ASSASSIN'S TRAIL

CANYON O’GRADY

Number 13 of 25

ASSASSIN’S TRAIL

By Jon Sharpe

Cover art by Jerome Podwil

Signet, May 1991

Canyon O’Grady had a long way to go to get his man. The big redheaded U.S. special agent had to catch up with the kingpin of an assassination ring making tracks for Oregon – and the trail cut through Blackfoot land. Canyon was ready to handle both assassins’ bullets and Blackfoot arrows – but not a blonde built for trouble, a pair of greenhorns dead set on sure-fire suicide, and a tangle of treachery and deceit that left Canyon wondering whom to save, whom to kill, and how not to make the dead wrong choice…

After a run of books written by Chester Cunningham, we have a new author writing behind the pseudonym of Jon Sharpe. I’ve seen two different authors suggested as being the writer of this book but haven’t read enough of either to make a guess as to which it could be, Jon Messmann or Will C. Knott. Perhaps neither?

The author’s prose is very readable and the plot doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises or gun action – of course there is some gunplay but not as much as I’d expect from a book carrying the name of Jon Sharpe. The storyline did hold my attention though and introduced some great characters, such as Jake Gettis, bodyguard to Judge Langley who O’Grady has been sent after. 

I found it strange that O’Grady would allow himself to be talked into babysitting some greenhorns, even though they are travelling in the same direction as he, instead of racing ahead to track down a man assumed to be planning to assassinate the President. Somehow, I’d have thought this would have been the special agents’ number one concern and nothing would get in the way of taking down the judge before the President could be killed.

A lot of the book is taken up with O’Grady’s attempts to stop the spread of cholera, which is wreaking havoc among the people of a wagon train that the judge is travelling with. 

The book contains an exciting duel with a Blackfoot warrior who is determined to kill O’Grady and part of the story follows this warrior and his band as they discuss how to wipe the encroaching whites from their country, none of which had much baring on the story other than filling pages. One of these scenes contains some gruesome descriptions of what happens to a couple of prisoners.

There is also a glaring error that will annoy purists. Each of the O’Grady books contain a page at the front that outlines the time and setting the story takes place, which I believe is written by the author, and this one announces that the book is set in 1859. Throughout the story O’Grady uses a Henry rifle, which were not introduced until 1960.

After Cunningham’s entries into the series, this one did feel like a let down if I’m honest. It was still an ok read and I would read more by whoever wrote this book, which is a good job as there is another coming from this author in a couple of books time I believe.

Cover artist Jerome Podwil has once again produced a superb cover, each of the illustrations capturing a scene from the story. He must also have been told about O’Grady’s switch of horses as Canyon is depicted on the animal he rides for much of this tale instead of his usual mount.

Assassin’s Trail is one for the completist, not a book to judge the whole series on. 

RAILROAD RENEGADES

CANYON O’GRADY

Number 12 of 25

By Jon Sharpe

Cover art by Jerome Podwil

Signet, March 1991

Canyon O’Grady knew that the President was targeted for death, by a grisly group that called itself the Blue Goose gang. But Canyon did not know who its members were, or where and when they would hit. On the westward train trip that the President insisted on taking, death could come any minute or any mile…as Canyon faced the toughest challenge and roughest odds of his life…to move faster than an assassin’s bullet and unmask murderers who struck like lightning and burned with hellfire hate….

There’s plenty of action in this fast-moving tale that nearly all takes place on a train at the beginning of February 1861. The fact that President James Buchanan insists on making public speeches in every town they pass through adds to the problems O’Grady has to overcome as these appearances make the President an easy target. Canyon O’Grady also finds himself working alongside a female secret agent for the first time, a woman who is untested in the field. 

The attempts on the President’s life come thick and fast and for some reason I had images of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons come into my head as one group of the Blue Goose gang bungled their attacks time after time.

The Canyon O’Grady books are adult westerns so the train does stop overnight a couple of times so that O’Grady can enjoy the company of members of the opposite sex in some explicit encounters.

Using a real life President as the man that O’Grady has to protect does mean that readers will know the killers have to fail but the author still injects some very tense scenes leading up to the various assassination attempts and there are other characters that could well be killed during these attacks. Even though some of the places and methods the Blue Goose gang used to try and kill President Buchanan were very similar, the author managed to keep them interesting so the story didn’t become too repetitive.

Jon Sharpe is a pseudonym shared by a number of different authors, and this time around the man writing behind the penname was Chet Cunningham. This was also his last entry into the series after having written them all from book five and also book three. Railroad Renegades isn’t his best book in the series, but it was still very readable. 

SOLDIER'S SONG

CANYON O’GRADY

Number 11 of 25

By Jon Sharpe

Cover art by Jerome Podwil

Signet, January 1991

Canyon O’Grady was wearing the uniform of a full-bird colonel. This masquerade was part of the big redheaded U.S. special agent’s mission to find out what was going wrong with the Fourth Cavalry Regiment in Texas.

Someone was giving the rampaging Comanches government-issue guns…somebody was giving the troopers a bloody taste of hell…and somebody was going to pay full price for murder when O’Grady found his target and pulled the trigger….

The gun problem is just one plot thread in this fast-paced read. Another being the health of the Colonel Colton, commander of Fort Johnson and the Fourth Cavalry – O’Grady’s assignment being to discover if Colton is fit enough to remain in charge. Colton has ambitions to become a General, and believes he has to prove himself by leading his men into battle to make this happen. Unfortunately, he’s been making some rash decisions or none at all, and these could prove to be fatal to both him and his men.

There are some terrific battle sequences in this tale, both with the Comanches and the gunrunners. Most of the story, though, revolves around O’Grady’s investigation, his attempts to discover who is selling the army’s guns and also trying to find out who is plotting to assassinate Colonel Colton. The Canyon O’Grady series falls under the banner of adult westerns, so there are also some explicit sex scenes too. There is little in the way of surprises as the author makes the reader aware of who is doing what but following O’Grady’s struggle to unveil the truth makes for entertaining reading.

Jon Sharpe is a pseudonym behind which a number of authors wrote, in this case I believe the author to be Chet Cunningham. If you’re a fan of Cunningham’s Pony Soldiers series you might be interested to know that when O’Grady is discussing tactics with Colton, he describes the exact method that Lightning Troop use in the Pony Soldier books.

Canyon O'Grady #9

COUNTERFEIT MADAM

as by Jon Sharpe

Signet, Sept. 1990

Canyon O’Grady rode into Stillwater hunting the source of a flood of phony government bonds that could drown the country in a sea of bad debt. What he found was a lumber war that painted the town red with gore...a scarlet lady who lusted after red-blooded men...and a master of deception who made the redheaded Canyon turn crimson with rage. Caught in a maze of deadly double-dealing, nothing was what it seemed - except the bullets flying and the corpses dropping...

Jon Sharpe - this time writer Chester Cunningham - presents the reader with a not to taxing read. The plot, and bad guys, aren’t kept secret from the reader so making this an easy to follow storyline. Personally I would have liked the who and whys to have remained a mystery until the end so as to add more suspense to the story.

Around this time Cunningham was writing his Spur series as Dirk Fletcher. Spur being a federal investigator like Canyon with counterfeiting being the plot of many of the Spur books, I found myself thinking this could easily be a Spur story. A little more fleshing out of Canyon’s character would, perhaps, have separated the two more.

Not the best Canyon O’Grady book I’ve read but good enough for some light entertainment.

Canyon O'Grady #8

 BLEEDING KANSAS

as by Jon Sharpe

Signet, July 1990

The year is 1958; Kansas territory was due to be a state. The question was would it be slave or free. Both sides were willing to do anything for their cause, including killing. Buckeye Springs was becoming the centre of this violent struggle. A storekeeper is hanged but this death doesn’t seem to be part of the Kansas war. A US Marshal is sent to investigate and is killed. President Buchanan sends O’Grady in to find out who killed the Marshal and storekeeper and bring them to justice. And while he’s there see if he can bring some kind of law to Kansas.

This book manages to juggle the two plots of the story in a believable way. The fight to control Kansas allowing the author to put in some interesting historical facts. Having said that there is a bad mistake as some of the Northern raiders say they are going to burn Buckeye Springs to the ground in revenge for the sacking of Lawrence. I thought the attack on Lawrence was a few years later than this book was set.

Like other Jon Sharpe books this one has it’s mystery elements - who killed the storekeeper and why? There’s plenty of action, both gunplay and adult encounters, and strong characters of both sexes.

I believe the author behind the pseudonym of Jon Sharpe, for this entry in the series, is Chester Cunningham.

All in all an entertaining read.

Outlaws #5

RIO GRANDE REVENGE

by Chet Cunningham

Leisure, July 1990

They were young, mean and deadly, five escaped outlaws running from the law and every bounty hunter in the West. The odds were against them ever growing old, but they vowed to stick together until the bitter end.

Thrown in jail for cutting up a gringo in a fair fight, Juan Romero rode with the Outlaws and had been with them ever since. Juan had left his wife and young son behind in Mexico, but on his return he found they were far from safe. Taken prisoner by a murderous officer of the federales called Batista, they faced certain torture and death – unless the Outlaws could drown Batista and his thugs in pools of their own blood.

This book doesn’t let up on the action as Romero searches for his family. At times it seems as if the entire story is one long gunfight. Chester Cunningham puts Romero through some heartbreaking trials as each lead turns up a blank, each time he thinks he’s found his family he finds it’s only the beginning of another trail. Romero’s frustrations come over strongly as his rage builds.

There is a major gaffe in one of the early battles, and that’s when we are told there are twelve dead littering the ground, three paragraphs later and they’ve magically become fourteen!

Still, that mistake aside, this is an entertaining enough read but be warned, if you don’t like violence directed at babies and young children do not read this.

Outlaws #3

DEAD MAN’S HAND

by Chet Cunningham

Leisure, November 1989

Johnny Williams was a gambler by nature, a hard drinking, hard playing man who never let another player get the best of him – except once, years before, when a cardshark with less integrity than a weasel cheated him out of $15,000. Now Johnny was a little bit older and a hell of a lot wiser, and he swore to beat Francis X. Delany at his own game, or die trying.

They were the youngest lawbreakers on the frontier, all six had a vendetta to settle, and they vowed to ride together until everyone of them had tasted revenge. Now they were heading to San Francisco to help Johnny even the score, but what they didn’t know was that the only thing faster than Delany’s dealing hand was his shooting hand – and Johnny’s life wasn’t worth a pair of deuces.

Chester Cunningham presents the reader with a fast moving book that’s an easy and quick read. There’s not much depth to the plot, Williams desire to beat Delany in one of the biggest card games ever being it. There is a small side story about one of the other Outlaws losing his virginity that produces some humorous moments but does seem to come across as padding.

The two major card games in this story could have offered a great opportunity for tense reading and I think Cunningham missed out here as there’s none. It’s all what each player holds in his hand and who wins or loses right upto the end.

There is a major surprise in this book though, and that’s that one of the Outlaws dies, which for me is a bit more realistic than six men surviving every life threatening scenario they encounter.

At the time this was written Chester Cunningham was having quite a few books published, many of them westerns, maybe this book is a victim of that, as the simple plot gives an impression of a book quickly written.

Spur #37

 MISSOURI MAMA 
as by Dirk Fletcher

Leisure, October 1992

Saddle sore and bone tired, Spur McCoy returned to St. Louis, Missouri, hoping to get reacquainted with some lady friends whilst waiting for his next mission. His plans are interrupted, however, when a master forger started spreading enough funny money to dam up the mighty Mississippi. And if that isn’t enough, Spur is assigned a partner…

Dirk Fletcher (author Chester Cunningham) comes up with a fine read here. The book has a fast pace, tough action, rousing encounters with beautiful women - after all Spur is an adult series - and a great bad guy, one who Spur has difficulty in tracking down.

Giving Spur a partner makes for a different angle to the series although Spur’s reluctance to work with someone else and the outcome of this doesn’t offer any surprises. The final chase sequence is the highlight of the book.

Cunningham rarely offers any mystery in his plots and his stories are told from the view points of heroes and villains alike, so the reader is always aware of what is going on, and why, but this method doesn’t detract from what is a quick, entertaining read.

One of the better entries into the Spur series.