Longarm #353

LONGARM AND THE TINY THIEF

as by Tabor Evans

Jove, April 2008

Longarm thinks the ten-year-old stealing food in the mercantile store is just a scared kid – until his knife and quick reflexes damn near send the deputy marshal to the happy hunting ground. And when a proper widow unexpectedly comes to the boy’s defense, Longarm finds himself blindsided in more ways than one. But when he learns the boy’s mother and sister have been kidnapped by outlaws planning a big score, Longarm will do anything to get the family back together – no matter who he has to plant on Boot Hill…

This entry into the Longarm series is well written, full of incident and has a puzzle for Long to solve near the end thus adding a touch of mystery to the story. Teaming Longarm up with a ten-year-old makes a change from his usual sidekicks and also allowed the author to create some heart-warming moments as well as add some urgency to the plot, as Longarm and the boy race to save his mother and sister.

Unfortunately it took awhile for the book to get going, after the boy stabs Longarm and is thrown in jail, I felt Longarm’s recovery period was a bit drawn out, although it did allow the author to include one of the obligatory sex scenes.

Overall, though, the story will satisfy most readers of the Longarm series, but for me I’d have liked a stronger plot – one that took up the whole story. For new readers to the series it may be wise to try a different book first. One for Longarm fans only.