When Barjack, the gunfighter with one name, drifts into gang-ridden Asininity as the appointed marshal, he pistol whips the Snake Martin bunch into jail. A school teacher pens a best-selling paperback on this new celebrity. Then Asininity finds it doesn’t need a Dime Novel hero. Asked to resign, Barjack proves stubborn but not stupid. After closing all the saloons but the money-making Hooch House, he settles there with its curvesome owner. Back shooters and ambushers threaten the good life. Barjack learns a just released Snake Martin is behind the midnight mayhem. Barjack, his free drinking deputies and his hesitant biographer ride for a showdown. If he wins, he’ll retire when he feels like it; if he doesn’t, there’ll be another hefty dime novel for an epitaph. Conely’s biography of Barjack is more than funny—it’s downright hilarious.
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