Long Ride to Serenity

By Harry Jay Thorn

The Crowood Press

Hardback March 2016

Paperback, July 2019

This is the story of a range war, the story of a railroad right of way, of murder, of greed and corruption littering the long dark trail from the East Coast of America, to south Texas. This is the story of the township of Serenity, and the people who live and die there. Above all it is the story of Louise Kettle, a frontier woman and her love for the aging gunfighter, a living legend, a man with a voice in the White House.

He rides that long dark trail leading back from the hollows of western Kentucky, and on to the slaughterhouse they call Shiloh. He is the fastest gun south of the Picket wire, and always behind him is a stone-cold killer on a mission from God. This is the story of the pistolero, shootist and gentleman, Rio Jack Fanning: The Undertaker…. 

As many will know, Black Horse Westerns have been issued as hardbacks only for many years, although they are now also coming out as ebooks once the hardbacks have reached their market. Crowood have also decided to test the market for paperback versions and have put out a small number of books from their backlist in this format which sell at roughly half the price of the hardbacks. The paperbacks are very similar in size to the hardbacks. The book I read was the paperback version.

Harry Jay Thorn is a pseudonym used by English author Chris Adam Smith, an ex-movie magazine producer, merchant sailor and military policeman. He writes westerns for the Black Horse Western line under both those names. I have read quite a few of his books and have always found them to be entertaining reads. 

Fanning is a compelling character but he is not the only one who grips the imagination, the killer does too and his history with Fanning adds a neat twist to this fast-moving tale that involves many people from all over America. Fanning’s relationship with Louise Kettle adds a touch of romance, and her struggle to accept the more vicious side of The Undertaker is fascinating to read. 

As Death claims more an more victims you have to wonder who will be alive by the story’s conclusion, an end that sees all the plot-threads tied up neatly with a promise of a bright future for those who survive. 

This is a book that I think would appeal to all fans of the western genre and like the books I’ve previously read by this author I was once again left with the desire to read more of his work very soon.