Review of "Branded," by Ed Gorman,

 Review of

Branded, by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0425196488

Five out of five stars

Murder mystery wrapped in a western context

 Andy Malloy is an adult male that lives with his father Tom and stepmother Eileen. They are a very mismatched couple in a terrible marriage. Tom is a drunk and Eileen is a woman that welcomes amorous adventures with many men. They fight all the time, and their marital difficulties are no secret to the townspeople.

 When Andy comes home and finds Eileen dead from a gunshot wound his first thought is that Tom killed her. Not thinking clearly, he buries Eileen in a shed and waits for his father to come home. His plans are compounded by a snoopy woman that had been on her way to visit Eileen. The town Sheriff Burkett is a man lacking in scruples, although he has reduced crime in the town. He is not above beating up a suspect and there have been rumors that he has moved many times, leaving behind a set of unsolved murders.

 There are many supporting characters, including Delia, a girl sweet on Andy, the Sheriff’s wife, a town drunk, two dishonorable deputies, Delia’s lawyer father, some town gossips and a woman with a severely disfigured face. All of them provide key backdrop points as we follow the action while Sheriff Burkett at times follows the law and other times takes it into his own hands.

 The writing is superb, and the reader is distracted as to who in fact pulled the trigger in the death of Eileen. The conversations are very modern in that the characters do not use dialog consistent with the cliches of the west. It is a great mystery story that could have been contextually placed in modern times, albeit in a small town.

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