Most of Kelton's thirty-five novels will be of interest to those who like either the setting or the theme of Cloudy in the West. Kelton is a good novelist who generally avoids "Cowboy and Indian" cliches, and his unsentimental depictions of ranch and cowboy life teach as much as they delight. His deep sense of classical values is apparent when he writes, as he often does, about the roles of civility and its opposite in building independent lives in areas where there was little external support. Such novels as The Day the Cowboys Quit (1971), The Time It Never Rained (1973), The Good Old Boys (1978), The Man Who Rode Midnight (1987), and The Pumpkin Rollers (1996) are among Kelton's best.