Sherrf Jory -- Milton Bass

Unlike the first two books in the series, this one was a paperback original. Jory's 17 now, and he's killed 18 men. He quickly kills a couple more before going back to Barronville, the place he'd left at the end of the first novel. Things have changed a lot, and the town's looking for a sheriff. Jory takes the job, which gives him the most responsibility he's had yet. He tries to live up to it, and he makes some more interesting decisions. In Mistr Jory, he makes a black man a section boss. This time, he appoints a woman as his deputy. She's quite a woman, too, as it turns out, as tough as Jory, if not tougher.

Jory runs into the usual troubles a sheriff has when a big rancher and his hands think they're above the law, and the ending of the book probably won't come as a surprise to anybody. Bass handles it effectively, though, and this time Jory finds out that people are maybe a little better, and braver, than he thought they were, or at least some of them are.

One thing I forgot to mention about the earlier books in the series is that Jory is a voracious eater. He remains one here, but the bad dreams and the barfing have pretty much disappeared. A good sign, I guess, but I'll have to wait until Gunfighter Jory arrives to find out for sure.