J. Burnett Smith

Always Standing by J. Burnett Smith

Brad Hastings, a former rodeo cowboy, is on leave of absence from his job as a deputy sheriff in New Mexico. He catches up with his father, Doug, who is entered in a rodeo in Mesquite, Arizona, and is in trouble with the law as usual. Doug is now in danger of violating his parole when he is thrown in jail for starting a brawl in a local saloon and he is also a possible suspect in the attempted murder of one of the rodeo promoters. The victim, a man named Mancuso, is not expected to live. Brad needs to clear his father before the local sheriff realizes that Doug is on parole from an earlier incarceration for murder in Arizona. Information on Mancuso leads Brad to Reno, Nevada, where he soon learns of a plot to kill an old friend and her husband. When Brad suspects this same plot may be tied to the Arizona incident, he seeks help from his cousin, Gary, a Phoenix police officer. The two men attempt to prevent more killing and clear Doug of any involvement in the current crime.