The Pumpkin Rollers

Six-time Golden Spur winner Kelton (The Far Canyon, etc.) produces westerns that are far from routine oaters, and this new novel set in post-Civil War Texas is high-quality fare. Pumpkin rollers such as Kelton's new hero, Trey McLean, are farmboys-turned-cowpokes who don't yet know one end of a steer from the other. When the ""War of Northern Aggression"" ends and his brother returns from fighting the despised Yankees, Trey leaves the suddenly crowded East Texas homestead and heads west with $17 in his pocket. After losing his money to a sharpie, the green youth reaches the cowtown of Fort Worth. There, he gets a job as a drover, meets his future love and learns the herding trade from a grizzled old-timer. The requisite violence of the genre is provided by marauding Comanches and gunman Jarrett Longacre, who pops up in Trey's life with uneasy regularity. Trey eventually becomes a pro drover, marries Sarah and watches the cycle of life on the range begin again. Though not Kelton's best, with its colorful argot, lively period detail and manly action, this novel will no doubt be corralled by a passel of western fans. (Mar.)