The Oxbow Deed — Clement Hardin

Unjustly imprisoned for murder and cattle rustling, Jess Kingman is released after twelve years along with fellow inmate Dal Chantry. They ride together to Jess's Montana ranch, the Cross K, intending to make a new start together. Jess's daughter Millie, now grown, has been running the spread since her mother died, and her faithful monthly letters have documented the improvements she's made, from new cattle to flowerbeds. But when Jess and Dal haul up at the ranch, they find nothing except the long-abandoned homestead. What of Millie and her letters? Why are cattle from a neighboring ranch grazing on Cross K land? Jess is sure that Luke Blaine, his old enemy who railroaded him to prison, is behind it all. But when he and Dal investigate the mystery, the answers will lie at the end of a gun...