Warlock

Set in the 1880s in a fictional southwestern mining town called Warlock, the novel traces the rise and fall of a hired gunman, the moral struggles of a deputy trying to establish legitimate law, and the violent forces that destroy reputations on the lawless frontier. The narrative unfolds through multiple perspectives, including the journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture, a local storekeeper.

Warlock has no formal government. The territorial military governor, General Peach, is negligent and possibly senile, and the distant Sheriff Keller in Bright's City ignores the town. When the outlaw rancher Abe McQuown, based in the nearby hamlet of San Pablo, drives out Deputy Canning by stationing gunmen behind him, the Citizens' Committee, a group of merchants serving as Warlock's unofficial governing body, hires Clay Blaisedell, a renowned lawman from Fort James famous for his gold-handled Colts. Tom Morgan, Blaisedell's close friend, arrives separately and purchases the Glass Slipper saloon.

John Gannon, a former rider for McQuown, returns to Warlock after losing a telegraph job in Rincon. He left McQuown's outfit after witnessing a massacre of Mexican vaqueros in Rattlesnake Canyon, an act that drove him to reject outlaw life. His younger brother Billy Gannon still rides for McQuown, and the townspeople view Gannon with suspicion.

Blaisedell establishes his authority in a confrontation at the Glass Slipper. He outdraws McQuown's affable lieutenant Curley Burne while Morgan covers the room with a shotgun. Gannon prevents the dangerous Jack Cade, one of McQuown's men, from shooting Blaisedell in the back. Blaisedell introduces the system of "posting," a form of banishment under which troublemakers are ordered out of town and face Blaisedell if they return. McQuown's men depart without bloodshed. Gannon tells Billy he is staying in Warlock.

Jessie Marlow, known as the "Angel of Warlock," runs the General Peach boardinghouse and a hospital for injured miners. She falls in love with Blaisedell. Dr. Wagner, her closest confidant, watches this attachment with skepticism. A fired miner named Frank Brunk agitates for a union against the Medusa mine and its cold superintendent MacDonald.

Morgan learns that Kate Dollar, his former lover, is traveling to Warlock with Pat Cletus. Pat's brother Bob was killed by Blaisedell in Fort James, and Pat has presumably come to avenge him. Morgan rides out and secretly shoots Pat during a stage robbery carried out by McQuown's men. Kate arrives and vows to stay until Blaisedell is destroyed, blaming both Morgan and Blaisedell for Bob Cletus's death; she had planned to marry Bob.

Carl Schroeder, who has volunteered as deputy, leads a posse that captures Billy, Pony Benner, and Calhoun, all McQuown's men, after the robbery. The prisoners are acquitted in Bright's City through perjured witnesses. The Citizens' Committee orders Blaisedell to post the acquitted men. When the Committee also tries to post Brunk, Blaisedell refuses, persuaded by Jessie that it would be unjust. Judge Holloway, a one-legged justice of the peace who serves without legal authority, warns that by rejecting the Committee's authority while issuing banishment orders alone, Blaisedell has made himself judge and executioner.

Billy, Pony, and Luke Friendly, another of McQuown's riders, ride into Warlock against their posting. In the Acme Corral, Calhoun fires from ambush; Morgan kills him. Blaisedell kills Pony and fatally wounds Billy. Gannon reveals that Billy was not at the stage robbery. Stricken, Blaisedell rides to Bright's City for trial. He is acquitted, but rumors spread that Morgan and Blaisedell were the real road agents. Blaisedell returns, resigns, and takes up dealing faro, a gambling card game, at the Glass Slipper.

MacDonald announces a severe wage cut, and the miners strike. MacDonald assembles hired gunmen, including San Pablo men like Jack Cade, calling them "Regulators." Gannon stands alone with a shotgun and orders them out of town. The Citizens' Committee persuades Blaisedell to resume his position.

When Brunk accuses Blaisedell and Morgan of being killers, Morgan challenges Brunk to a knife fight. Morgan's lookout Murch shoots Brunk when Brunk gains the upper hand. Miners form a lynch mob. Blaisedell refuses to fire on them, and the mob overwhelms the deputies. Jessie smuggles Morgan out in a buggy, driving through the crowd.

That night, Schroeder encounters Curley Burne and draws on him. Curley performs the "road agent's spin," offering his pistol butt-first then spinning it to fire, and Schroeder is mortally wounded. As he dies, Schroeder tells Gannon the shooting may have been accidental and asks Gannon to say so. At the hearing, Gannon swears to Schroeder's dying words; the town believes he lied. Blaisedell posts Curley out and kills him the next morning. Goodpasture, watching from a rooftop, feels it was an execution.

McQuown posts vigilante-style death threats against Blaisedell. Gannon rides alone to San Pablo to warn McQuown, who beats him while Cade pins his hand to a table with a thrown knife. Gannon refuses to recant his testimony. That night, Morgan rides to San Pablo and shoots McQuown in the back. McQuown's men bring the body to Warlock accusing Gannon, but Judge Holloway dismisses the case. As the Cowboys prepare to leave, Wash Haggin, one of McQuown's cousins, challenges Gannon, who kills Wash in self-defense.

Morgan meets secretly with Jessie, who argues his presence is destroying Blaisedell's reputation. They agree Morgan must be posted out. Morgan provokes a shooting at the Lucky Dollar, a rival saloon, hoping to force Blaisedell's hand. The Citizens' Committee votes to post Morgan, but Blaisedell resigns rather than banish his friend. Morgan then confesses to killing McQuown, trying to provoke Blaisedell, but Blaisedell refuses to act against him.

General Peach arrives with cavalry, persuaded by Arthur Willingham, president of the mining company, to transport the striking miners out of the territory. Blaisedell stands in the doorway of the General Peach with his Colts while townsmen take positions on rooftops. Peach dismounts and, turning his back on Blaisedell, beats him with a walking stick until he falls. The town watches its hero brought to the ground. Gannon creates a diversion by reporting a massacre of San Pablo cowboys in Rattlesnake Canyon by Mexican vaqueros avenging years of rustling. Peach rides out with all troops and dies when his horse falls in the canyon.

Morgan orchestrates his final sacrifice to restore Blaisedell's reputation. He locks Gannon in the jail, rampages through Main Street, and demands Blaisedell face him. Morgan draws first but deliberately fires wide. Blaisedell fires and kills him. Blaisedell carries Morgan's body into the Lucky Dollar, forces everyone to file past in silence, and sets fire to the building as a funeral pyre.

Gannon tells Blaisedell he must leave by morning or face arrest. Kate begs Gannon to leave Warlock with her, but he refuses, unable to abandon his duty. At dawn, Gannon walks toward Blaisedell on Main Street. Blaisedell draws with impossible speed but does not fire. He flings both gold-handled Colts into the dust, mounts a horse, and rides out of Warlock, ignoring Jessie's screams as she runs after him.

A closing letter from the elderly Goodpasture, written in 1924, reveals the aftermath. Gannon was murdered by Jack Cade, shot in the back, and Cade became the first man legally hanged in Peach County. Pike Skinner became the county's first sheriff, and Buck Slavin became its first mayor. Jessie accompanied Dr. Wagner to Alaska; she eventually married. Blaisedell's fate remains unknown. Goodpasture insists Blaisedell was real, a man he saw "eat and drink, and breathe and bleed," and expresses his wish to write a true history before all is forgotten.