Guns of Ponderosa

as by Chuck Tyrell

A Black Horse Western from Hale, February 2010

When Jake Cahill and his gang take over the town of Ponderosa, sawmill magnate Fletcher Comstock sends for his friend and former town marshal Matt Stryker. When Stryker arrives though, Cahill is waiting. He gelds Stryker’s fine Arabian stallion and beats Stryker terribly, disfiguring him for life. But Stryker will not give up. Bearing the scars of his beating, he returns to Ponderosa to pin on the marshal’s badge.

Matt Stryker must tame a rowdy town and get rid of the ruthless Cahill gang as the guns of Ponderosa blaze and blood runs red in the Arizona high country.

Chuck Tyrell has written a book full of interesting characters, not in the least Matt Stryker, who not only has to battle against Jake Cahill and his men, but the town newspaper woman who campaigns for his removal from office due to his tough, and often brutal, methods of dealing with those who break his laws.

There is plenty of action and the tale moves swiftly along to its violent final showdown. Chuck Tyrell’s writing is very visual and he also does well in creating tension, particularly between Cahill and his own men, especially the man known as Breed. All through the story I wondered as to just whose side Breed was on, and this kept me reading to find out.

This is the first full-length story I’ve read by Chuck Tyrell – I’ve read, and enjoyed, a few short stories of his – and this book has me wanting to check out his previous three Black Horse Westerns.

As you’ll see from the date above Guns of Ponderosa came out a few months ago and Chuck Tyrell’s (author Charles T. Whipple) latest BHW, The Killing Trail, is available now, even though many Internet booksellers have it listed with a publishing date of August, so I’d suggest if you want a copy you don’t delay in ordering before it sells out.