Hounds of Hate

BLOOD FEUD #2

By David Robbins

Mad Hornet Publishing, July 2016

The feud between the Shannon family and the Harkey clan continues. Chace and Cassie Shannon head to New Orleans to put the bloodshed behind them. But the Harkeys have other ideas, and bring along a pack of bloodhounds trained to kill to track the twins down. 

Brought to bay hundreds of miles from their kin, Chace and Cassie must rely on their wits and each other if they’re to survive the vicious hounds of hate.

Way back in October 2010 Signet published a book by David Robbins called Blood Feud, this story introduced us to Chace and Cassie Shannon and told of their blood feud with the Harkey clan. Although this was a great stand-alone novel it did leave the way open for a sequel and that has finally happened with the publication of Hounds of Hate.

The story begins where the previous book finished with Chace and Cassie and their followers heading into New Orleans. Chace has a plan but keeps everyone in the dark about it, something I’m going to do too so as not to spoil this aspect of the tale.

The book contains plenty of action that often comes without warning and in one case proving how cold and vicious Chace can be. Dialogue is believable and often had me laughing out loud, as did some of the antics of Tallulah, a young girl who is one of the Shannon gang, with her dreams of marrying Chace someday, making her fiercely protective of him, much to the astonishment of others and Chace in particular. 

David Robbins switches from character to character regularly and often leaves them in peril at a chapter end encouraging you to keep reading. The story flows smoothly towards its final showdown between Chase, Cassie and the Harkey’s that have trailed them to New Orleans, the hounds giving a viciously deadly twist to this last gunfight.

Everything concludes neatly and satisfactorily but, like before, the story does leave the way open for another book. Let’s hope David Robbins doesn’t keep us waiting quite so long to find out what happens next.

Hard Ride to Glory

By Harry Jay Thorn

Crowood Press, August 2016

Griffin Boone is happy in his Wyoming valley; he has his Arrowhead ranch, his close friends, a good stock of cattle and a job as a part time deputy sheriff in the county of Liberty. Boone has ridden through the battlefields of the Civil War, served throughout with John Bell Hood’s Texas Brigade, he has survived the horror of battle and found peace and solitude with a woman and a shared past. That long-ago trail they once unknowingly rode draws them ever closer together until their lives are threatened by Heck Thomas and his outlaw crew of gunfighters and vagabond thieves. Ride with Boone from the peaceful town of Liberty to the ruins of Glory, a ghost town in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains where past meets present in a blaze of gunfire. Griffin Boone is a quiet, unassuming man, a gentleman – but make no mistake, you cross him at your peril….

Harry Jay Thorn takes the unusual approach of writing this story in both the first and third person point of view. Thorn blends the two types of storytelling so smoothly I hardly noticed the switch from one to the other.

Most of the characters are likeable in some way, and that includes Thomas’ outlaw band – I did say most as it’s one of them, Huck Flynn who is the odd one out and it will be him who causes all the problems, including a falling-out among the outlaws that will see Boone determined to bring them to justice.

The book contains plenty of fast, bloody action and a few surprises too, including one at the end of the final showdown.

Harry Jay Smith is one of a number of pseudonyms Chris Adam Smith uses, alongside his real name, for writing his Black Horse Westerns and my collection contains quite of few of them. On the strength of this book I think it’s time I dug out some more of his work.

Black Horse Westerns are now available as both hardbacks and ebooks.

Quarter to Midnight

By Ned Oaks

Crowood Press, July 2016

Steve Karner was attacked one night in the woods outside Stayton, Oregon. Beaten nearly to death and thrown in the river, he hadn’t been seen in years, and everyone assumed he was dead. But then the men who tried to kill him started dying, one by one, and it soon became apparent that Karner was not only alive, but riding a vengeance trail that wouldn’t end until he had found the mastermind behind the attempted murder.

There are many dangers to be faced along the way, however – a tough town marshal who wants the truth, a cunning young millionaire who will use all his family’s power to protect his secrets, and a cold-blooded hired killer who’s been paid a very tidy sum to kill Steve Karner. It all comes together in a brutal final showdown in which the truth is revealed…and only one man is left standing.

This is Ned Oaks second Black Horse Western and the first I’ve read.

Filled with well thought out characters the motives that drive them had me hooked immediately as did the desire to discover just why Karner had been attacked. Karner’s vengeance on those who beat him and threw him in the river is dealt with fairly quickly making the reader wonder where the rest of the story will go.

With Karner in jail and a killer closing in the already fast pace of the story shifts up a gear and the book becomes very difficult to put down. Tension, more deaths, swift gun action, and a great twist leading to a final confrontation brings the book to an exciting ending.

On finishing this story I found myself wishing I’d read Ned Oaks’ previous book, The Drygulch Trail, but finding a copy of that can wait as I already have his third book, Rimrock Renegade, that has been published by Crowood this month and I will certainly be reading that as soon as I can.

If you’d like to find out more about Ned Oaks you can read an interview with him here.

In case you missed it, Black Horse Westerns are now available as ebooks as well as hardbacks.

Bloody Wyoming

BLAZE #12:

By John Hegenberger

Rough Edges Press, July 2016

All J.D. Blaze wanted to do was celebrate his wife Kate’s birthday, but when you’re the Old West’s only pair of husband-and-wife gunfighters, trouble is never far away. A savage attack and a dangerous injury not only threaten Kate Blaze’s life, she also finds herself a captive of twisted killers and unsure of her own identity. But J.D. will battle with his wits, a pair of rock-hard fists, and a blazing .45 to find Kate and free her before it’s too late! 

This is the first book I’ve read in this series and it’s the first written by John Hegenberger. Blaze was launched to fill the gap left by the now finished Longarm, Slocum and The Trailsman series, and like them is written by a variety of authors, but here the writers name is on the cover rather than hidden behind a pseudonym. Like those three much missed series the Blaze books have adult content as the cover states.

Not having read any of the previous books I don’t know how well John Hegenberger has captured the characters of J.D. Blaze and Kate. Kate isn’t in this one that much, it’s more about J.D. and his attempts to free her from her captors. J.D. also allows his temper to drive his actions which will see him follow false leads and get into numerous deadly scrapes.

Adult westerns often offer the reader well thought out, entertaining action-packed reads and this book certainly falls into that category. The sexual content sandwiches the main story and can easily be skipped if you don’t really go for that part of this kind of story without spoiling the rest of the yarn.

On the strength of this tale I think it’s time I caught up on the previous books. I’m not sure why I haven’t already done so as there are some great authors working on this series which looks set to run until at least the end of 2017 with book 13: Night Riders by Michael Newton being released at the beginning on September.

Available as both print and ebook.

The Mexican

By Lee Clinton

The Crowood Press, July 2016

Frank Nester is a small time criminal who manages to pull off an almost faultless railroad robbery, except for a burnt hand when he grips a stovepipe to steady himself. This injury points to his presence in the mail car and sees him taken into custody. But luck is on his side and the jury find him not guilty, much to the annoyance of special agent Rodney D. Dodd. So when an almost exact duplication of the robbery occurs two years later for a haul of cash that is nearly forty times greater, Dodd sets his sights on Frank. However, this crime includes a killing. A Mexican jeweller by the name of Don DeLuca, who was travelling in the first class compartment, was hit by a stray shot. Dodd says it’s murder and that Frank should hang. Frank knows he had nothing to do with the heist. So who did? And what has happened to the body of Don DeLuca?

Lee Clinton has certainly come up with an excellent story that offers plenty of twists and turns as Frank begins to piece together who did the crime he has spent years in prison for. Frank will be helped by his old partner and his lady. In fact it is this lady, Sarah, who is the driving force behind Frank’s attempts to solve the mystery of the robbery, killing, and missing body.

Sarah seems to know all the questions they need to find the answers for and when Frank asks her how she knows this, her answer put a big grin on my face and knocks Frank’s confidence in her a little. I’m not going to spoil her reply here, you’ll have to read the book yourself if you want to know.

As each lead throws up more puzzles, and a major breakthrough seems to present itself, only to die in front of them before revealing the answers they were hoping for, you have to wonder if the mystery of the robbery will ever be solved.

Throughout the story Lee Clinton inserts little clues and red-herrings that’ll make you think you’ve worked out the who and why but then you’ll find yourself changing you mind again and again.

The story builds extremely well to a final bloody confrontation the ties up all the story-threads and once again left me looking forward to Lee Clinton’s next book.

Some of you may have noticed that the Black Horse Western line is no longer published by Robert Hale and are now being published by The Crowood Press. Crowood are now publishing all these books as ebooks too.

Strong Suspicions

EMMETT STRONG #2

By GP Hutchinson

The Hutchinson Group LLC, March 2016

After pursuing a cold-blooded murderer all the way to Nevada, Texas Ranger Emmett Strong is returning home to San Antonio—but not alone. He’s found a girl he longs to marry. Finding someone to tie the knot for them is proving to be a challenge, however, owing to the fact that she's the daughter of Chinese immigrants. 

Along the way, there's a ruckus in El Paso's Wild Hog Saloon, and by noon the next day, folks are convinced it was Emmett and his compadres who robbed the saloon owner and beat him unconscious. They want Emmett on the end of a rope. 

Meanwhile, a bested enemy, set on revenge, hires the notorious fast gun "Three-Finger" Ned Cage to dispatch Strong, his amigos, and even his girl. 

When the only way out of trouble is to head smack-dab back into the middle of it—beautiful young woman in tow—a cool-headed pistolero like Emmett Strong becomes a force to be reckoned with. But will the vicious array of enemies prove to be too much this time, even for Strong?

GP Hutchinson once again comes up with the goods in this, his second Emmett Strong western. It begins shortly after the last book ended and continues the threads left hanging at that books conclusion. Once again the theme of racial prejudice plays an important role throughout the story and Hutchinson puts this over well. If that isn’t enough of a problem for Strong he also has to try and clear his name of robbery and then there are those coming gunning for him he doesn’t know about. All these storylines grab the readers’ attention effortlessly making sure you’ll continue turning the pages.

“Three-Finger” Ned Cage is a well thought out character who proves to be an excellent adversary for Strong. If you want to know why he’s called “Three-Finger” you’ll have to find out by reading the book.

Although this book can be read, and enjoyed as a self-contained novel it might be advantageous to read the earlier book, Strong Convictions, first so you know exactly how the characters came to be in the position you find them in at the start of this one.

On reaching the final page I was once again left looking forward to discovering what GP Hutchinson has in store for Strong in the next book of the series.

GP Hutchinson recently won the Western Fictioneers 2016 Peacemaker Award for Best First Novel (Strong Convictions).

Wanted: A Western Story Collection

By The Western Writers Group

Solstice Publishing, April 2016

Seven bestselling western authors join forces in the time-honored tradition of the old West to deliver a collection of short stories featuring their most popular and beloved characters. Read about the adventures of Steve Dancy, Gideon Johann, Shad Cain, Lee Mattingly, the McCabes, Hunt-U.S. Marshal, and Jess Williams.

These seven authors are all having a lot of success with their various western series. This collection is the perfect way to introduce yourself to some of their heroes in a set of short stories that haven’t been published elsewhere.

I’ve read a couple of these writers before, most notably Tell Cotten and it was the inclusion of his story about Lee Mattingly, from his excellent Landon Saga series, that made this collection a must read for me and for readers of that series you really need to read this as we discover something about one of the main characters that may be returned to in the series.

It is also quite amazing when you realize just how many books some of these writers have put out, for instance there are around forty Jess Williams stories by Robert J. Thomas.

At least one of the stories seems to continue quiet closely to events in the main series but the author in question gives just enough explanation so a new reader isn’t confused by events mentioned.

I’ve always believed this kind of short story collection is a great way to find new and exciting authors and this group of writers doesn’t disappoint in any way. There’s plenty of action, suspense and humour to be found within the pages and that makes for a winning combination in my opinion. I’m pretty sure most western readers will find some, if not all, these stories to be worthwhile reads and who knows, may also find themselves a new series or two to catch up on like I intend doing.

Contents: 

The Grizzly by Brad Dennison

Cain Finds a Princess by Lou Bradshaw

The Mirror by Tell Cotten

The Shepherd by Robert J. Thomas

The Vigilante by W.L. Cox

Snake in the Grass by James D. Best

A Step Ahead by Duane Boehm