SHADOW AT NOON

SHADOW AT NOON

By Hondo Wells

Cover art by John Hunt

Mews, March 1977

Original: Pyramid Books, 1955, as by Harry White

Clane was cornered by Dardac, the bounty hunter. Dardac wanted the money for his hide and would stop at nothing to get it.

It was no use trying to tell the bounty hunter that he is innocent. To him Jeff Clane was nothing but a wild animal, something to be killed and hung over his saddle, another bounty to be collected…

This is not an overly complicated plot, even though it combines two much used western storylines – that of a man accused of a murder he did not commit and the theme of a greedy rancher wanting to chase homesteaders out of a valley he wants to claim as his own. What raises the standard is how this tale is told. The author’s lean prose and noir feel make this a very readable book.

Clane is guilty of killing the man he is accused of murdering, but he did so in self-defence. No-one seems to care about that though, not least the vicious bounty hunter Dardac. The book starts with a wounded Clane being tended to by a homesteader family whose attractive daughter, Patience, sees Clane as a way to escape her current lifestyle. Clane sees her as the answer to what he has been searching for but refuses to acknowledge these feelings as he knows death is stalking him and will claim anyone around him too. It’s also great to read about a man who has been shot not getting over it within a few pages, suffering from his wound throughout the story.

It’ll be no surprise to see Clane become involved in the range war, standing up against the powerful rancher and his gun-hands even though he wants to go and lead Dardac away from the people who’ve helped him. Things get even more complicated when the bounty hunter falls for Patience too and he won’t take no for an answer which leads to a brutal scene between the girl and Dardac. Most of the characters have to deal with both physical and mental pain and it’s the latter agonies that give this book its strengths.

Hondo Wells and Harry White are both pseudonyms, the man behind them being Harry Whittington. Shadow at Noon is not the best western Whittington wrote, but it is certainly worth reading.

DESERT STAKE-OUT

By Hondo Wells

Cover art by Colin Andrews

Mews Paperbacks, November 1976

Originally published by Fawcett, 1961

Any chance Merrick’s party had of escaping the Indian fury was gone now – destroyed by the gun-happy youth who had just killed the Apache who lay before them on the desert.

Now they could only wait the Apache revenge – and hope the three renegade white men didn’t turn on Merrick first.

And clear in Merrick’s mind was the fate that waited them all if the Indians took them alive – staked out in the sun, their mouths full of sand, praying they were dead . . .

Hondo Wells is a pseudonym for Harry Whittington. In America the book was published under the authors real name, so what lead to the use of a pen-name in the UK I have no idea. Mews published three other westerns by Whittington, Shadow at Noon and Prairie Riders both as by Hondo Wells but the third one, High Fury was put out as by Harry Whittington. Why the switch to his real name for the last one?

The book begins by describing the harsh land through which Merrick is travelling. This inhospitable place offering a place of respite from a waterhole. It’s around this life-giving pool that most of this brutal tale takes place. Is it possible to escape this small waterhole as the Apaches are closing in, slowly, tormentingly? The author’s prose is as tough as the landscape and the despair and desperation of those trapped by the waterhole comes over extremely well.

There’s also the fear that the three outlaws may try to kill Merrick at any moment, steal his horses and make a break for freedom. The author creates a tense atmosphere that will have the reader on the edge of their seat. 

As the story progresses then more questions need answers. Does Merrick know the three renegades? Who is in the grave by the waterhole that had been dug by Merrick? Why has the army sent him on a mission, alone, through a land filled with hostile Apaches? 

The tale moves through a series of twists and turns as allegiances switch from one person to another. No one can trust anyone it seems. 

There’s plenty of tough talk, eruptions of gunplay and double-cross before the Apaches close in, and when they do the plot takes on a much more vicious tone that sees some horrific, graphic acts of torture that lead to a surprising turn of events.

For me, Desert Stake-Out proved to be a gripping read that captured my imagination superbly and left me hungry to read more of Harry Whittington’s work as soon as I can.