Amidst the peril and confusion of a frontier town, Marshal Matt Dillon is a man who stands up. For justice. For honor. And for the safety of Dodge City’s law-abiding citizens. No gunman is too fast, no stage robber too cunning, no crisis too large for this fearless lawman of the West…
When Doc suffers a mild heart attack, Matt Dillon must find a young frontier doctor to help the aging man with his workload. Dr. Jerome Gentry seems to fit the bill. He quickly becomes popular with the townspeople after mending a few patients – and a little too popular with the ladies, single or otherwise. Matt suspects the newcomer may be a lying charlatan. But the handsome doctor’s healing skills are soon put to the test when a gang of cattle thieves starts shooting their way into Dodge City.
This is the first of three books Gary McCarthy wrote based on the long-running television show Gunsmoke. I have never watched Gunsmoke so I have no idea how accurate McCarthy’s characterization of the people is, or whether he tells his story the way the TV show did.
Reading the blurb above, you’d expect Dillon to play a large part in this story, but that’s not so. Yes, he does feature but other characters take centre stage, namely Gentry, Doc Adams, and Festus. Doc starts to evaluate his life and career after suffering a heart attack and after making a couple of mistakes, that could have been fatal if not for Dr. Gentry’s intervention, decides the time has come to retire. This makes him even more cranky than usual and leads to some bitter conversations that are often quite humorous. Of course, the townsfolk don’t want Adams to retire and do their best to persuade him to change his mind.
Although the main storyline is about whether Adams will step down from being the town’s doctor and if Gentry will replace him, the book does contain some lively action scenes too. Gentry’s womanizing leads to a killing that might just see Gentry change his ways. Then there’s the wounded rider who comes into Dodge with a tale of cattle rustlers. The lawmen of Dodge City then have to sort this out which results in some exciting gunplay.
For the main characters every thing turns out pretty much as you’d expect, but Gentry’s future is always up in the air and kept me guessing until the end.
I’ve read quite a few books by Gary McCarthy and enjoyed them all and Gunsmoke turned out to be another entertaining read. I’ll definitely be reading the other two books sometime soon and I might see if I can catch an episode of the TV series too.
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