The Cost of Dying

By Peter Brandvold

Pinnacle, August 2019

Lou Prophet decides to cool his heels at a local honky tonk but things heat up fast when he defends one of the girls from a sadistic brute who also happens to be the deputy sheriff. And now Lou Prophet is running for his life . . . 

Heading south of the border to Mexico, Prophet isn’t the only man marked for death. The young red-headed pistolero Colter Farrow has made an awful lot of enemies, too—and now practically every bounty hunter south of the Rio Grande is gunning for blood. For money. For fun. And, now, for Lou Prophet . . . 

At over 400 pages in length, Peter Brandvold gives his readers a book that never lets up in pace and bloody, violent action from beginning to end. It’s also great to see Prophet teaming up with another of the authors heroes, Colter Fallow. Even though the story is told mainly through Prophet, Farrow is riding alongside for most of the tale and the banter between the two men is often laced with humour which provides some light relief from the savage confrontations they find themselves in.

After some chapters dealing with Prophet and Farrow individually as they attempt to outrun their different sets of pursuers the two men decide to team up for a while and it isn’t long before they rescue a very attractive young lady from a deadly situation which in turn leads to them being hired to find her sister, kidnapped by slave traders. 

Things don’t go according to plan and both our heroes soon find themselves buried up to their necks in the ground. How can they possibly escape from this certain death? Obviously, they do, and in the process meet an excellent character in Baja Jack, a drug dealer who could help them find the bandits behind the kidnapping. 

Long-time readers of the Lou Prophet books know about his relationship with Louisa Bonaventure—The Vengeance Queen—and she also has a small part to play in this story too, or does she as Prophet begins to believe he imagined seeing and speaking to her. This encounter adds a neat touch of mystery to the story.

There are a number of surprises in store, the main one coming when Prophet finds the stolen girl. The tale contains a high body count and little in the way of explicit sex (something that is often found in Brandvold’s work). After plenty of lead-slinging action the story closes with a final brutal showdown that ties everything up neatly.

This is a book that all fans of Peter Brandvold should make sure they don’t miss, especially if you enjoy reading about Lou Prophet and Colter Farrow. In fact, this is a book that should be on the reading list of all western fans.  

Bad Justice

By Frank Leslie

Signet, April 2013

Colter Farrow’s branded face is a constant reminder of why he’s been on the run for so long. But his plan to return home and confront his past backfires when he’s framed for the murder of two men. Men who happen to be U.S. deputy marshals.

Resigned to living on the lam, Colter heads to Utah Territory, where a desperate town marshal offers him a job as – of all things – a lawman. What better way for a man to hide from the law than to become part of it? Regardless of which side of the law he stands on, Colter makes enemies quickly. But Colter doesn’t plan on letting them stay above ground for long….

The fourth book in the Colter Farrow series is as hard hitting as the previous three. If you’ve read the earlier books you’ll definitely want to read this for Colter confronts the man who branded him, the conclusion of which sets up the rest of the story. 

Full of brutal, savage action that sees Colter beginning to accept his fate to be a wanted man for the rest of his life. But can his new job as a lawman offer a way out? Frank Leslie builds up hope for Colter but then adds a complication as it seems someone knows Colter’s true identity (he uses a pseudonym for much of the story). Leslie expertly weaves a tale of twists and turns that will make the reader wonder how things will end and just what these surprises will mean for Colter’s future.

Once again Frank Leslie (Peter Brandvold) has written a story that grips from the opening words, paints vivid imagery that captures the imagination and refuses to let go. This book truly is a page-turner. Let’s hope it’s not too long before Colter Farrow rides into his next adventure.

The No-Account Girl

By Peter Brandvold

Mean Pete Press, December 2012

Colter Farrow has been through a lot. He’s killed a lot of men in self-defense. Now the red-haired young gunfighter with the Mark of Satan on his cheek is on the dodge, trying to outrun the bounty hunters and get himself to Mexico.

But then he runs into a beautiful young woman with the unlikely name of Kyle Bruner. Kyle is transporting her dead outlaw brother for burial.

The trouble is, Kyle’s brother is wanted dead or alive. Bounty hunters are after him, too.

Colter falls under the girl’s haunting spell.

He’d best make sure he doesn’t fall too hard...because sometimes love can be more deadly than bullets.

“Thank you, Colter,” Kyle said. “You might be hell with a six-gun, but you’re damn sweet.”

For those, like me, patiently waiting for the fourth Colter Farrow book, Bad Justice, to be published next April, this short story is the perfect bridge. I’ll also take a moment to point out that Mean Pete has put this out under his own name rather than the pseudonym of Frank Leslie the regular books come out as by.

This is an action-packed, gritty read that has an impressive death toll for such a short story. There’s also a neat twist ending to this tale that sees bounty hunters spoilt for choice in either cashing in on Colter and / or Bruner’s corpse. 

No western fan should miss this and if it proves to be your introduction to Colter Farrow I’m sure it’ll have you hunting out the previous books and joining me looking forward to the next.

The Last Ride of Jed Strange

By Frank Leslie

Signet, January 2012

While breaking horses in Arizona Territory, Colter Farrow is forced to kill a soldier in self-defense. With the man’s comrades hungry for vengeance, he hightails it to Mexico. There he runs into Bethel Strange, who was kidnapped by a villainous rurale captain. After Colter saves her, they are forced to flee even deeper into Mexico.

While on the run, Bethel resumes the search for her father, the outlaw Jed Strange. A year ago, her father took up with Mexican gunrunners in order to send money back to the family, but he never returned. Her search places them in the middle of a savage war between gunrunners, bronco Apaches, and a notorious Mexican bandit. And with the soldiers closing in, Colter’s chances of saving his own hide are getting slimmer by the minute.

The 3rd book in Frank Leslie’s Colter Farrow series starts violently with Farrow gunning down six men in a blink-of-an-eye, and from that moment the action never lets up.

The first part of the story deals with the unfortunate incident that leads to Farrow killing a soldier, this in turn sees him becoming a wanted man by the army, never mind that bounty hunters are still after him – the author explains why in this book but the full events leading to this can be found in the first Colter Farrow novel, The Guns of Sapinero.

One of the major appealing factors of this series for me has been seeing Farrow change, accepting his new role in life as a man on the run, accepting his natural ability with a gun and that he’ll have to use it to kill again and again.

Throughout the story Farrow will find himself mixed up with all kinds of fascinating and well-created characters, such as the singing bandit known as the Balladeer, and young Bethel Strange, whose reaction to seeing her fathers distinctive pistol in the hands of another man is both surprising and memorable.

It’s whilst trying to escape the soldiers that Farrow gets a couple of fleeting glimpses of the young girl that he will eventually team up with in the search for her father. A young girl that will become attracted to Farrow, this crush leading to some humorous exchanges as Farrow tries to turn her down. The hunt for Jed Strange turns up a neat twist that has a bittersweet sting in the tail.

Frank Leslie (really author Peter Brandvold) includes some great scenes of high tension, none less so than when Farrow is buried alive in water.

The Colter Farrow books are fast becoming one of my favourite western series, and I just hope it’s not too long before I get to read what happens next.

.45-Caliber Desperado

By Peter Brandvold

Berkley, September 2011

Cuno Massey killed those deputy U.S. marshals all right, but only because they were about to rape the women he was escorting to safety. Thrown into a federal penitentiary, he faces a death sentence – until the beautiful Camilla and her cutthroat gang bust him out and head for the Mexican border.

Pursued by lawmen as brutal as the desperadoes he travels with, Cuno rides a bloody trail, unsure where his allegiances lie, and wondering if he was better off waiting for the gallows….

Right from the very first line, “The bald giant’s first was a battering ram” this book punches hard all the way until the end as Cuno Massey finds himself riding a savage trail to freedom after being sprung from prison in a violent jailbreak, even if freedom means becoming an outlaw himself.

Of course being on the run means the law will do its best to track Massey down and here we see the return of the Sheriff Mason who put Massey behind bars in the previous book. But he isn’t the only lawman to make a return appearance, for Peter Brandvold adds Spurr to the mix, the aging Deputy U.S. Marshal I last read about in another of Pete’s series - the second book in his Colter Farrow series, The Killers of Cimarron, written as Frank Leslie. I thought Spurr made for an excellent character in that book so was very pleased to see him in this one.

As well as struggling to stay alive Cuno Massey has to fight with some tough personal issues regarding his new lifestyle. Can he be happy living as an outlaw? Can he gun down people in cold blood, be they lawmen chasing him or those he is robbing? And what of Camilla? Can he accept this new side to her? These questions all see Peter Brandvold further developing the character of Massey and as they aren’t all answered ensures that the reader will be eager for the next book in the series: .45-Caliber Crossfire, out in April 2012.

If you’ve never read a Cuno Massey book then this could well be a good place to jump into the series as it seems to be a new beginning for Massey. Peter Brandvold includes enough memories of Cuno’s past so a new reader will have some idea as to Massey’s background.

For me, Peter Brandvold just keeps getting better and better.

The Killers of Cimarron

as by Frank Leslie

Signet, June 2010

The second book in the Colter Farrow series.

Colter Farrow is on the run from bounty hunters sent by a sadistic sheriff who branded his face. He finds refuge in the remote Cheyenne Mountains, working on a small ranch run by Cimarron Padilla and his beautiful adopted Hunkpapa daughter, Pearl. Colter thinks he’s found sanctuary at last.

But after a savage group of ruthless killers steal a cache of gold, slays Cimarron, and takes Pearl hostage, Colter is back on the vengeance trail. Aided by an aging deputy U.S. marshal, Colter is determined to bring Pearl back alive and send the killers of Cimarron straight to hell.

Colter Farrow is, at the moment, quite a different character to the heroes of Peter Brandvold’s (here writing as Frank Leslie) other series, in as much as he’s not, yet, as tough as them. In fact, at times, he allows his emotions to get the better of him. Yes he is as proficient with a gun, and gets plenty of opportunity to use it, but he’s still learning the art of survival. Teaming him up with the old, and wanting to retire, deputy U.S. Marshal Spurr allows for some excellent contrasts in character to be portrayed.

In fact Marshal Spurr is the most memorable person in this book, perhaps due to him being in it more, as Peter Brandvold switches between the main players in the story often. Pearl also makes for a fascinating character and you have to wonder as to how Farrow’s relationship with her will develop as the book races toward the end.

Peter Brandvold is known for writing very violent and savage books and this one more than matches any of his previous work in its graphic brutality, although I felt there was less of it than in some of his more recent publications.

As expected, the story is extremely well written, gritty, violent, tense, and at times humorous. The book also offers a number of surprises, mainly to do with who lives and who dies and to what the future holds for Colter Farrow and others. The end definitely has me eager for the next book in the series; let’s just hope it’s not too long in coming….

The Guns of Sapinero

as by Frank Leslie
Signet, October 2009

Colter Farrow may be young, but ever since his stepfather was savagely murdered, his blood has boiled with a rage just as great as any man’s. Now, riding with a Remington as his only company, he sets out on a journey for justice.

The bloodied path of vengeance leads him to the town of Sapinero – a place that harbors men without conscience or guilt. The inexperienced Colter wants to settle some scores, but he’s unnerved by the murderous darkness that lurks within his own heart. As his list of targets grows and the harsh truths behind his stepfather’s brutal death are laid bare, Colter realizes that revenge can claim more than just his life.

The gruesome, and very visual, descriptions of a man crucified in a wagon bed being feasted upon by vultures whilst still alive, sets the tone for this book beautifully. The story is packed with savage, and bloody, killings and torture (brandings), but it’s not just the violence that hits hard, so do the emotions that fuel Farrow’s quest. Seeing him change from being a carefree cowhand to questioning his abilities to track down his stepfather’s killers, struggling with his inexperience with killing and surviving in this brutal land, fearing how to tell his stepmother the truth about her husband, all make for fascinating, and gripping, reading.

Of course it’s no secret to western fans that Frank Leslie is a pseudonym used by Peter Brandvold and this book definitely lives up to our expectations of his work, and introduces us to his latest hero, as this book is the first in a new series.

There’s even a brief guest appearance by one of Peter Brandvold’s other heroes, Lou Prophet, that has a lasting impact on Colter Farrow.

The Guns of Sapinero is a well-told, fast moving, violent, story that is a terrific introduction to Colter Farrow and has me eagerly awaiting the publication of the next book in the series, The Killers of Cimarron.