While there's definitely a crime involved in Elmore
Leonard's Western, "Three-Ten to Yuma," and the plot
concerns an officer of the law bringing in a wanted
criminal, I think it's a bit of a stretch for the editors
of
this anthology to include this story in a collection
devoted
to the hard-boiled genre. I'm a great fan of Western
movies, but hard-boiled crime/mysteries, to me, have
always
stood alone as a unique type of fiction.
Nevertheless, I found this one catching and holding my
interest right from the start with it's almost
unbearable
suspense. It builds steadily right from the opening
paragraphs and doesn't let up until the end. Although
we
can more or less guess what's going to happen during
the
course of events -- the brother of the murdered man
showing
up, the gang of killers gathering -- this doesn't detract
at
all from the impact of the writing.
SPOILER ALERT!
I do have to say that the ending was a bit of an
anti-climax
in that the deputy manages to get his prisoner aboard
the
train through a hail of gunfire from six men without
even
getting nicked -- but, this is only on looking back
after
finishing the story because the excellence and skill of
the
writing carry you along with the action.
Best wishes to all -- Dan
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