The Crystal Game — Max Brand

In "The Fugitive," we encounter Stephen Macdona, who takes the law into his own hands when a wealthy woman decides to try and take what he values most. Tensions arise in "Uncle Chris Turns North" when Willie Merchant falls in love with the financial czar of the community's niece and Uncle Chris threatens to fence off the water that Willie's small herd relies on. In the final work in the trio, "Speedy's Crystal Game," the protagonist, as always, is able to outwit and outmaneuver even the deadliest men without the use of a gun. This time he does it with a crystal ball and a spinning crystal which he claims can tell him the future.

Max Brand(r) is the best-known pen name of Frederick Faust. He grew up in the rural San Joaquin Valley of California, attended Berkeley and is a well-recognized author in Western fiction. He was killed during a night attack on a hilltop village held by the German army while serving as a war correspondent in WWII.