by a missing wife, a hidden grave, a huge cache of money, a cryptic land survey and the obvious affection shown him by the Colonel's beautiful daughter. However, what should be a tightly wrapped conclusion of thundering gunfire is instead an unconvincing and suddenly abrupt ending. Leaving more questions than answers, it looks like Cramer just got tired of writing and decided to end this quickly. (July)