Charles Alden Seltzer

From fadedpage.com: "This is a western as only Seltzer could write it. It reads like an old-time movie which it was (starring Tom Mix). Mary, our heroine, is running the ranch alone waiting for her brother, whom she has not seen in years, to come and help as she is about to loose the ranch to the bad guys. Enter Square Deal Sanderson, honest and true—although he does have his moments because the reason he is there, is because he found this letter on a dead body, became curious and now he is a long lost brother...mix-ups, showdowns, fights, etc. And the good guys win. Terrific fun."

Seltzer's version of a trope that I've run into in other early 20th century Western novels: An innocent young woman fresh from the East, forced into marriage by a revenge-seeking young man with an outlaw reputation. She has come west to live with her father, who establishes himself immediately as not to be trusted. Once you get past the rather improbable premise, the story is of how a clever but inexperienced young woman navigates between the two men in her life, neither of whom are quite what they claim to be.