Marshal of Sundown

"Marshal of Sundown" by Jackson Gregory is a Western novel written in the mid-20th century. The story follows taciturn drifter Jim Torrance as he rides into Sundown and collides with smooth saloon boss Steve Bordereau, his hard partner Clark Murdo, town fixtures like Sam Pepper and Lying Bill Yarbo, and King Cannon’s embattled daughter, Sally Dawn. Expect saloon intrigue, predatory power plays, and a perilous flight into high-country winter.

The opening of the novel finds Torrance arriving in Sundown, quietly sizing up the town, its barkeeps, gamblers, and gossips, and noting a boast by Bordereau that he will have Sally Dawn under his roof within a week. A Saturday-night showcase upstairs at the Stag Horn delivers: Sally is unveiled as a new “hostess,” panics under Bordereau’s pressure, and in a back hall shoots him; Torrance swiftly hustles her out through the rear, ditches her buckboard, and hides her at his nearby ranch. When he tries to return her home, they find her gravely ill mother dead and Bordereau’s drunken crowd prowling the place, so Torrance secretly buries the body beside King Cannon’s grave and spirits the girl away. As searchers sweep the roads, he disguises Sally as his scrawny helper and bluffs a probing posse at his gate, then slips out with her at dusk. With a storm coming on, they ride for the mountains, battling snow and cold until they reach the abandoned Red Shirt mining camp above Pocket Valley, where they glimpse Murdo meeting an unseen superior in a nearby cabin. Choosing to hole up, Torrance stows the horses, kindles a hidden fire, and at dawn plans a quick supply run into Pocket, leaving Sally armed and out of sight as the snow deepens.