THE LAW OF BEN HODGE

 

THE LAW OF BEN HODGE
By Matt Chisholm
Cover art by Walter Popp
Panther, July 1959

The town simmered with hate between the north and the south, between the townsman and the drover, between the law and the lawless.

Hodge tramped the streets of the old town with a star on his vest, knowing the mob would kill him so that they could hang his prisoner…knowing the Texas drovers would kill him to rescue the murderer.

Hodge knew that there could only be one law now…his law – The Law of Ben Hodge.

This is the third and final book Matt Chisholm wrote about Ben Hodge. The previous stories are briefly mentioned but you don’t need to have read them to fully enjoy this tale. In those earlier books, Hodge was trying to save himself from being hanged. In this one Hodge is trying to protect a guilty man from lynch law.

Hodge finds himself reluctantly wearing a star when the towns’ lawman is laid up. A drunken cowboy has accidently shot and killed a child. The townsfolk want his neck stretched immediately. The drovers want to free their friend. Everybody wants Hodge out of the way so they can do what they feel is right. Both sides prepare to fight each other so they can get to the man they want.

Once Hodge accepts the badge, he intends to enforce the law. He soon has his suspicions about the killing. Was it accidental or done on purpose? If the latter, what is the motive? Behind his back, powerful townsmen plot the death of Hodge’s prisoner and professional gunmen prepare to carry out their boss’s orders. 

Chisholm builds the tension well as the story swiftly moves towards its violent conclusion. Along the way there are plenty of bursts of action. Hodge takes some punishment too. As the plot becomes more complicated it is hard to see how any of the main characters will survive. Hodge’s wife Rose has a part to play, although she is unaware of the danger she is in and Hodge doesn’t know either. 

I did feel this story wasn’t as strong as the previous Hodge books. That may be because I’ve read many more tales about a lawman trying to protect his prisoner from a mob than I have where the protagonist literally has a rope around his neck and has moments to somehow free himself from the noose. Having said that, The Law of Ben Hodge was still a very entertaining read and left me looking forward to reading more from this author very soon.

Matt Chisholm is a pseudonym used by Peter Watts, a British writer who has long been one of my favourite western authors.