To Elmer Kelton the brush country of southwest Texas is home Nobody knows Texass history people beauty and dangers as well as this greatest of Western writersBarbed Wire the first novel in this omnibus is the story of one-time cowboy Doug Monahan who runs a fencing crew outside the town of Twin Wells Monahan a likeable hard-working Irishman and his workers dig post-holes and string red painted barb wire for ranchers as protection against wandering stock rustlers and land hungry cattle baronsTheir fencing operation is opposed by Captain Andrew Rinehart a former Confederate officer and an old-school open range cowman of the huge R Cross spread With his brutal foreman Archer Spann--who does the violent work of chasing squatters off the range--Rinehart wages a barb wire war against Doug Monahan A second colorful tale of the brush country is Llano River Dundee a onetime cowboy one of Monahans fencing crew in Barbed Wire wanders into the town of Titusville broke tired and itching for a fight Town patriarch John Titus hires Dundee to find out who is rustling his cattle but he already has a culprit in mind--Blue Roan Hardesty Once a friend now a sworn enemy of the powerful Titus clan Hardesty is Tituss choice for villain--but Dundee is determined to find out the truth even if it costs him his job.
