El Dorado Sojourn

By Paxton Johns

The Crowood Press, February 2019

Born Gallant returns to Salvation Creek on a whim, but this leads to a bloody saga he could never have foreseen. Word from the elderly Frank Lake leads Gallant on a quest to rescue a young lawyer, who has been kidnapped to prevent her from blocking a corrupt Kansas City politician’s chances of fame. To the north of the town of El Dorado, an old line cabin becomes the focus for Gallant’s efforts. But it’s back in Kansas City that the climax unfolds, when Gallant confronts old enemy Chet Eagan in a clawing fight to a bloody finish.

This is the fourth book in Paxton Johns’ series featuring Born Gallant. The story does mention events of the earlier three books and the author does provide enough information for a new reader to the series to understand how those events shape what happens in this tale, along with the relationships between the various characters, so that the book can be read as a stand-alone tale, but I would recommend reading the earlier books first to get the most from this one. Those books being Encounter at Salvation Creek, The Killing of Jericho Slade and The Bloody Trail to Redemption. It’s not just Born Gallant who links the books and once again Gallant finds his life entwined with that of Melody Lake and Stick McCrae, to name but two. 

The plot seems fairly straight-forward to begin with, but the author soon slips in a number of twists and turns that soon had me wondering how Gallant and friends could possibly rescue Melody in time to bring down the corrupt politician. It’s these surprising elements that keep me returning to this author’s work along with his ability to tell his stories in a gripping and entertaining style that is a pleasure to read. 

There may only be four Born Gallant books at the moment but there are plenty of other Black Horse Westerns from this author to choose from as he writes under other pseudonyms too, Will Keen, Matt Laidlaw, Jim Lawless and Jack Sheriff. His real name is John Paxton Sheriff and you can read an interview I did with him here. If you are looking for a new western author to try then this author is certainly one worth considering. 

McClain

By Will Keen

The Crowood Press, February 2018

Deputy Marshal McClain is found in his home, kneeling over his dead wife’s body, holding the bloody knife that had killed her. Accused of her murder, he escapes from jail and stumbles across evidence pointing to her killers. So begins a long manhunt that takes him from Arizona to the Texas Gulf Coast and a town on the shores of Laguna Madre. There tangling with the Skeltons, a family of bootleggers, brings McClain more startling information that sees him heading back to Arizona. Tormented by guilt, he at lasts meets his wife’s killer, and deals with him in a way he would never have expected.

A tale that offers questions almost from the very first word that will sweep you up into the storyline with ease and keep you turning the pages as McClain tracks the Skeltons and the death toll mounts. Of course, you will have your own ideas as to who the killer is, but the author includes enough twists and turns to make you doubt your deductions. To say anymore about this aspect of the story would be a major spoiler so that’s all you’re getting from me about the killer’s identity.

McClain makes for a likable hero, one who isn’t above making mistakes which lead to him suffering both mentally and physically. The conclusion is both hard-hitting and apt, leaving me feeling extremely satisfied with how the author decided to end this story.

Will Keen is one of a number of pseudonyms used by John Paxton Sheriff, an author that I have read many times and one that I know will provide me with a very entertaining read. His expertly crafted plots, well-drawn characters, bloody violence and unforeseen surprises combine to make his books must reads. Each time I finish one I’m left looking forward to his next release, and that never comes fast enough for me. 

The Bloody Trail to Redemption

By Paxton Johns

Crowood Press, August 2016

English aristocrat Born Gallant is riding to Dodge City to meet up with old friends, when he is attacked and left to die. Initially relieved when rescued by a lawman and his posse, Gallant’s fortunes take a turn for the worse when his apparent rescuers accuse him of murder. A witness has sworn that he saw him stab the Kansas senator, and it seems certain that Gallant will hang for a murder he did not commit.

Gallant’s old friends newspaperman Stick McCrae and lawyer Melody Lake are able to rescue him from his predicament, but disaster after disaster befall the trio as it becomes increasingly apparent that several people want him dead. A web of political intrigue and vengeance is uncovered, but will Gallant be able to unmask the true murderer before he himself becomes a victim?

This is the third book to feature Born Gallant and although it is a self-contained story it does reveal a lot about what has happened in the previous stories, so it may be worthwhile tracking those down and reading them before this one. Whichever choice you make I’m sure that you’ll enjoy this book as much as I did.

Paxton Johns is a thinly disguised pseudonym used by John Paxton Sheriff for this series about Born Gallant. I’ve been a fan of Sheriff’s work for a long time (he writes under a fistful of other names too) and always enjoy his twisting plots that offer plenty of surprises.

This book grips from the opening scenes and will have you struggling to work out what is going on along with Gallant and his two companions. Every time they seem to be getting somewhere someone else pops up with a gun, a threat of jail, or a comment that destroys their theories. All this makes for a very entertaining read that left me hoping we haven’t seen the last of Born Gallant even though the last paragraph of the story perhaps hints that we have.

The Gamblers of Wasteland

By Jim Lawless

Hale, September 2015

Convinced that Blackjack Chancer is behind the death of his youngest brother, Lukus Rheingold steals the Saturday night takings from the gambler’s Wasteland Eldorado.

Led by Marshal Jed Crane, the Wasteland posse is outwitted by Lukus’s surviving brother, Kris. The Rheingold brothers head for their home at Nathan’s Ford, where they are followed by a mysterious woman calling herself Lil Lavender, and later by Chancer and his hired gun, Fallon. All three have their own reasons for hunting Lukus Rheingold, and the hunt leads to a final bloody climax in the Rheingold family cemetery.

Jim Lawless is one of a fistful of pseudonyms used by John Paxton Sheriff and if anyone has read any of his previous books you’ll know the story won’t be as straight-forward as the blurb above might indicate, for the author always includes many plot twists and turns, many of which will take the reader completely by surprise. It’s these elements that makes Sheriff’s work such a joy to read.

Even as it becomes obvious Lil Lavender isn’t being exactly truthful we learn that Lukus Rheingold has a past that may become his downfall. In fact the lawmen he encounters seem more interested in arresting him than finding who has kidnapped his brother Kris.

Filled with plenty of action this story gallops towards its deadly finale, one that throws up yet more questions that have to be answered before Sheriff brings his tale to a close. Even then there is another surprise in waiting, and there is also a hint that we haven’t heard the last of some of the characters, that there could well be a sequel further down the line. I certainly hope so.

Hale must be complimented on their excellent cover choice.

The Outlaws of Salty's Notch

By Will Keen

Hale, November 2014

The elderly derelicts in the sleepy Louisiana settlement of La Belle Commune are leading the good life, lazing in the hot sun. Until Bushwhack Jack Breaker rides in from Texas with his outlaw band, and everything changes. Ex-bounty-hunter Paladin awakes to find eccentric marshal, Brad Corrigan, has been forcibly taken, along with saloonist Rik Paulson and storekeeper Alec Mackie – but where, and why? The elegant widow Emma Bowman-Laing knows where, but Paladin and crippled wrangler Shorty Long fail in their rescue bid and Bowman-Laing’s crumbling antebellum mansion goes up in flames.

With rumours of a horde of gold coming across the sea by ketch, and flashy Mexican killer Guillermo Rodriguez brandishing his six-gun, Paladin slips reluctantly into his old bounty-hunting ways. His search for truth and justice takes him deep into Texas, but it is in La Belle Commune that everything is resolved in a bloody fight in the saloon, and brought to a fatal close in the waters of Petit Creek.

Will Keen brings together an excellent cast of characters whose personalities grab your attention as strongly as the terrific twisting plotline. At no time is it obvious how this fast moving tale will develop and who will be alive at its conclusion.

The story outline might seem to leave nothing out but believe me it doesn’t hint at the double-crosses and motivations that leave one person in unsuspected grave danger and the frantic race to save them and the hard-hitting ending this leads to.

Will Keen is a pseudonym used by John Paxton Sheriff and I’ve always found his stories to be hard-to-put-down reads with well thought out plots that are never predictable, and this book enforces that statement. If you’ve never tried his work then this is certainly a worthy place to start.

Trouble at Nathan's Ford

By Jack Sheriff

Hale, November 2013

When a planned bank robbery in Drystone City results in the death of the owner’s wife, Cage turns his back on lawlessness and heads home. But when he arrives in the border town of Nathan’s Ford, he has been followed by his nemesis and rides into tragedy. With his family’s ranch burned to the ground, and his parents and brother murdered by Mexican rustlers, Cage – aided by childhood friend Velvet Goodwine and reluctant bank owner Milton Guthrie – sets off in pursuit of the killers.

A confrontation with the rustlers leads to the unmasking of the man behind the deaths, and a bloody finale, which leaves Cage fighting desperately for his life and the lives of the only friends he has left.

Jack Sheriff can always be relied on to present the reader with what at first appears to be a straightforward western tale but then adds twists and turns to ensure you’ll be wondering just how the story will end.

His character studies are excellent but in this case it’s his descriptions of fear and exhaustion and the human will to carry on at all costs that came over so powerfully to me. Just read the scene of a desperate struggle not to drown for one example of this.

Yes, I had my suspicions as to who killed the bankers’ wife, and yes I was correct, but how the killer died came as a complete surprise; understated and neatly done.

Velvet Goodwine (what a great name) deserves a mention as she proves to be an exceptional female lead whose knowledge of some of the other characters more than helps in unmasking the person behind the murder of Cage’s family. Velvet’s ability with firearms, both handgun and rifle, are used to great effect too.

Trouble at Nathan’s Ford is a book that I believe should be enjoyed by all who like fast moving traditional westerns and I’m certainly looking forward to the next book from John Paxton Sheriff, under whichever of his pseudonyms it is published.

The Hanging of Red Cavanagh

By Jim Lawless

Hale, November 2012

As a young man, Red Cavanagh awoke one morning to find his father dead – murdered by members of the old Willis Walton gang. Setting off in pursuit, he stopped in Bald Hills to secure himself a rifle but didn’t succeed. Then, within hours, a grave is discovered in a clearing, covered with a crude wooden cross bearing the name Red Cavanagh….

Four years on and Bald Hills is in deep trouble. The transcontinental railroad is likely to be routed to the north of the town, and a greedy local rancher is seizing property and land aided by gunman Chet Warrener. There seems no hope for the ordinary townspeople.

Until, one day, a stranger rides into town….

Jim Lawless had me hooked from almost the word go with a fistful of questions that needed answers, such as who was the fourth member of the Willis Walton gang, what three of them were arguing about with Red’s father, and, later, was Red dead or alive? 

The story is told at a fast pace with twists aplenty and includes a hanging, whipping, murder, kidnapping and gunfights.

Jim Lawless is one of the pseudonyms used by John Paxton Sheriff, an author who can be counted upon to give the reader an exciting, difficult to put down read and this book adds more strength to that statement.

The Hanging of Red Cavanagh has an official release date of November 30th but is available now. 

The Bloodstained Crossing

By Matt Laidlaw

Hale, June 2012

Late at night, close to the silver town of Tombstone, Arizona, a wagon rattles down to the Mexican border laden with heavy crates of silver ore. Two weeks later, in the town of Rawton, a man’s death coincides with John Probity’s arrival. By the next day another person has died and Probity is in jail, accused of murder. Freed by the enigmatic town batber, Ulysses Court, Probity sets out to discover the truth.

With the number of dead rising, Probity and Court witness the gunning-down of some Mexicans at the San Pedro river and from that moment they are fighting factions from both Tombstone and Rawton. Can they make their way to safety and stay one step ahead of the furious, gun-toting outlaws?

Right from the opening paragraphs Matt Laidlaw grabs his readers attention with questions about the strange events surrounding the wagon of silver ore, and then continues to sink yet more hooks in as people die for, as yet, unknown reasons.

Matt Laidlaw brings together a group of superb characters, both fictional and real, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the Clantons and more, who might be behind the silver movements and killings. Probity already knows Earp as they worked together as lawmen for a time.

As Probity and Court struggle to piece together the sketchy evidence they have, and read between the lines of what they’ve been told, they find themselves fighting for their lives.

All the above makes this book very difficult to put down as the plot deepens and races towards the final showdown by which time Matt Laidlaw has answered all the questions he’s fired at his readers and the big mystery behind the silver is solved – the revelation being a complete surprise to me.

So once again Matt Laidlaw – which is one of the pseudonyms used by John Paxton Sheriff – leaves me fully satisfied and entertained by his latest book and I’m left very much looking forward to his next.

The Bloodstained Crossing is officially released tomorrow but is available now from all the usual Internet bookstores. You can also read an interview I did with the author here.

Encounter at Salvation Creek

By Paxton Johns

Hale, September 2011

When rich young Englishman, Born Gallant, arrives in America after the death of his father, he goes first to see family friend William Pinkerton. The boss of the famous detective agency at once gives him an assignment: the head of the Kansas City office has been murdered, there has been an attempt on Pinkerton’s life, and he wants to know why.

From that day on, Gallant finds himself embroiled in a fight to the death against gunmen hired by warring cattlemen fighting against reorganisation of their industry. Helped by young trainee lawyer, Melody Lake, and a newspaperman, Stick McCrae, Gallant’s fight to bring the killers to justice takes him from Kansas City to the hell-hole of Salvation Creek. Will he prevail in the final bloody showdown?

This is the first book to carry the author name of Paxton Johns, and it proves to be a very good debut. Born Gallant makes for an engaging hero, a man who sees the humour in his own name, can play the out-of-his-depth greenhorn perfectly to throw his adversaries off balance, doesn’t carry a gun of his own, but is exceptionally sharp-witted and can more than stand his ground in a fight. In fact his bumbling fool act is used to great effect, particularly in a barroom scene when facing the gunman suspected of shooting Pinkerton.

The book contains a number of twists and turns, is peopled with many well-drawn characters of both sexes, its action sequences are superbly written, and finishes with a frantic race against time. All this means that Encounter at Salvation Creek is an exciting and entertaining read, which leaves me wondering, and hoping, that Born Gallant will appear again in a further adventure.

As the author explains in a note at the end, the Cattlemen’s Associations around which the story revolves really existed, and the changes being fought about did happen. Although the story is fictional it is based on something that did happen in the mid 1880s.

Outlaw Canyon

By Jack Sheriff

A Black Horse Western from Hale, February 2011

Going home is not always as easy as it sounds, as Rafe and Seth Laramie discover when they fall foul of an angry posse. Mistaken for a pair of bank robbers, they are forced to flee a hail of bullets and hide out in the town of Greybull. There, they encounter the enigmatic Mort Sangster and use his cunning to slip away from the posse unseen.

But all is not as it seems. When the Laramie brothers follow Sangster to his cabin, they find themselves amongst outlaws who are plotting an elaborate crime. The outlaws invite the brothers into the fold…but what bloody battles lie ahead if they choose to go along for the ride?

Jack Sheriff starts this book like a straightforward story of a case of mistaken identity, one that you expect to follow the path of the Laramie brothers then having to prove their innocence. But the author soon has you wondering as to just what is really going on as the story begins to twist as the plot becomes more mysterious as questions come to light, such as who is really behind the outlaw activity, and just what crime are they planning. As more characters are introduced so the plot deepens.

Jack Sheriff writes in an easy to read style that flows smoothly, ever increasing in pace as the book builds to its finale. His descriptive passages are very visual and the actions scenes gripping. The twists to the tale prove to be strong hooks, and you’ll soon be wondering who’s going to double-cross whom.

Surprisingly, for a Black Horse Western, there aren’t any major roles for women, not that I’m saying they should be included in every story. In fact not having some love interest came as a welcome change.

Jack Sheriff is one four pseudonyms used by John Paxton Sheriff for his Black Horse Westerns, and this book is officially released at the end of this month, although it should be available now from the usual Internet sources.

The Hunting of Lope Gamboa

as by Jack Sheriff

A Black Horse Western from Hale, June 2010

Texas Rangers Jack Carson and Eddie Brand have been hunting outlaw Lope Gamboa for some time without success, but when they ride into Yuma it seems their luck has changed.

An assignment of US gold is to be transported along the Oxbow route by Conestoga wagon and the Rangers are convinced that Gamboa will attempt to steal the gold.

As all the factions close in on the lumbering Conestoga wagon, the trail leads inexorably to a bloody climax in the Gila desert….

There’s enough twists and turns to this superbly plotted tale to keep any reader hooked as two sets of outlaws plan to rob the Conestoga, the lawmen try to second guess them and wonder why anyone would send a shipment of gold via a wagon, if indeed they have.

Jack Sheriff (real name John Paxton Sheriff) presents the reader with believable characters that will have you urging them onto success or failure. The book is packed with action, both gunfights and races against time, all told at the speed of a galloping horse and described in vivid prose. Jack Sheriff’s technique of finishing scenes by not quite telling you everything you want to know – such as did the first set of outlaws find the gold in the wagon? – makes it hard to put the book down before you’ve found the answers in a later chapter. And if that isn’t enough excitement for one book the author has a great surprise waiting at the end, regarding the identity of one of his main characters that I didn’t see coming.

The Hunting of Lope Gamboa easily falls into the category of one of the best Black Horse Westerns I’ve read and is officially released today. If you want a copy don’t delay in putting in your order as BHW tend to sell out fast.

The Battle for Skillern Tract

as by Matt Laidlaw

A Black Horse Western from Hale, October 2009

When desperate ex-Confederate officer Zac Hunter rides into Nacogdoches, he has his mind set on bank robbery. What he finds when he walks into the bank is a robbery already in progress and town marshal Dan McCrae dying from gunshot wounds.

Hunter is accused of murder by councillor Morgan Jarrow, then abruptly offered the job of town marshal. He is forced to serve notice on businessmen drilling for oil on the Skillern tract, crosses swords with lawyer Tyne Coburn and the two gunslingers Yantze and Levin, and must decide if Deputy Quint’s strange confession is the truth.

As the various factions in Nacogdoches struggle for supremacy, Hunter is drawn into a vicious cycle of treachery and murder. The showdown would come in a blazing gunfight on the Skillern tract.

Matt Laidlaw really heaps problem upon problem for his hero, Zac Hunter. Questions about motives, who is really who they say they are, and who he can trust, all grabbed my attention and made this a very difficult book to put down.

The story takes place over a three-day period, and Matt Laidlaw weaves his fictional characters, and how it could have happened, with true events. Oil was discovered on the Skillern tract on the day it is in the story: the author adding some notes at the end explaining this and which people in the book are real.

Matt Laidlaw is a pseudonym for writer John Paxton Sheriff, and this author really knows how to build on his storyline, creating a book filled with mistrusts, deceit, greed and plenty of action. The final showdown making for some very exciting reading as all sides converge on the drilling site.

Even though I have other books by John Paxton Sheriff in my collection I never got around to reading any. After reading this one I’m sure going to be rectifying this soon.

The Battle for Skillern Tract will be officially released on October 30th, but it should be available from Internet booksellers now.

Interview: John Paxton Sheriff

My next interview is with John Paxton Sheriff, who writes both crime novels and westerns. Of course I’ll be concentrating on John’s westerns but if you’d like to know more about his other work then click the link that can be found in Sites and Blogs of Interest, on the right of your screen. So without further ramble from me I’ll hand over to John, after saying thank you for agreeing to this interview.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

It was 1959. I was twenty-two, a mechanic in the Royal Engineers, and living with my wife and two small children in rooms on the third floor of Café Central, Iserlohn, Germany. I went out and bought a Parker Slimfold fountain pen and began writing in a notebook. I've told this story many times: I had an idea for a gamekeeper walking into a moonlit clearing, and that's as far as it got; that gamekeeper is still there, and I often wonder what he's doing now!

A short while after that I did sell a short story to Soldier, the British Army magazine – but that was it for a long, long while. I wrote almost every night for the next ten years. Then, in 1969 and by then out of the army and living in Australia with my wife and three children, I began selling short stories to major glossy magazines. That was in New South Wales. When we moved to Queensland I began selling crime stories to Adam, a pulp magazine published by K.G. Murray.

Over the years since then I've had general short stories published in major UK glossies, and crime short stories published by D.C. Thomson in Scotland and The Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, New York.

What was the first novel you had published, and if this wasn't a western what was your first western?

The first novel I had published was indeed a western. I was working as a creative writing tutor for Writer's News (I stayed with their correspondence college, working on Fiction (novels), Short Stories, Articles, and several other courses, for more than ten years), and happened to see an article on westerns written by John Blaze. At time I was feeling frustrated as I'd had crime novels rejected by several publishers, including Robert Hale (yes, I know, part of a writer's life and something we all put up with!)

My namesake, John Paxton Sheriff was a doctor who hung out his shingle in Texas and died there in – I think – 1951. From his foster child, my father used to receive magazines: Popular Mechanics; Mechanics Illustrated; True, the Man's Magazine – and lots of westerns! I read them all and, years later when I glanced through John Blaze's article, I at once thought that I could do that.

I was right. My first western, Brazos Guns, was accepted (after I had cut it from 55,000 words), and was published in 1996. The large print edition, by Dales/Magna, came out two years later.

Which writers influence you?

Where do I start?

I'm a big fan of classic crime writers from both sides of the Atlantic, such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie. Modern crime writers I enjoy include Ian Rankin, Lawrence Block, Michael Connolly, Sue Grafton, and James Lee Burke. Burke is interesting in the context of this interview because, in my opinion, he writes lyrical crime novels that could be classed as modern westerns: they are set in Louisiana and Montana, and can be very violent.

As for western writers, well, I'm a big fan of Elmore Leonard, especially for his short stories. I read a lot of Max Brand, and I'm currently working my way through Owen Wister's The Virginian. One of Wister's short stories is a huge favourite of mine: At the Sign of the Last Chance; I recommend it to all western writers.



Which western writers would you recommend?

I think that's been answered. I'll add to those answers by recommending one book, The Ox -Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. Did he write any others? I've no idea. But I do know that with that one he wrote a book that, if nothing else, sets the reader thinking very hard about many diverse issues.

How long does it take you to write a Black Horse western, and how do you go about it?

Mm. Well, on my web site I've said that I can write one in three weeks. By writing just a few more than 1,500 words every day, the Black Horse target of something like 115 double-spaced A4 pages can easily be reached in that time.

However, I don't often do that. I've written five since September 2008 – nine months – so that's nine weeks for each one.

As for how do I go about it, well, with the earlier books I simply dreamed up a simple situation – it might be nothing more than a weary rider letting his horse pick its way down a rocky slope towards a creek (Kid Kantrell, Jack Sheriff, 2000) – and began writing; the story would evolve from characters' actions and reactions.

Nowadays, since I began writing crime novels and my westerns have as a consequence become more complex, I do more plotting – but not much more!



Do you work on more than one book at a time?

A quick answer to that one: no, I don't. And then an immediate contradiction: yes, but only if one book is non-fiction, the other fiction. In other words, I never work on two fiction books at the same time.



Your westerns have been published under a number of pseudonyms: Jack Sheriff, Will Keen, Jim Lawless, Matt Laidlaw. How do you select your alias?

The names came out of the blue, obviously. As far as using them goes, I simply rotate them: use all four, then go back to the beginning. That's what I usually do. However, that leads me neatly into the next question:

Are all your westerns stand-alone titles, or are any part of a series?

I wrote a book called The Night Riders, which introduced Pinkerton man Charlie Pine. At the end of that book he told the main character, Jim Gatlin, that he would make a good agent. Recently, I decided to use that pair again – with Gatlin now an agent. That meant using a pseudonym out of sequence, so The Second Coffeyville Bank Raid (due out March 2010) was written by Matt Laidlaw, when it should have been Jim Lawless!



Which of your westerns would you recommend to someone who hasn't yet read any of your work, and why?

This is always a difficult question to answer, for any writer. I know my westerns have changed since I wrote that first one. Back then, in 1995/6, I used a lot of fancy (corny) western dialogue, a lot of clichés. So it would have to be something written, say, in the middle section of the past thirteen years.

The Deliverance of Judson Cleet was published in 2003, and dedicated to that namesake of mine I've mentioned who lived in Dallas, Texas. I think I tried to get a spaghetti western feel into this one: arid small town, the main character a loner with a past, and for the first time a young woman in the story who I thought actually fitted in and played a vital part. It was also quite thoughtful, philosophical: the deliverance in the title refers to Judson Cleet getting to know himself.

So, yes, that one, I think.



You write crime novels, do your westerns include elements from that genre?

Definitely. And that's one of the changes that's occurred as my writing has evolved. I think of my westerns now as crime novels set in the west, and of course that's why, lately, I've been doing more plotting than I did when I started out.

You've also written a number of non-fiction books to do with the craft of writing, and one on modelling toy soldiers. Tell us a little about those books.

These came directly from my newspaper work. For many years I was a freelance feature writer for two newspaper groups in North Wales – also doing new car tests and taking photographs.

It seemed to me that a book on writing advertising features might be acceptable to a publisher. I tried Allison & Busby, because I'd seen their writers' guides, it was accepted, and How to Write Advertising Features was published in 1995.

From there I naturally moved to a book on short story writing; as mentioned earlier, that's the way I began my writing career. Again, the book I came up with, Practical Short Story Writing, was accepted at once, this time by Robert Hale. That too was published in 1995, the second revised edition for Hale came out in 1998, and in 2000 a hardback edition was published by Barnes & Noble, New York.

My other books on writing technique followed on quite naturally: Writing Crime Novels (before I'd had one published!), and Creating Suspense in Fiction. The book, Modelling Toy Soldiers, was based on my own experience: I designed, manufactured and marketed toy soldiers from 1983 to about 1996. Many customers at that time said they were the world's best toy soldiers.

Do you think paper produced books will ever be replaced by electronic books?

No.

I see them as a novelty (an expensive one, and being heavily marketed by major firms) and, although I know some people will love them, I cannot see them replacing traditional books printed on paper. They're too wonderfully convenient, too easily picked up in casual spare moments, too easily dropped harmlessly when you fall asleep reading in bed.

What do you think of the western genre today and what do you think the future holds for the western?

In answer to the second part of the question, I believe there's an electronic computer game out now – and it's a western! That creates endless possibilities. Youngsters (and oldies) could get hooked on westerns through that computer game, and start looking at, and buying, western books.

As for what do I think of the genre today, well, I can't answer that with authority because I read authors from the past. I know another western writer, Tony Lewing (Mark Bannerman), and his books are fine. I like my own books (wow), but as I mentioned earlier I enjoy Max Brand, Elmore Leonard and others... which doesn't really answer your question.

What is your favourite western movie, and why?

Winchester '73. Because I've always been a sucker for any western starring James Stewart and featuring Dan Durea. Second favourite's probably The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

Finally, what do you read for pleasure?

Anything and everything. As Stephen King said in his excellent book, On Writing, if you don't read, you stand no chance at all of becoming a writer.

I read books on writing technique. I've got Writing Horror, Writing the Private Eye Novel, both by Writer's Digest Books of Cincinnati, another book on writing crime by H.R.F. Keating. On my shelf as I write this I'm looking at Body Trauma, Deadly Doses, Cause of Death, Armed and Dangerous and Just the Facts, Ma'am, The Crime Writer's Handbook and The Crime Writer's Source Book, which are books on various subjects especially written for writers. Naturally, I'm also looking at Dictionary of The American West, and American Slang.

At the moment I'm buying, from Amazon, the crime novels of Georgette Heyer. She wrote twelve. I've got six. I chose them particularly because I read a lot of American crime novels and I believe that, over time, osmosis will change the way I write English – and I don't want that. So, currently I'm reading quintessentially English novels – and enjoying every minute.

Ask me again next month, and I'll probably be back with Michael Connelly and the Harry Bosch novels he sets in and around LA.