BAD NIGHT AT THE CRAZY BULL
By John Dyson
Hale, February 2015
Monday, 7 April 2025
BAD NIGHT AT THE CRAZY BULL
Sunday, 30 March 2025
THE SAVAGE HILLS
BANNISTER
Book 2 of 11
THE SAVAGE HILLS
By D.B. Newton
Cover art probably by Jerome Podwil
Berkley Medallion Books, February 1964
Jim Bannister was still on the dodge, still worth $12,000 to the man with guts enough to try to take him in to his death.
Bannister knew he had to stay out of trouble, but he didn’t think befriending a 17-year-old kid would lead him into a trap from which the only way out was a sixgun . . .
But the kid had a nervous trigger finger and then Bannister found himself accused of murder, only this time it was for a killing he hadn’t done . . .
Dwight Bennett Newton presents his readers with a tough, traditional western in The Savage Hills. Jim Bannister is a capable, yet flawed hero. He’s a man who makes mistakes that could cost him his life. Perhaps a little too trusting such as with the kid he befriends who will later double-cross him . . . or does he?
The story races along and as more and more characters are introduced so the chances of Bannister being arrested increase. Each new set of characters have their own problems that Bannister finds himself sucked into. Then there’s the suspicious lawman and the gang of rustlers who don’t want anyone else settling into the hills they call their own. As each plot element blends into another it soon becomes apparent that the author is setting everything up for one savage showdown that should resolve everything . . . although as the pages began to run out, I did have to wonder how this would happen and I also questioned how all the ‘good guys’ could live happily ever after. I needn’t have worried as Newton finished everything off neatly, if a little too perfectly for some of the characters.
I found this book to be as equally enjoyable as the first one in the series and hope to read the next book soon.
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
THE HELLION
Two miles west of Abilene, Nord Madden’s gang guns down Donald Rutledge in cold blood. Two thousand miles away in New York City, an aspiring actress named Beth Rutledge finds out that her father is dead – and starts back to Abilene.
In Abilene Marshal Luke Travis is going after the killers, but the county sheriff is getting in his way. Someone is cutting down members of the gang, and Nord Madden is preparing for war. Travis and his deputy are looking for a slender gunman with a lightning fast .38. Beth Rutledge avows her notorious brother is behind the gun – and he won’t stop until he’s won his revenge!
This book’s plot isn’t as straightforward as the back cover blurb makes it sound. The author has a number of surprises in store, some that long-time followers of the series will not want to miss out on. Affairs of the heart will play their part too for more than one Abilene townsperson. Travis will also butt heads with the county sheriff which could prove very dangerous to his position in Abilene. Someone else on the town council wants to bring the future that is already happening back east to Abilene and that means there’s no place for an outdated lawman and marshal’s office, so political confrontations are set in motion. All this, and more, are secondary plotlines that may play a part in bringing the main storyline to a close, but it’s the race to find the Madden gang and the gunman who is killing them off that takes up the majority of the book.
Pacing is excellent and even though the reader will have some idea as to who is gunning down members of the Madden gang the author has a surprise or two waiting to add a new twist to the tale. The characterization of the new visitors to Abilene is first-rate and you’ll soon be caring about what happens to them. Development of long-time characters continues and these storylines left me looking forward to the next book in the series to see how their lives play out. The many action scenes are top-notch too.
Justin Ladd is a pseudonym for James Reasoner who is one of the best western authors writing today and I’ve yet to read anything by him that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. This book, in fact the whole series, is highly recommended by me.
Monday, 17 March 2025
EXCITING WESTERN - October 1953
Thursday, 13 March 2025
GALLOWS GHOST
Friday, 28 February 2025
SIX GRAVES TO SUNRISE
As you can see from the cover image the author is announced as being Brett McKinley, inside it states that it is by Emerson Dodge. Before anyone wastes anytime trying to work out just which of them actually wrote Six Graves to Sunrise I’ll tell you that McKinley and Dodge are both pseudonyms for the same person; author Paul Wheelahan.
Six Graves to Sunrise is a well-written traditional western the moves forward at a gallop. The plot turns up often in westerns; that of a man, Shannon, accused of a murder he didn’t commit and his hunting down of the real killer to clear his name. There’s a touch of love interest too, although that only takes up a very small part of the story. Wheelahan regularly switches between Shannon and his lawman friend, Gault, as they both hunt down their prey, eventually teaming up to do so. Wheelahan also tells of what Cherneck, the real killer, is doing. Cherneck joins forces with another cold killer, Lucky Kelso, and a couple of other outlaws. Each time we read about them the bodies pile up – which made me question the title as there are a lot more than six people who die as the trail leads to the town of Sunrise. There’s a sub-plot too in that Gault has history with Kelso.
Character studies are good and the action scenes are described vividly, especially the attack on an iron payroll wagon. There is one little mistake, and if you blink, you’ll probably miss it. A mule becomes a horse momentarily before becoming a mule again.
Like other books I’ve read by Paul Wheelahan Six Graves to Sunrise proved to be an entertaining read.
Paul Wheelahan has had over eight hundred westerns published under a variety of pseudonyms.
Saturday, 22 February 2025
SLOCUM BURIED ALIVE
Passing uneasily through the dried-up town of Espero, Texas, John Slocum learns soon enough that his apprehension is justified. After a not-so-friendly welcome at the Six Feet Under Saloon, he’s given the choice between a bullet or a bit of employment: Escort the town mortician’s strikingly pretty bride-to-be from a train station at Dexter Junction – in exchange for a hefty sum.
But with someone after the gunslinger and the mysterious beauty, Slocum reckons that the undertaker neglected to tell him the whole story. There’s treachery in store for Slocum upon returning to Espero, a place where men have been known to land in an early grave… much too early…
The author had me hooked right from the start and soon added more questions that needed answering, along with mystery upon mystery. Are any of the characters Slocum meets really who they say they are? The undertaker’s bride-to-be, Miranda Madison, is certainly hiding something… and who is the man trailing her? The mortician is definitely acting strangely. What is his game? He doesn’t act like a completely sane man either… especially when he announces his wedding gift to his wife-to-be will be a newly made coffin!
The book contains plenty of action, and some truly horrific scenes as the undertaker’s sinister acts are slowly exposed. Slocum has to endure being buried alive, a fate many of us fear, and this part of the book will stay with me for a long time, as will the truth behind the undertaker’s plans and that of Miranda.
I believe the author behind the pseudonym of Jake Logan for this book is Robert Vardeman and here he has come up with a very memorable plot. It was also great to see that he includes a fair bit about Slocum’s past; explaining how he became a man wanted by the law, and how he’s still willing to commit crimes so he can survive.
Slocum Buried Alive proved to be a very entertaining read and I’m now eager to dig out more of Vardeman’s entries into the series to see if they’re just as good as this one.