Dead Man Draw

By Walt Keene

Hale, November 2014

Legendary Will Bill Hickok and his close friends, retired lawman Dan Shaw and veteran gunfighter Tom Dix, have no idea what they are facing upon arrival in the sprawling town of Dead Man Draw. But it doesn’t take long to discover that the place is crawling with hired killers.

The intrepid trio are soon face to face with more deadly guns than they have ever encountered, each one trained on the fearless men as they move through the settlement. The tension is about to break. Shaw and Dix are angry but Hickok is more than angry – he’s dangerous.

Dead Man Draw is, I believe, the ninth book in Walt Keene’s series featuring Dix, Shaw and Hickok, and it’s only the second I’ve read. As in Gun Fury Hickok doesn’t have a major role until some way into the story. He appears in the prologue and it’s during this that a couple of major questions are voiced that kept me reading to find out their answers.

Dix and Shaw, virtually penniless, take on roles as lawmen in Dead Man Draw, without really wondering why they’ve been offered the jobs. It soon becomes obvious that the men who’ve hired them, and those who oppose them, don’t give a damn about the real law and it seem all are motivated by greed.

With Hickok’s arrival in town the three team up and take on the bad guys in a bloody showdown that includes a couple of twists and also brings forth the answers to the questions set at the beginning of the story.

Walt Keene is a pseudonym used by Michael D. George, a writer whose Black Horse Westerns written under a variety of pen-names are very popular. A couple of his other series are perhaps better known than this one, but on the strength of this very entertaining book maybe Dix, Shaw and Hickok should be up there with the likes of Iron Eyes (as by Rory Black) and the Bar 10 series (as by Boyd Cassidy).

The Hot Spurs

By Boyd Cassidy

Hale, September 2013

When the riders of the Bar 10 run up against an escaped prisoner and his ruthless gang they find themselves in deep trouble. Cole Logan and his henchmen are heading to Mexico when they learn that the Circle J ranch have returned from a profitable cattle drive and are heavy with loot, making them a sitting target for a raid.

But Gene Adams and his Bar 10 cowboys are soon in hot pursuit and all they need to do is stop the outlaws before they reach the border….

This is the eleventh book in Boyd Cassidy’s Bar 10 series.

From the opening pages this story moves forwards at a terrific pace and is filled with action. If we count the killings that happen off screen, so to speak, along with those that we witness, this book has to be at the top of the pile for the most deaths in a Black Horse Western you’re likely to read, the opening chapter tells of over two hundred killings alone!

Gene Adams and his men aren’t afraid of taking on larger odds, and this is what they set out to do after witnessing the aftermath of another slaughter, eventually tracking the outlaws down and taking them on in a savage battle that sees justice dealt out.

Boyd Cassidy is a pseudonym used by Michael D. George, and he can always be guaranteed to provide the reader with an entertaining read. His descriptions place you right in there with the action and his dialogue is sprinkled with humour which balances out the more violent aspects of his gritty storylines.

Let’s hope it isn’t another three years before the next Bar 10 book appears.