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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Hidden loot tests a small town—and a watchful deputy may see trouble before anyone else.
In One Jump Ahead, Ray Humphreys brings together the pleasures of a Western and a crime puzzle: hidden loot, small-town lawmen, and questions of trust. Something valuable is concealed, someone wants it, and keeping the peace means working out who is honest.
The sheriff stands for order in a place where people know one another. The deputy brings another strength: attention to the small things others miss. As money tests character, the story invites you to watch people closely, follow clues, and try to stay one jump ahead yourself.
What you’ll discover
- A town with secrets Enter a close-knit frontier world where knowing your neighbors does not settle every question.
- The weight of a badge See the pressure on a sheriff expected to keep order without much help.
- A deputy worth watching Follow a lawman whose sharp attention gives small details their place in the mystery.
- Money tests character Consider what hidden loot reveals about honesty and the people drawn to it.
- Room to guess ahead Enjoy the pull of a puzzle that asks you to notice what does not fit.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy small-town Westerns, clue-and-suspect puzzles you can follow by ear, and plain-spoken lawmen in a good-humored tale.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A vanished box unsettles Monte Vista
- Sympathy keeps Cook from asking questions
- Two witnesses bring uncertain accounts
- The drag mark hides missing evidence
- Cook settles on old robbery loot
- A wallet deepens the sheriff's despair
- Expectations shape what people believe
- Small clues remain in plain sight
- Keep checking what each clue proves
Who’s who
- Sheriff Joe CookThe kind-hearted sheriff of Monte Vista, who wants to solve the case of the buried box before the spring election.
- Shorty McKayThe quiet deputy who searches for clues, keeps his own counsel, and believes the case is not hopeless.
- Manuel PerezA one-legged ex-convict out on parole who comes to the sheriff asking for a job and a fresh start.
- Grandpa McMeelA former Indian scout with chin whiskers and a fondness for toddies, who saw lights and heard shovels under the bridge.
- Fred SpeersA young man who says he watched the two diggers from the creek bank with his girlfriend and describes them to the sheriff.
- Bert ClarkThe blunt county commissioner who worries about the election and tells the sheriff he will not find clues sitting in his chair.
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One Jump Ahead
A box vanishes from under a bridge in Monte Vista, and a sheriff with an election coming has no clues.
Easy readUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
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In short
Who would stand under a bridge at midnight and dig up a narrow box? Soon the whole town of Monte Vista is talking about the mystery.
One Jump Ahead at a glance
- Reading time
- About 20 min15 min fast, 25 min slow
- Length
- 4,930 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A parolee with a wooden leg asks for help
The story opens early outside the sheriff's office in Monte Vista. Manuel Perez is already waiting at the locked door when Sheriff Joe Cook and Shorty McKay come up the walk. He hobbles toward them on his wooden leg, in a prison shirt, with a wide smile. He has just come out on parole after three years behind bars.
Perez tells a sad tale. He has no money, no cattle, and his little place has fallen into ruin. He reminds the sheriff of an old promise to help him once he was free. Cook pities the one-legged man, though he is a convicted cattle rustler. He gives him a gentle lecture, and Perez swears he is done with that life. The sheriff reaches for the telephone to ask sheep ranchers about work.
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Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 20 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Humphreys, Ray. One Jump Ahead. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/one-jump-ahead.
Humphreys, R. (2026). One jump ahead. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/one-jump-ahead
Humphreys, Ray. One Jump Ahead. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/one-jump-ahead.
@book{humphreys2026one,
author = {Humphreys, Ray},
title = {One Jump Ahead},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/one-jump-ahead}
}
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What is One Jump Ahead about?
It is a short Western mystery set in Monte Vista, Colorado. Two men dig up a mysterious box from under a bridge at night, and Sheriff Joe Cook, his deputy Shorty McKay, and a nervous set of county commissioners try to work out who did it.
Who is Shorty McKay in One Jump Ahead?
Shorty McKay is Sheriff Cook's deputy. He is quiet, thorough, and easy to overlook beside the talkative sheriff, but he keeps checking small details and keeps believing that the case can be solved, even when his boss gives up.
Where and when is One Jump Ahead set?
The story takes place in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, in the town of Monte Vista, with Alamosa, Salida, Coyote Creek, and Larimer Creek close by. Telephones, trains, and wagons suggest an earlier Western era, though no exact year is given.
The author
Ray Humphreys
Writer
Ray Humphreys is the author of this Western mystery, and little else is recorded here about his life. The story itself shows a writer at home in the small towns of the San Luis Valley in Colorado, with its sheriffs, sheep ranchers, county commissioners, and telephone operators, and fond of brisk dialogue and light humor.
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