Lash LaRue Western #39

When a terrified Joe Tungsten receives a threatening note claiming he’s marked for death by an "Invisible Enemy," Roving Marshal Lash LaRue investigates, suspecting a trap designed to steal Tungsten’s money. As the mystery deepens, Lash follows a trail leading to Mademoiselle Fifi’s dress shop, where a sudden shooting shakes the town—only to find that the killer’s escape route and the suspicious holes in the wall point to a cleverly staged crime with no clear answer.

Dusty accidentally breaks Busby’s store window while trying to impress him with a pitch, then flees when the storekeeper comes after him. As he runs, he stumbles into a water trough, only to be caught and forced to pay for the damage—leading to a humiliating game where townspeople pay to throw baseballs at him to make up the cost.

In a dusty frontier town, a mysterious death shakes the community when a man is found dead with traces of poison in his stomach, leading suspicion to the man known as Apples Clark, who’s always seen eating apples. As the local marshal investigates, a former employee with a grudge is revealed to have planted a poisoned apple in Clark’s wagon, but the real twist lies in who’s really behind the scheme.

Lash LaRue intervenes when a group of homeless boys is caught sneaking into a freight train, leading to a tense confrontation after one of them is accused of stealing money. After uncovering the truth and facing the boy’s troubled past, Lash takes the boys under his wing and negotiates to buy a ranch, transforming it into a boys’ reform ranch where they can work, learn, and grow. The story follows his efforts to build a better future for the boys, but a shadow looms as one of them—Chuck—suddenly appears, having escaped from reform school.