Tex Ritter Western #43

Tex Ritter breaks up a street fight and discovers that the man called Melville the Mentalist, stranded in Sawtooth Junction after a travelling show, has been using a clever sleight-of-hand trick to cheat the townspeople out of their money while posing as a mind reader. When Ritter agrees to test Melville's abilities, he quickly spots the con—but the mentalist pulls a derringer and forces the singing ranger at gunpoint toward the edge of town, demanding he perform to keep up appearances.

Tex Ritter finds himself separated from his horse and dog when he rescues a stranger from the river—only to discover the man is the Coyote Kid, a hired gunslinger sent to take him down. Pinned in a cabin with nowhere to run and no weapons at hand, Tex must rely on quick wits and an unexpected tool to turn the tables on his would-be killer.

Ranger Rip Talbot survives a brutal ambush that leaves him recovering for weeks, only to discover that his assailant, Logan, has been displaying his badge as a trophy in his saloon—turning the stolen ranger star into a badge of shame. With his strength returning, Talbot sets out to reclaim what's his and bring Logan to justice, but walking into a den of gunmen on the mend proves far more dangerous than a wounded man might expect. This is a tale of a ranger's determination to restore his honor and stop a criminal who thought he'd already won.

When rustlers make off with old man Phelps' cattle—vanishing without a trace at the river's edge—his son Pat returns from college with a hunch and a childhood memory that might crack the case wide open. As the gang strikes again, Pat and the sheriff race to uncover the secret behind the impossible disappearances, leading to a showdown that forces Pat to confront an old friend turned outlaw.

Tex Ritter arrives in Taos after a stagecoach robbery to investigate a gang of outlaws led by Cope Hardy—but when someone takes a shot at him that same night, he realizes the real mastermind must be closer than he thought. With his faithful dog Fury on the trail, Tex tracks the bushwhacker to the gang's mountain hideout, where he'll have to use his wits to expose the traitor among the men who hired him.