The Gunsmith #16

BUCKSKINS AND SIX-GUNS

as by J.R. Roberts

Charter, May 1983

“Buckskin” Frank Leslie is a small, wiry man with twin Peacemakers that blaze faster than most men can blink an eye. And it’s a lucky thing for Clint Adams when Buckskin Frank jumps into a gunfight on his side – leaving four unlucky hombres dead on the barroom floor. The Gunsmith always repays a favour. But this time it lands him in big trouble with the town banker – and a different kind of trouble with the banker’s daughter!

This book has all the hallmarks of the series: very short chapters, a dialogue driven story, a plot that builds quickly, bad guys plotting to double-cross each other, and the inclusion of a real person.

There’s a lot of sex – a trademark of the early titles in the so called adult western series that began in the 1980’s – and it seems as though Clint Adams beds every female he meets.

I had to grin when I read the names of the banker, Sherman Jory and his henchman Martin Cort – the latter is a pseudonym used by Jory Sherman on his and his wife’s western series Bolt, which has been switched around from Cort Martin.

So, like most of The Gunsmith books, this is a quick and easy read that offers some great bad guys such as Saber, the man brought in the kill both Adams and Leslie. A couple of surprises are thrown in at the end too and all the plot threads are tied up neatly.