VALLEY OF THUNDER

By Sam Clancy

The Crowood Press, February 2017

Josh Ford was the best man the Marshal Service had, so when the Governor of Montana needed someone to look into the disappearance of wagon trains in the Bitterroots, Ford was the man they chose. What he found was a brutal autocrat who ruled with such terror, the like of which had never been seen by Ford. 

From Helena, Montana, to the Bitterroot Mountains, then on to Seattle, Ford fights for his life and the lives of others against a maniac and his small army. When a final twist puts it all in jeopardy, Ford realizes that the badge he wears may be the difference between law and justice.

This is the first of four books about United States Marshal Josh Ford, a very capable lawman who prefers to work alone and doesn’t always follow the rules. This often infuriates his father, Bass Reeves, and the Marshal Service. It soon becomes obvious that Ford and Reeves don’t get along with each other very well at all. 

The book is a fast paced read, filled with well-crafted characters and exciting action scenes. The author really stacks the odds against Ford, be they men or animal. It doesn’t take Ford long to discover what has been happening to the wagon trains, trouble is it leads to his capture and a desperate escape bid. Ford also rides with an unusual posse to take out the small army he faces.

But the story doesn’t end there. The men Ford really wants are on the run. Tracking them down leads to a vicious final shootout that should satisfy all western fans.

Sam Clancy is a pseudonym used by Australian author Brent Towns. Brent is well known for his action-packed page turner reads. Brent’s descriptive passages are very visual giving his tales a cinematic feel and his plots grab your attention from the opening words and don’t loosen their grip until the end. If you’ve never tried any of Brent Towns’ books, then do yourself a favour and do so at your earliest opportunity. 

The Other Madden

By Brent Towns

The Crowood Press, March 2019

There is oil on Madden land and Bren Deavers means to have it. But when Joe Madden is killed and sent home wrapped in barbed wire, things heat up. For the Maddens are fighters and Elmira and Emily are going to do just that.

But Joe also had a brother. One nobody talked about. The dangerous one.

They just referred to him as – the other Madden!

Trace Madden, the other Madden, is an outlaw. This makes for some interesting situations when he arrives in town to discover who killed his brother. People fear him. The law doesn’t want him around and neither does Bren Deavers. Worse than that, his mother would rather he left too, but she has a problem there as she likes Trace’s companion, Meredith, who has also ridden the outlaw trail alongside Trace. So, the story contains some complicated relationships that will have to be resolved while justice is sort for the death of Joe Madden.

Brent Towns tells the story in a mixture of first person and third. The switches between the two types of viewpoint are smoothly done and I hardly noticed as I became immersed in the fast-paced story that explodes with violent action without hardly taking a breath between these bouts of gunplay. 

Towns also has a couple of plot twists that came as a welcome surprise, but to say more would spoil the story for anyone intending to read this entertaining book. 

Brent Towns is an Australian author who writes Black Horse Westerns under other pseudonyms too, these being B.S. Dunn and Sam Clancy. I’ve read books under all these names and have yet to be disappointed in any of them.  

Hellraiser!

By Sam Clancy

Crowood Press, March 2019

After his last indiscretion, Bass sends Josh Ford to Texas. Let him be someone else’s headache for a while. The marshal there is an old friend and welcomes the badge-toting hellraiser with open arms and a whole wagon load of trouble.

Then word comes that Bass is missing and Ford swears he’ll walk through the fires of Hell itself to find out what has happened to his father.

In the end, he does just that. Shoulder to shoulder with a marshal called Willis and a fast gun named Laramie Davis.

Like the other books I’ve read by this author, Hellraiser! is an action-packed tale that moves forwards at a terrific pace as Ford finds himself involved in two different missions. In fact, the book is divided into two parts, so it’s almost like you are getting two stories for the price of one.

The first part sees Ford taking on the Dent clan, a vicious family that nearly everyone in town is related to in some way and most of them are out to kill Ford. There’s a neat twist as to one of the Dent’s careers that is the cause for even more anger and bloodshed. 

The second part covers Ford’s attempt to find his missing father and as the death toll rises it becomes apparent this is a tale of revenge that sees Ford forced into becoming an executioner for those who’ve taken Bass. This of course causes a dilemma for Ford as he has to decide between enforcing the law or committing murder.

I don’t think it’s much of a secret that Sam Clancy is a pseudonym used by author Brent Towns who also writes as B.S. Dunn. Under this latter name he wrote a five book series about Laramie Davis, and it’s great to see him appear in Hellraiser!, the teaming of Ford and Davies making for a terrific partnership in the quest to find and free Bass.

Hellraiser! is the fourth book starring Josh Ford, and even though it ends like it could be the last, I hope it isn’t. Here’s wishing Sam Clancy/Brent Towns will write another soon as I’ve yet to read any work by this author I haven’t enjoyed, and Josh Ford is one of my favourite characters he’s created. 

The Man Who Burned Hell!

By Sam Clancy

The Crowood Press, February 2018

The little town was Serenity: in name and nature. Then the railroad and miners came, dragging violence and death behind them. Renamed Hell, the sleepy town changed under the rule of Ike Cordis.

Known as The Devil, Cordis controlled The Three Horsemen, the fastest guns in town.

Long forgotten was the fourth horseman – a man riding a blue roan. A man determined to make The Devil burn in Hell!

The third book from Sam Clancy once more features United States Deputy Marshal Josh Ford, son of Bass Reeves. You don’t need to have read either of the previous novels as this is pretty much a stand-alone story. 

Sam Clancy is a pseudonym used by Brent Towns and he starts this book with a prologue that lasts a couple of pages and ends with the line, ‘What the hell have you done?’ Combined with the fiery scene that Bass finds himself riding in to, which leads to him uttering those quoted words, how can any reader not want to find out too?

The author knows how to pace a story well, has created a terrific cast of characters of both sexes and has come up with a hard-hitting plot that demands you keep reading. There is also a further complication for Ford as he finds his former lover in town. Action comes thick and fast, meaning there is never a dull moment in this excellent tale before it ends in a dramatic and superbly told final showdown.

I never got around to reading the earlier Josh Ford books, Valley of Thunder and Even Marshals Hang! but on the strength of this entry into the series I must rectify that oversight as soon as possible.

Bugles and Blood

LEW EDEN #1

By Ben Bridges and Brent Towns

Bookends, October 2017

Lew Eden was thirteen when he killed his first man. A lot more died at his hand before he finally had his fill of blood and bullets. Then he decided to enlist in the newly-formed Seminole-Negro Scouts, hoping to do what he could to broker peace between white man and red.

But an Indian-hater named Cramer killed Lew’s Sioux woman. After that, Lew wouldn’t rest until he’d put one last man in his grave. But Fate had other ideas. Scouting for General Crook, he was to take part in the Battle of the Rosebud, where the killing started up all over again …

Two well-known authors in the western genre have teamed up to write a series of novels featuring Lew Eden, a scout first met in their Company ‘C’ series, who they’ve now decided to write a spin-off series about.

The Lew Eden books should appeal to all western readers, either those who enjoy purely imaginary tales or those that put fictional characters into true historical events. It’s the latter category that this book falls into.

The book starts with events that see Eden becoming romantically involved with a Sioux woman, Morning Dove after she nurses him to health after he's wounded in a vicious fight saving a well-known Sioux leader from being killed. After six men rape and murder Morning Dove, Eden is consumed with rage and rides out after the killers but he fails in completing his quest for vengeance and one of the killers escapes his justice and Eden finds himself scouting for Crook only to learn that the man he’s hunting is also a soldier but Eden has to keep his anger in check as more important events unfold as the army rides towards the Rosebud.

There has already been plenty of action in this very fast moving tale but the story now becomes one long fight as the soldiers find themselves facing superior numbers of warriors in a battle that they will struggle to come out of alive. 

The story is now told in chapters that are broken by headings that help keep track of which part of the battle is taking place and who is involved. The majority of characters we now read about were real people and the authors also include a lot of historical fact. The skill of the writers comes to the fore as this part of the tale could read like a history lesson but it doesn’t as they blend fact and fiction together seamlessly in a desperate fight for survival.

So does Lew Eden find the last killer of Morning Dove among all the carnage around him? I guess you’ll just have to read the book to find out. What I will add is that the Battle of the Rosebud may come to some kind of conclusion but the war isn’t over yet and the authors leave the storyline open to ensure the reader will be looking out for the second book in the series, Ride to Glory, to find out what happens next, something I for one am eager to find out.

If you have any interest in the Indian Wars and in particular The Battle of the Rosebud then this is a must read. If you just like action packed westerns that feature soldiers and Indian confrontations then grab yourself a copy of this as I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Brolin

By B.S. Dunn

The Crowood Press, December 2016

The Gunfighter known as Brolin was thought to have been dead for the past ten years. That was until Red Mike Stall and his outlaws hijacked the westbound train and attempted to murder everyone on board. Stall recognized Brolin from the old days and left him to burn in the abandoned church with the other passengers.

He should have shot Brolin then and there because the gunfighter managed to escape and now is dogging the bloody trail Stall has left in his wake.

With the help of Emmett King, a greenhorn store owner who lost his son to a stray bullet from the outlaws, the pair eventually catch up to Stall in the town of Miller’s Crossing. In a final bloody showdown, can a dead man win the day? Or will a killer continue his murderous rampage across the high country?

And what is the secret Brolin is hiding?

B.S. Dunn has created a great set of characters and his storytelling will make you want to know happens to them, particularly Brolin and King. The story starts with a prologue that explains the history between Brolin and Stall and then we move forward to the train robbery and the horrific fate that awaits the unlucky passengers. The scenes in the burning church make for suspenseful and compelling reading.

The writer then ups the pace as the book becomes a chase tale fuelled by revenge. There is plenty of action which includes an exciting encounter with some Blackfeet. Brolin also tries to keep King away from deadly gunfights but you just know that isn’t going to happen, even knocking the greenhorn out isn’t enough to stop the storekeeper riding into a situation he isn’t experienced enough to handle efficiently.

The end  shootout is dramatic and brutal, which in turn leads to a solution to past events that made me grin, as did the future for Brolin.

B.S. Dunn is a pseudonym used by Brent Towns, and he is already building up a fast growing posse of fans. If you’ve not read anything by him, then this book is a perfect introduction to his work and I’m sure, like me, you’ll then be eager to read more from him.

Fury at Bent Fork

By B.S. Dunn

Crowood Press, April 2016

It has become known as the Stone Creek Valley War, and for a time the land ran red with the blood of the innocents and killers alike. In the middle of it all stands a young man, Chad Hunter, against the murderous bunch called the Committee, trying to halt their takeover of his once peaceful home.

The Committee are the four biggest ranchers in the area, and to help them achieve what they want, they hire Slade Johnson and his cohorts to deal with those who refuse to bow to their demands. Then there’s ‘Killer Creel’, a cold-blooded murderer who has escaped from prison, and whose ultimate goal is to reap revenge upon Hunter.

The Committee had lynched his brother and shot his father down, so Hunter loads his guns and prepares to deal out his own brand of justice. With killers to his front and one closing in from behind, it may just be a war that Hunter can’t win.

From the opening chapter that sees Chad Hunter framed for cattle rustling this book held my attention as I had to see how, if at all, Hunter could succeed in his quest to destroy the Committee.

B.S. Dunn has created a great set of characters that will face-off with each other a number of times before the reason the Committee want to take control of the valley is revealed. This then leads to some desperate bluffs to bring them down.

‘Killer Creel’ makes for a terrific additional problem for Hunter and their showdown is as gripping as you’d hope it would be. But it’s the final confrontation between Hunter, the Committee and their hired killers that brings forth a shocking surprise that I certainly didn’t see coming that will make the ending stick in my mind for some time to come.

This is the first Black Horse Western by B.S. Dunn, a pseudonym used by Brent Towns, and what a superb introduction to his writing it is. I’ll certainly be looking out for his next book.