SLOCUM BURIED ALIVE

 

SLOCUM BURIED ALIVE

Book 424 of 430 + 17 Giant Editions

By Jake Logan

Cover illustration by Sergio Giovine

Jove, June 2014

Passing uneasily through the dried-up town of Espero, Texas, John Slocum learns soon enough that his apprehension is justified. After a not-so-friendly welcome at the Six Feet Under Saloon, he’s given the choice between a bullet or a bit of employment: Escort the town mortician’s strikingly pretty bride-to-be from a train station at Dexter Junction – in exchange for a hefty sum.

But with someone after the gunslinger and the mysterious beauty, Slocum reckons that the undertaker neglected to tell him the whole story. There’s treachery in store for Slocum upon returning to Espero, a place where men have been known to land in an early grave… much too early…

The author had me hooked right from the start and soon added more questions that needed answering, along with mystery upon mystery. Are any of the characters Slocum meets really who they say they are? The undertaker’s bride-to-be, Miranda Madison, is certainly hiding something… and who is the man trailing her? The mortician is definitely acting strangely. What is his game? He doesn’t act like a completely sane man either… especially when he announces his wedding gift to his wife-to-be will be a newly made coffin! 

The book contains plenty of action, and some truly horrific scenes as the undertaker’s sinister acts are slowly exposed. Slocum has to endure being buried alive, a fate many of us fear, and this part of the book will stay with me for a long time, as will the truth behind the undertaker’s plans and that of Miranda. 

I believe the author behind the pseudonym of Jake Logan for this book is Robert Vardeman and here he has come up with a very memorable plot. It was also great to see that he includes a fair bit about Slocum’s past; explaining how he became a man wanted by the law, and how he’s still willing to commit crimes so he can survive. 

Slocum Buried Alive proved to be a very entertaining read and I’m now eager to dig out more of Vardeman’s entries into the series to see if they’re just as good as this one.

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here

ALL MY SINS REMEMBERED

 

BLOODY JOE MANNION 5

ALL MY SINS REMEMBERED

By Peter Brandvold

Wolfpack Publishing, October 2022

When the savage bounty hunter Ulysses Xavier Lodge comes to town wanting to spark one of Jane Ford’s pretty doxies at the San Juan Saloon & Hotel, Jane and two bouncers give the bear-like giant the bum’s rush. Incensed, Lodge returns and shoots Jane, grievously wounding her.

Jane and Bloody Joe had been on the outs, their marriage dissolved, but now with Jane’s life teetering on the edge, Joe realizes how much he really loves the pretty redhead and what a fool he’s been. Enraged and knowing he can do nothing for Jane in town – she’s in a coma and only time will tell – Joe takes to the vengeance trail, shadowing Lodge high into the Sawatch Range.

Bloody Joe has faced some formidable foes, but none like Ulysses Lodge. With a snowstorm bearing down, Joe and Lodge go head-to-head in the high, stormy rocks where an angry wildcat might just have the final say…

Peter Brandvold sure puts Bloody Joe through the wringer in this one. Fuelled by rage, Joe is going to suffer both mentally and physically during his pursuit of Lodge, a man who seems to be one step ahead of the lawman at all times. There are some particularly vicious scenes of brutal violence ahead, one of which sees Lodge taunting Joe with a gruesome note that maddens the lawman even more, makes him more determined to bring Lodge to justice.

Back in town, there’s a problem for deputy Henry McCallister to deal with when he falls in love with a very attractive school teacher. Who are the rough looking men who seem to know her? What do they want? Things get even more complicated for Henry when his former girlfriend, Molly, gets involved. 

And what of Bloody Joe’s daughter, Vangie? She’s keeping watch over Jane, praying for her recovery and is struggling with her feelings towards a new doctor in town who is doing his best to keep Jane alive.

Peter Brandvold regularly switches between the three storylines, often leaving one or two sets of characters in a perilous situation when moving onto others thus ensuring that the reader keeps turning the pages. The plots evolve well, offering exciting action sequences, twists, and lively dialogue. Emotional turmoil plays a big part too, and you’ll feel the suffering and confusion along with the characters. Hanging over all this is the question of whether Jane will live or die…

All My Sins Remembered is another terrific entry in the Bloody Joe Mannion series that left me eager to read the next book as soon as I can.

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here

BADGE FOR BRADDOCK

 

BADGE FOR BRADDOCK

By Kirk Hamilton

A Coronado Western (No. 1063) from Cleveland Publishing – year unknown.

Kirk Hamilton is one of a handful of pseudonyms used by Australian author Keith Hetherington; a writer who had 800 – 1,000 stories published. Those put out by Cleveland fall into the novella category of story length.

Due to the short length of this tale, there is no room for padding, no room for anything that doesn’t propel the story forwards at a brisk pace. Braddock is a bounty hunter, a type of man despised by many, especially when his latest prey is brought in dead and backshot. The townspeople want him gone as soon as possible. Only thing is it’ll take a while for his bounty money to be authorized, meaning Braddock will have to hang around the town of Beaumont for a few days.

Beaumont has a new, inexperienced lawman, Kip Pickett. The local bigwigs are moulding the young sheriff into a man they can control as they conspire to run the town. When Pickett learns that Braddock is an ex-lawman he hires the bounty hunter as his deputy, much to the disgust of the town’s big shots. A fired stagecoach guard learns of some valuable paperwork being held in the safe of the stageline and plots to steal it with the blessing of the town’s criminal element but Braddock could be a problem so he’ll have to be removed, permanently. There’s more to the story than that though, such as the young woman who runs the stageline hating bounty hunters and thus despising Braddock even though he’s trying to help her. This adds for some electrifying dialogue between the two.

There’s plenty of action and the author took me by surprise with one shooting. The final showdown was exciting and even though it finished the story as expected it did bring about a satisfying conclusion to the tale. 

I’ve yet to be disappointed by anything written by Keith Hetherington and this story proved to be another great tale from him that left me looking forward to reading more of his work very soon.

WESTERN NOVELS and Short Stories

 

WESTERN NOVELS and Short Stories
British Edition, Vol. 1, No. 5
L. Miller & Son Ltd. London

According to the FictionMags Index, 105 issues of this pulp were published in America. Only a handful came out in the UK – eight published by L. Miller & Son, and another three were published by Thorpe & Porter. I only own two, both from L. Miller & Son, neither of which contain a date to indicate the year it came out. The stories in the UK editions seem to have been sourced from a variety of American pulps.

Vol. 1, No. 5 has 64 pages and the opening novella takes up 35 of those pages. The Revenge by Joseph Chadwick is the second story I’ve read by him. Dan Kirby was now in a position to pay back those who sent him down some dark trails. Kirby had amassed a small fortune and was now able to buy the ranch that had got rid of him. He’s now a hard man and begins kicking the small squatter ranchers off his land. He also marries the girl he loved back then, even though she doesn’t appear happy by this and they live in separate buildings on his ranch. Some of the squatters won’t go without a fight. Then there’s the man who Kirby’s new wife was in a relationship with before Kirby returned. Does Nan still have feelings for him? Chadwick pulled me into the story easily, and I soon wanted to find out what would become of Kirby. Would he find happiness? Would his ranch succeed? His hard nature and his determination to have his revenge against those who’d wronged him soon had me doubting he’d achieve happiness. There’s plenty of tough talk and action before everything is resolved. Chadwick even explaining what happens in future years to the survivors. 

Next, we have the short story Apache Smoke by Clifton Adams. This is the grittiest tale in this pulp and tells the story of Matt Reppy’s attempt to get out of Apache country with his gold samples. Making Reppy’s task even more difficult is the fact he is on foot, with little food or water and can only risk travelling at night. The situation gets worse when he meets another man who has trouble walking due to an arrow wound in his leg. When this stranger, Talbert, discovers Reppy’s gold, he decides he wants it for himself and he gets the drop of Reppy. Finding out whether one of them, or both escape the Apaches provided some tense reading making this the best story in this issue of Western Novels and Short Stories.

Backfire Loot by Lawrence A. Keating is another short story. This one tells of when Sheriff Bill Dowd conducted a funeral for a cat that almost led to another funeral – his own. This is a bank robbery tale with the added plotline of a dead cat that distracts Dowd from his duty. Saying anymore will ruin it for anyone who reads this so all I’ll add is that I found it a fun read even though the twist ending was easy to predict. 

The fourth story, The Cast-Iron Alibi by Gunnison Steele (real name B. W. Gardner) seemed out of place in a western pulp to me. Nick Ryan could prove he wasn’t the murderer being sought for – prove it with the finality of the grave. This short story is a crime thriller in the noir style set in modern times. It was certainly a good read and had an excellent sting-in-the-tale. 

The final tale was another short story and this was Education of a Cowman by Stephen Payne. John Webb had a lot of qualities, but patience with men less strong than himself wasn’t one of those qualities and this is demonstrated time and again as he sets up a new ranch. Succeeding in this venture is all that matters, whatever the cost. Webb is on the path of becoming a lonely bitter man. It’s down to a life-long friend to make him see sense and become more human again. And that’s the plot of this one – or what little plot there is. Most of the action takes place off stage as the story progresses rapidly in years. It’s not gripping in any way and I really didn’t care what happened to Webb. I also found Stephen Payne’s writing style difficult to follow as it just didn’t hold my attention. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Payne before and on the strength of this I won’t be rushing out to find more of his work.

This is not the best pulp I’ve read but I’m glad I did as I really enjoyed Clifton Adams tale. Joseph Chadwick and Lawrence A. Keating also provided entertaining reads. Gunnison Steele’s story was a surprise as to it not being a western but I did enjoy it. 

As I said at the beginning, the UK editions of Western Novels and Short Stories took their yarns from a number of different American pulps, so here’s a list of where they originally came from:

The Revenge by Joseph Chadwick – Western Novels and Short Stories, December 1952

Apache Smoke by Clifton Adams – Western Novels and Short Stories, December 1952

Backfire Loot by Lawrence A. Keating – All Western Magazine, November 1937

The Cast-Iron Alibi by Gunnison Steele – I’ve not been able to discover where this first appeared.

Education of a Cowman by Stephen Payne – Western Novels and Short Stories, December 1952

HODGE

 

HODGE

By Matt Chisholm

Panther Books, 1958

The stranger rode into the dusty cowtown . . . and there was Cass, who should have been dead! But he wasn’t, he was the sheriff, and the feud which had simmered in years gone by, blazed out with renewed violence. Cass was now backed by the law and in no time at all he had planned a ‘legal’ killing . . . and the noose hung ready.

This was Matt Chisholm’s second book, and his first to feature characters he would write about again. Matt Chisholm is a pseudonym for author Peter Watts, who also wrote westerns as Cy James and Luke Jones. Altogether, he had about 100 books published and was one of the UK’s best selling western authors.

The opening chapters are extremely suspenseful as Hodge comes across a cabin outside of town where a young girl lives. Inside are two hurt men and it appears they are waiting for her father to return home. Hodge is soon held at gunpoint and it is obvious there’s something very wrong here. Hodge turns the tables and it isn’t long before he rides into town and gets the shock of his life when he discovers a man he thought he’d killed still lives. He’s also taken aback when he finds a woman, Rose, living in town too that he was once sweet on. Seems she’s promised to Cass’s brother, Geoff. From then on Hodge’s life only goes downhill and deadly confrontations came one after another with barely a chance to take a breath between them.

Like most of Chisholm’s characters, Hodge isn’t infallible and his mistakes put him in very dangerous situations. Chisholm often ends his chapters, or scenes, with cliff-hangers, making it very difficult to put the book down as you’ll need to know what happens next. Once Cass works out how to get rid of Hodge legally, the author really builds the tension as a beaten Hodge is taken to jail and is soon standing in a wagon bed awaiting the fixed outcome of the townsfolk trying him which will surely result in his hanging. This is truly a great how-is-he-going-to-get-out-of-that moment. 

Even at this early stage in Peter Watts’s writing career the author’s strengths are very clear. Superb characterization, excellent plotting, and none-stop action that all combine to provide edge-of-the-seat reading. 

RIDE WITH THE DEVIL

HAWKE 1

RIDE WITH THE DEVIL

By Robert Vaughan

HarperTorch, November 2004

Mason Hawke had success, fame, respect. Then war made him a murderer – and left him scarred in the worst possible way. Haunted by a past as black as the depths of Perdition, Hawke’s looking for a place to start over, to disappear. And Salcedo is just a stop along the trail. A small piece of Hell in Texas, it’s a town once run by outlaws and now ruthlessly bullied by a mob that’s twice as bad, though they call themselves “lawmen.” And the top dog’s a man who was once Hawke’s childhood friend.

Mason Hawke wants no part of small frontier-town civil war. One’s brewing here, and there’ll be no way to stay neutral – especially when conscience and a killer force his hand. But doing the right thing could expose the past Hawke’s so desperate to hide – and even dying might be a preferable fate . . . 

Robert Vaughan came up with an interesting hero for this five-book series. Mason Hawke is an accomplished pianist. He’s toured Europe and is internationally recognized as one of the best. But he put all that fame and fortune on hold as he felt the need to return to America to fight in the Civil War. A conflict that taught him another skill, one he became extremely good at – killing. After that war he became a drifter, going from town to town earning his way playing piano in various saloons, which is why he ended up in Salcedo.

The story contains flashbacks to the war, to Hawke’s childhood. It’s not only Hawke who has to deal with a violent past. Flaire Delaney, who might be a romantic interest for Hawke, has her own demons to deal with. It’s also her brother that Hawke finds hanging from a tree and whose body he brings into town against the wishes of those who hanged him, which is the start of the troubles Hawke will have to deal with.

Vaughan also includes a real person in part of the book that strengthens how well-known Hawke is in the music world. Hawke takes Flaire to see a concert given by the American composer, pianist and virtuoso performer, Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Hawke and Flaire are taken backstage to Gottschalk’s dressing room where Flaire discovers the two men know each other very well. But it’s what is happening in Salcedo at the same time that will have violent repercussions for all involved. 

The story is told at a fast pace and includes some fairly horrific scenes. Vaughan switches between characters regularly as the tale unfolds in ever increasing tension before everything erupts in an explosive and gripping climax that could see Hawke’s childhood friend, Culpepper, and his band of Regulators get their comeuppance. 

I own, and have read, a lot of books written by Robert Vaughan, either under his own name or pseudonyms, and have yet to find one that I haven’t enjoyed. Ride with the Devil is right up there with the best of his work and has left me wanting to read the next book in the series as soon as I can.

American readers can get a copy here.

British readers can get a copy here.

HELL BOUND FOR SPINDRIFF

HELL BOUND FOR SPINDRIFF

By Dale Graham

The Crowood Press, 2017

When outlaw Denny Blake betrayed the Arizona Raiders during a bank robbery in the town of Spindriff, he little realized the storm he would unleash. Sentenced to twenty years in Arizona’s notorious Yuma prison, gang leader Smokin’ Joe McCabe has vowed to kill Blake and burn the town to the ground, renaming it Hellfire.

Escaping after only two years, McCabe amasses a new gang and heads for Spindriff. On the trail he encounters another prodigal who has run foul of the town’s spineless officials. Red Spot Rick Norton has his own reasons for seeking vengeance and refuses to join up with McCabe. A clash between right and wrong is inevitable. But who will emerge victorious? Harsh accusations and hot lead will fly thick and fast before the final showdown.

It's been a while since I read a book by Dale Graham, who also wrote Black Horse Westerns as Ethan Flagg, so I thought it was time to give him another try. 

Hell Bound for Spindriff is a fast-moving story that combines a couple of different plots that soon had me wondering how everything would be resolved. I’m going to be a bit vague with the reasons for Norton’s return to Spindriff, but will reveal that one of them is a woman, a young lady he intended to marry but finds she is now engaged to someone else and she has nothing but hate for him. 

Dale Graham creates an impending sense of doom over the town and its citizens. These townsfolk won’t be any match for McCabe and his gang. Will Norton help them? Why should he though as nearly everyone wants him out of town. It seems Norton’s only friend is the retired lawman, Cody Saggart and he’s beginning to doubt Norton. 

The author includes plenty of action and a couple of twists before the story comes to a satisfying conclusion. 

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here