John Sinclair; Won Prizes for Novels About the West

John Sinclair, 91, the prize-winning Western writer who lived the rural New Mexico life that he chronicled in his books. Sinclair’s best-known work, the 1943 novel “In Time of Harvest,” was reissued in September by Clear Light Press of Santa Fe. Other Sinclair novels included “Death in the Claimshack,” and “Cousin Drewey and the Holy Twister.” His nonfiction works include “New Mexico: The Shining Land” and “Cowboy Riding Country.” A 1977 magazine article, “Where the Cowboys Hunkered Down,” won a Western Heritage prize from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Sinclair also received the Golden Spur award from the Western Writers of America. He was born in New York City but raised in Scotland, where he also studied cattle ranching. He returned to the United States in the 1920s with plans of moving to Canada to become a cattle rancher, but settled in New Mexico. On Friday in Albuquerque, N.M.