Wednesday 23 July 2008

Standoff at Liberty

 as by Daniel Rockfern
A Black Horse Western from Hale, 2004

Special Investigator Frank Angel rides into Liberty in pursuit of outlaw Harry Culp. Unknown to Angel, Culp has been murdered on the orders of corrupt Judge Cranford and his stolen loot appropriated. With Sheriff Sherman and his sinister deputies working for the Judge it isn’t long before Angel is framed and thrown into a prison camp run by another of Cranford’s sadistic henchmen. A prison from which Angel isn’t to leave alive.

This is a very fast moving book full of violent action. As soon as Angel seems to be close to finding out the truth he finds himself in another brutal death struggle. The characters are all well drawn from the scheming Judge to the nervous Sheriff, and of course, Angel, the tough lawman who will take on all odds to complete his mission.

Frank Angel originally appeared in a series of nine books back in the early 1970’s, as by Frederick H. Christian, and it’s great to see him return in a "new" adventure. This tale capturing the excitement and atmosphere of those past books well.

For fans of Frank Angel this has to be a dream come true, and for fans of good westerns then make sure you don’t miss it!

Footnote: Mike Linaker originally wrote this book in for the German western market, where it was published in 1978, along with four other Angel books. Fans of his work, and of Angel, had long given up hope of ever seeing it appear in English.

2 comments:

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin said...

I love these black horse westerns and have a work under consideration with theM. Hey fingers crossed and one day you can review my western.

Steve M said...

Let me know when it's out and I'll get the library to get me a copy.