THE MADMAN'S BLADE

RAIDER

Book 13 of 42

THE MADMAN’S BLADE

By J.D. Hardin

Cover art by Miro

Berkley, July 1988

The victim’s father has already been to the Pinkerton Agency twice. Now he’s back a third time to hire himself a detective.

One look at the poor man’s face and Raider is hooked. He’ll track down the dapper-dressing dude who raped and killed the young girl. But finding the cold-blooded killer with unlimited cash and a brilliantly twisted mind ain’t easy. 

All Raider has to go on is the killer’s gruesome handywork with a blade, and a trail of murder that leads to a bloody showdown.

This book reads like a detective novel in a western setting. Raider, riding alongside the grieving father of one of the dead girls, is after a serial killer rapist. The lack of leads makes his task almost impossible. Slowly, little bits of information come to light but can Raider piece them together to track down and stop the killer before other girls fall victim to his blade?

The author, this time Frank Roderus writing as J.D. Hardin, switches between Raider and his quarry regularly. We share the twisted thoughts of the killer and find out why he’s murdering the girls. Raider’s frustration at failing to discover who the killer is quickly comes over strongly. Even when he thinks he knows who he's after, finding him is one hell of a challenge as the Pinkerton has no idea as to where the killer will strike next. I did feel, at times, Raider was a bit slow in working things out as one clue was very evident near the beginning of the story.

I was surprised to discover thoughts on mental health in a western and how much the story touched on issues we hear a lot about today. Child trauma being used to explain the reason behind the killer’s actions. As the tale developed, I started to think this plot is like something you’d see on TV’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit – which was fine by me as that is one of my favourite programmes.

The Raider books are classed as adult westerns so that means the stories contain explicit sex scenes. Surprising, Raider misses out on any of this although he does find himself in a position to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh at one point but turns her down. It’s the killer who enjoys sex, even though his unwilling partners don’t. This makes for some brutal reading at times. This particular story also includes some very crude language, especially in the opening scenes, after that it is used sparingly.

Although Raider doesn’t get involved in much action until the end of the book, I did find his efforts to find and stop the killer made for some gripping reading. Yes, the story did play out pretty much as I expected, which includes who finally finished off the killer but not the how. 

Frank Roderus can always be relied upon to provide solid entertaining reading and this book left me thinking I must read something else by him soon.

GUN VALLEY

 

THE TRAILSMAN 117

GUN VALLEY

By Jon Sharpe

Signet, September 1991

It didn’t start out well for Skye Fargo. First the Trailsman caught an arrow from Apaches who thought he was the one who butchered their old men and raped their women. Then he stopped a slug when he came too close to the real killers. He came to in an Arizona hell with his guns gone, his life bleeding away, and one idea blazing through his brain. He had nowhere to go this side of the grave but up – and nothing he wanted to do more than to kill….

Glenn Bavousett wrote twelve Trailsman books as Jon Sharpe. Gun Valley was his last. I have read a couple of his other entries into this series, but that was a long, long time ago and I don’t remember much about them. All the authors who wrote for the series have their own take on the man known as The Trailsman, and Bavousett’s portrayal of Skye Fargo doesn’t paint him as tough, or as quick-witted as the main authors did. Fargo also takes some punishment in the form of an arrow and a couple of bullets. It was surprising to see that Fargo actually followed the doctors’ instructions to lay up for a week or so whilst recovering, although he did exercise which the doc frowned upon.

As quite a lengthy portion of the story dealt with Fargo’s recovery meant that there wasn’t as much action as I’d usually expect from a Trailsman book. This isn’t a criticism as it did fit the plotline perfectly. There is action of course especially at the end as Fargo and an old friend take on superior odds in an exciting final showdown as two separate gangs converge on The Trailsman and all three sides meet at the same time. I was a little disappointed that one character who’d been featured quite a bit throughout the book seemed to disappear somewhere in this concluding gunfight.

Being an adult western series there is some explicit sex, although this is mostly dealt with quickly and can easily be skipped without missing anything essential to the plot if you so choose. 

There are many better entries in the Trailsman series, but this is by no means bad and it did keep me entertained throughout. 

WINTER HELL

 

GUNN
Book 5 of 29
WINTER HELL
By Jory Sherman
Cover art by Pino Daeni
Zebra Books, 1980

The journey west to Wyoming had been rough for Gunn. It was the dead of winter and he found danger and death with each turn of the road. Confident, sure, but tense from travel, Gunn was startled to discover the remains of a brutal Indian massacre: a bloody trail littered with mutilated bodies and debris.

Cautiously he rode on, unaware that he was being watched by murdering eyes of the ravaging Sioux. When he came upon frightened Sara Jane, a ripe, young beauty – who was the only one of her family to survive the vicious attack – he promised to avenge their deaths.

On the spine of the book Zebra announce this as an adult western, and that it is, in every way. Gory, graphic violence, explicit sex, and profanities occur regularly during this fast-moving tale. The author also describes locations and weather conditions in poetic words that place the reader right in these harsh landscapes with his characters. 

Gunn’s suspicions are soon aroused after he discovers some slaughtered Crow Indians. Who killed them and why? Shortly after he finds Sara Jane. Piecing together her story and the tracks around the killing sites, Gunn begins to wonder just who is behind the atrocities. Gunn is captured by Sioux, and agrees to bring the leader of the culprits to the Indians, but he has a time limit, and many lives are at risk if he fails. This part of the story provides some tense reading, as it seems Gunn might not fulfil his part of the bargain, especially as the author doesn’t hold back from killing off some of the main characters.

I’ve always enjoyed Jory Sherman’s work, and this book didn’t disappoint. I was slightly surprised at how many pages were taken up by sexual content though. The main plot wasn’t that complicated and offered little in the way of surprises, but did include some hard-hitting scenes, the main one being the death of a leading character that will add to the mental scars Gunn carries. Pacing was excellent and everything came to a satisfactory conclusion. 

American readers can get a copy here
British readers can get a copy here

POWDER RIVER MASSACRE

SLOCUM

Book 171 of 430 + 17 Giant Editions

POWDER RIVER MASSACRE

By Jake Logan

Berkley Books, May 1993

Slocum’s working for the railroad, and the advance men are dropping like flies at the hands of marauding Sioux warriors. Slocum doesn’t much like the odds, but he has a job to do.

That job gets complicated when a cavalry troop led by a revenge-crazed officer goes after the Indians. Slocum can’t let the man kill women and children just because they’re in the way. Now he’s got both the Indians and the trooper after him – and no one’s going to rest easy until Slocum’s out of the picture…permanently!

I don’t know who the author is writing behind the pseudonym of Jake Logan for this entry in the long running series, but they created an interesting storyline and their descriptive prose in particular was a joy to read. The opening chapter really painted an excellent sense of time and place, along with some gripping tension.

It's been a while since I’ve read a Slocum book, and I can’t remember reading one that portrays the hero in the way that this author does. Slocum isn’t a very forceful character, doesn’t push his point and agrees to do things that go against his beliefs – partly to stop a full-blown war erupting between the Sioux and the calvary. Slocum also came across as shy where women are concerned. He was described as blushing when it was suggested he spent some private time with the led woman of the story (who is nothing like the lady depicted on the cover). The Slocum I remember is confident in both his abilities and with women. Putting these little niggles aside, this is a very readable western.

The Slocum books are classed as an adult series, yet this one contained very little in the way of explicit sex. Nothing erotic happens for over 100 pages and by that time I’d almost forgotten there would be some scenes of a sexual nature and when they did arrive, they were dealt with over a couple of pages, almost as if the author wanted to get back to the struggle between the soldiers and the Sioux as fast as possible.

Even though the story played out much as I expected I had no idea as to how the Sioux were going to capture the troopers without killing any of them, and wanting to discover how this would be achieved, if it could be, kept me glued to the pages. 

Powder River Massacre proved to be a good entry into the series, one that has me thinking that I should read more Slocum books sooner rather than later.

CHINATOWN JUSTICE

ANGEL EYES

Number 4 of 9

By W.B. Longley

Cover art by Don Besco

PaperJacks, October 1985

After Liz Archer wakes up next to a corpse in a Frisco whorehouse, she’s arrested for murder. Innocent of the crime, she escapes from jail desperate to uncover the truth.

With help from an oriental “lady of the evening,” Liz learns more than the identity of the killer. She learns her way around the brutal nocturnal world of a Chinatown bordello!

Although the reader knows who killed the man Liz Archer wakes up next to, the author keeps the identity of the person who hired the killers a secret as he does the reasons behind the murder. This adds a couple of elements of mystery to the story. Even when Liz discovers who this person is it leads to even more problems, and I can’t reveal anymore about that here without adding a major spoiler. 

Angel Eyes is an adult series and this story has much more explicit sex scenes than I can remember reading in the earlier books, or in fact other adult westerns. Liz beds the vast majority of the male cast and one of the women too. She even witnesses’ others enjoying each other but is sickened by the incest she sees. If that wasn’t enough sex, then other characters indulge too, out of sight of Liz. In fact, there seemed to be more sex than anything else in this story and I soon found myself speed-reading these pages to get back to the murder plot.

W.B. Longley is a pseudonym used by Robert J. Randisi, perhaps known best as J.R. Roberts, author of long running The Gunsmith series. At times, I found myself thinking how easily this book could have been an entry in that series, although there is much more sex in this one as I’ve already said.

If you’re a fan of Mr. Randisi’s writing, then you’ll probably enjoy this one, although you will have to like an extreme amount of sex in your westerns too. 

I’m not sure how easy it is to find the original Angel Eyes paperbacks these days, but the series has since been made available by Speaking Volumes in both paperback and ebook form under the authors’ real name.

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.

BLOOD JUSTICE

GUNN

Number 4 of 29

By Jory Sherman

Cover art by Pino Daeni

Zebra, 1980

Once Gunn met the beautiful Jilly Collins, her loving wouldn’t let him kiss her goodbye. She was the kind of woman who could please, tease and entice a man to do whatever she wanted – and what she wanted was revenge. So, she convinced Gunn to ride to Cataldo Mission and help her get even with Jason Berryman, the ruthless scoundrel who married her, took her money and ran.

They found Berryman in the local saloon playing out a winning hand of cards, but when he saw his wife with the sharpshooter Gunn, he knew that death would be the winner – and that lady luck had run out.

As you’ll see from the cover, this book is part of an adult western series. Explicit sex does take up a fair portion of the pages and it seems Gunn gets to bed most of the main female characters. This also leads to a very funny scene with an embarrassed Gunn caught by Jilly with another girl in his room. Jealousy also rears its head in another well written part of the story when two women engage in a wild catfight much to the amusement of the onlookers.

There is plenty of other action too, the kind involving fists, knives and guns that is often graphic in its description.

Berryman makes for an excellent adversary who always seems to be one step-ahead of those pursuing him. When Gunn and Jilly catch up to him, he is in the process of swindling another woman in a similar way to how he tricked Jilly. Getting Jilly’s money back soon becomes less of a priority to staying alive. 

I’ve read quite a few books written by Jory Sherman and have always enjoyed his writing style, his attention to detail and often poetic descriptions of emotions and landscapes are a joy to read and this story lived up to all my expectations. If you appreciate westerns that have a fast-paced plot, are filled with violent gunplay, contain graphic sex, and have some humorous scenes too, then this maybe a book you should consider reading.

DAKOTA MASSACRE

THE SCOUT #2

By Buck Gentry

Zebra, 1981

The cry is “massacre!” when a town is brutally stormed by a band of rampaging Indians. Before anyone can retaliate the surprise attack, Eli Holten sets out for Sioux territory. Since he spent six years of his life learning the ways of the Plains, the Scout knows the tribe and the territory like the back of his hand. And his instincts tell him that someone’s been playing a dirty trick.

Holten soon learns that army deserters have been masquerading as deadly Indians. They have been killing and scalping their victims – and now they’ve kidnapped his girl. Holten won’t take things lying down, not when his lady is held hostage, and not when his name is at stake – 

Emblazoned on the cover and spine of this book are the words adult western and this book is part of a number of series launched around this time by Zebra and other publishers under this banner. The opening scenes of Dakota Massacre fitting this theme perfectly, lasting a number of pages and described in explicit detail. But once Holten and Rebecca go their separate ways this story moves quickly into an all-out action-packed battle between Holten, the deserters, and the Sioux. Of course, there are a few more adult sessions but the vast majority of the book concerns the desperate fights to survive.

The author certainly doesn’t give Holten much time to catch his breath between adult or violent encounters. Most of the deadly bouts begin only a few lines after the previous bloody fight. At the rate Holten was eliminating Sioux warriors I did begin to wonder if he’d wipe out the entire nation in this one story. Holten doesn’t get it all his own way though, but he does seem to be able to shrug off wounds in minutes and continue with his mission as if he was never hit.

The battles are described in gory detail, spurting blood, shattered bone and spilled body contents vividly defined. At one-point Holten is tortured and what he has to endure is painfully detailed. The torture sequence leads to a truly nail-biting how is he going to get out of that alive scene acted out in the aptly named Canyon of Death.

Buck Gentry is a pseudonym behind which a number of different authors wrote, and this one was probably written by Steve Clark and I believe he wrote most of the early entries in this series. 

If you enjoy violent westerns that contain almost non-stop savage action and don’t mind some explicit sex scenes then this a book, and series, that should be on your reading list. Dakota Massacre left me looking forward to reading the next one very soon.