I read "Riders of the Purple Sage" when I was 15, and that was, let me see, oh about forty years ago.
It struck me as being a powerful and atmospheric novel, the hero (was he called Lassiter?)was the archetypal western hero. It also inculcated some pretty powerful prejudices against Mormonism. I was never able to watch the Osmonds subsequently without being deeply suspicious.
I also vividly remember one passage where Lassiter unbuttons the shirt of his would be killer after wounding "him", only to discover that the assailant is actually a beautiful girl....