TILL DEATH

HAVE BRIDES, WILL TRAVEL 3

By William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone

Pinnacle, September 2021

First published by Kensington in hardback, April 2021

If anyone can get a shipment of brides to the church on time, it’s Bo Creel and Scratch Morton. But this time, they’ll have to cross hell and high water to escort four marriage-bound beauties to a remote gold mining town in Alaska. The brides-to-be include a dangerously attractive widow, her sweet-hearted niece, and two of their friends. The roadblocks to the altar include a lecherous saloon owner, a lovesick sailor, and a gang of hired guns. And that’s just for starters . . . 

The real trouble begins when they reach the Alaskan boomtown. It’s a hotbed of gold and greed, as wild as any on the Texas frontier. It’s clear to Bo and Scratch that the ladies’ “eligible bachelors” are definitely not as advertised. But – to Bo and Scratch’s surprise – neither are their mail-order brides. Before anyone starts exchanging vows and tossing rice, this gold-hungry wedding party will be swapping lead. And the RSVPs will be RIPs . . . 

Having enjoyed the first two Have Brides, Will Travel books, that saw the return of Bo Creel and Scratch Morton from the Sidewinders series, I was looking forward to reading Till Death. Our two elderly heroes soon find themselves facing superior odds from humans and nature, the latter taking place as their ship battles through a destructive storm. 

Quite a large portion of this tale takes place aboard ships and this makes for a welcome change to riding horses or wagons across inhospitable land. It is during this part that one of the mail-order brides, Caroline, struggles with her feelings for one of the sailors and those for her intended waiting in Alaska.

Bo and Scratch do their best to keep trouble at bay, but it seems everywhere they go they create new enemies, either those wanting to kill Creel and Morton or get to know the girls a whole lot better. Some of these adversaries are prepared to follow them to Alaska, and when various groups of these foes team up it looks like Bo and Scratch will have to take on impossible to beat odds.

Action come thick and fast and the plot writhes with twists. The author often switches from one set of characters to another and, more often than not, leaves them in danger, therefore making this a very difficult to put-down book as the reader will want to know what happens next. The final scenes feature some explosive gunplay that resolves everything in a suitable fashion and I was left hoping there will be a fourth book in the not-too-distant future. 

THE SHOTGUN WEDDING

HAVE BRIDES, WILL TRAVEL 2

By William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone

Pinnacle paperback, December 2020

Original Kensington hardback published May 2020

Bo Creel and Scratch Morton are mighty proud. They managed to deliver five mail-order brides to the New Mexico mining town of Silverhill in one piece. The town is so grateful, they want to make Bo their marshal and Scratch his deputy. Bo and Scratch are happy to accept the job – and even happier to attend the weddings of the fine young women they brought here….

Cecilia has two young suitors – a well-off rancher and a low-born miner – but one of them is not what he seems. Tomboyish Rose has gotten herself roped into a cow-rustling scheme – with the wild young buck who’s stolen her heart. Luella has a not-so-secret admirer of her own, a former journalist who’s making headlines – with a gang of Mexican bandits. And the refined Jean Parker thinks she’s finally found a suitable match in this raucous boomtown. But it turns out her educated doctor has a dishonorary degree – in killing.

With marriage prospects like these, Bo and Scratch will have to fight tooth and nail to keep the ladies safe and sound – and a real shotgun wedding is about to begin.

Beginning shortly after the end of the first book, this story picks up the threads that were left hanging at the close of that previous volume. You don’t need to have read the earlier work as the author explains enough backstory to fill new readers in on just what has gone before. 

Switching regularly between the cast members and often leaving them in precarious situations, the author ensures you’ll keep reading as you’ll need to know what happens next. At times we get longer sections as the major storylines are dealt with in gripping action scenes. Plotlines include rustling, intimidation, brutal murders, revenge, stagecoach robberies, masked identities and kidnapping. Bo and Scratch sure have their work cut out to keep the five young women safe and stop the crimes, something our two old-timers do with style, grit, fast guns and a touch of humour.

Like the first book, this one is a very enjoyable read. Its pacing is excellent and each set piece seems more deadly than the last, culminating in and exciting and violent gunfight. The very end of the story appears to set us up for the third book in the series, Till Death, that is scheduled for publication in October 2021. I for one am really looking forward to that.