''The Tall Stranger'' is a

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

novel by

Louis L'Amour Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels (though he called his work "frontier stories"); however, he also wrote hi ...

. It was written in 1957 and first published by Gold Medal Books. A filmed version starred

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

and

Virginia Mayo Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Brothers' biggest box-office money-maker in the late 1940s. ...

Plot

The story starts out in the 1860s with Ned Bannon coming across

cattle rustler Cattle raiding is the act of stealing cattle. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer.Baker, Sidney John (1945) ''The Australian language : an examination of the English language and English ...

s who shoot him and leave him for dead. A group of

wagon train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...

ers finding Ned Bannon badly wounded and all alone take him in and are soon approached by Mort Harper, who tells them of a great new trail that is perfectly safe. Bannon tells them it leads only to Bishop's Valley and not beyond that, but they follow Harper. Bannon knows about this paradise because his hostile half-brother owns the valley. When they come to Bishop's Valley, Harper convinces the members of the wagon train to stay in the valley. When Bannon tries to warn them of his half-brother he is forced out of the camp with a gun to his back by Harper and his gang. Harper and his gang try to drag the settlers into a land war, but ultimately Bannon outsmarts them. In the fighting Bannon's brother, the original white settler in the valley, dies redeeming himself for a lifetime of hating his brother. The settlers stay, and Bannon gets the girl.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tall Stranger 1957 American novels Novels by Louis L'Amour Western (genre) novels Bantam Books books