For a book published in 1977, Lewis Patten’s The Trial at Apache Junction might seem like a pretty tired Western.  But how tired, really, is such a novel when its story makes sense and its action passages are fairly imaginative?  It concerns a sheriff who knows the scoundrel he’s supposed to execute did not get a proper trial, and it’s fun despite a few stale details.  Throw in a perfidious deputy and a career-ending murder, and you just might end up with a notable entertainment.

Does the book have anything to say?  Nope.   It’s neither philosophical nor religious nor political.  It’s the usual trinket.  Have fun.

Sunset, 3/9/08, near Apache Junction, Arizona (Photo credit: gwilmore)