ARIZONA FANCY LADY

SPUR 2

By Dirk Fletcher

Leisure, 1982

Spur McCoy was an Easterner, but when it came to justice he was as shrewd and savvy as any gun-seasoned marshal in the West. As top man in the government’s new Secret Service Agency, he was assigned to investigate reports of a rebel colonel out to capture the Arizona Territory and set up his own nation.

The mountains were towering and the cold was unbearable. The only relief from the low winter sun was a farm fire and as many shots of whisky as a man could stand. Then, along the trail of the outlaw colonel, Spur met up with a feisty beauty who showed him another way to get his mind off the cold.

This is the original book two in the Spur series. For some reason I’ve never been able to find out, after book three, Leisure changed the cover style and began numbering the series from number one again. This means there are two books one, two and three. 

Spur finds himself looking for a missing photographer, whose sister is one of the many women he enjoys the company of. This series is billed as an adult western so these sexual encounters are very explicit in their depiction. For at least the first half of this book Spur seems to find himself pleasuring a woman in every chapter and after a while I did find this to be tedious and I wanted the mission to stop the rebel colonel to begin. Unfortunately, I did have to read these sex scenes as some of the story plot was revealed during these sections of the book. 

As well as being an expert lover, Spur is a tough and capable fellow in the pursuit of his mission. He’s also capable of recovering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder very quickly. Good job, as he soon finds he will be taking on two hundred outlaws with just the help of one man and the photographers sister. Their attack on the outlaw stronghold is exciting, violent and lasts for quite a good portion of the book. In fact, the sexual content drops off to virtually none when Spur sets off to destroy the colonel in an explosive showdown that results in a high body count. 

If you don’t like lots graphic sex, which includes rape, then this book probably isn’t for you. If you don’t mind it, and like hero against massive odds action stories then you’ll certainly enjoy reading this tale.

Dirk Fletcher is a pseudonym used by Chester Cunningham.

Wade's War

by Chet Cunningham

A Black Horse Western from Hale, September 2010

Fourteen-year old Wade Tretter watches in horror as outlaws murder his parents on their small Missouri farm, a few days before the end of the Civil War in 1865.

Wade’s father trained him as a farrier but when his father dies, Wade sells the few cattle they have left and heads west to find the killers. After killing two of them in the spirit of retribution, Wade finds the last two men posing as model citizens in a small Kansas town.

How can he beat the odds and bring these powerful men to justice without hurting their new families?

As far as I know this is Chet Cunningham’s second Black Horse Western, his first, Survival Trail, was published way back in 1995. Chet Cunningham has had many westerns published in America under his own name and a fistful of pseudonyms, and the majority of those I’ve read I’ve enjoyed.

Wade’s War is a much longer book than usually published as a BHW. It has the same number of pages but they are filled with much small type, having at least twice as many word per page than expected, even the chapters start a few lines down from the previous chapters end rather than on a new page.

The first part of the book covers the killing of Wade’s family and his tracking down of two of the killers. Quite a bit of time is spent in various towns where Wade needs to work to keep him in money. The pace of this portion of the tale is good but the story really picks up in momentum when Wade arrives in the town the last two killers have made their home.

Wade’s desire not to hurt the killers’ family prove to be an interesting quandary for both Wade and the reader. Cunningham really keeps the reader guessing as to how Wade will achieve his aim. As well as this there is the mystery of what the remaining two killers are doing. This latter part I guessed as I’ve read many similar plotlines in other books written by Cunningham, namely the Spur series he wrote as Dirk Fletcher. Working this out, though, didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this book.

Wade’s War is a must read for fans of Chet Cunningham’s work and should prove to be an entertaining read for people trying him for the first time.

The book is officially released at the end of the month but should be available now. 

Canyon O'Grady #9

COUNTERFEIT MADAM

as by Jon Sharpe

Signet, Sept. 1990

Canyon O’Grady rode into Stillwater hunting the source of a flood of phony government bonds that could drown the country in a sea of bad debt. What he found was a lumber war that painted the town red with gore...a scarlet lady who lusted after red-blooded men...and a master of deception who made the redheaded Canyon turn crimson with rage. Caught in a maze of deadly double-dealing, nothing was what it seemed - except the bullets flying and the corpses dropping...

Jon Sharpe - this time writer Chester Cunningham - presents the reader with a not to taxing read. The plot, and bad guys, aren’t kept secret from the reader so making this an easy to follow storyline. Personally I would have liked the who and whys to have remained a mystery until the end so as to add more suspense to the story.

Around this time Cunningham was writing his Spur series as Dirk Fletcher. Spur being a federal investigator like Canyon with counterfeiting being the plot of many of the Spur books, I found myself thinking this could easily be a Spur story. A little more fleshing out of Canyon’s character would, perhaps, have separated the two more.

Not the best Canyon O’Grady book I’ve read but good enough for some light entertainment.

Spur #1

HIGH PLAINS TEMPTRESS

as by Dirk Fletcher

Leisure, 1982

Spur McCoy was quick, smart and smooth enough to get any woman he wanted. He’d just joined the government’s new Secret Service Agency, and as his first assignment west of the Mississippi, he was sent after a vicious band known as Rontrell’s Raiders. They were all ex-soldiers, as ready to kill, rape and loot as they were during the bloodiest days of the war. Now, in Fargo, just one man dared stand against them, and he was the kind of man who never left a job undone.

Although this author reveals who Rontrell is right at the beginning he also hooks the reader by not divulging the reason why Rontrell is subjecting Fargo to this reign of terror, and it isn’t until the end that the answer is revealed, thus giving Spur a difficult case to crack.

The storytelling is told in a straight forward style, in fast moving prose, that makes the book very readable. There’s plenty of action – of more than one type – the violent kind being quite brutal at times.

Spur is portrayed as a man who doesn’t like sharing information, or wanting help, in tracking down Rontrell and discovering why he kills. There are one or two twists thrown in at the end and all the plot threads are tied up neatly.

The above title may confuse some readers of this blog as they maybe unaware of this book as there is another Spur #1, the book called Rocky Mountain Vamp. In fact there are two book 2’s and 3’s. All the books are different and I can only guess as to why the series started at number one again. Possibly because the covers on the original first three were being used on Ramsay Thorne’s Renegade series which was being published at the same time? These cover painting clearly being the wrong time period for the Spur series too.

Spur #37

 MISSOURI MAMA 
as by Dirk Fletcher

Leisure, October 1992

Saddle sore and bone tired, Spur McCoy returned to St. Louis, Missouri, hoping to get reacquainted with some lady friends whilst waiting for his next mission. His plans are interrupted, however, when a master forger started spreading enough funny money to dam up the mighty Mississippi. And if that isn’t enough, Spur is assigned a partner…

Dirk Fletcher (author Chester Cunningham) comes up with a fine read here. The book has a fast pace, tough action, rousing encounters with beautiful women - after all Spur is an adult series - and a great bad guy, one who Spur has difficulty in tracking down.

Giving Spur a partner makes for a different angle to the series although Spur’s reluctance to work with someone else and the outcome of this doesn’t offer any surprises. The final chase sequence is the highlight of the book.

Cunningham rarely offers any mystery in his plots and his stories are told from the view points of heroes and villains alike, so the reader is always aware of what is going on, and why, but this method doesn’t detract from what is a quick, entertaining read.

One of the better entries into the Spur series.