A NEED FOR VIOLENCE

THE BATTLING HARRIGANS OF THE FRONTIER

A NEED FOR VIOLENCE

By Dusty Richards and Matthew P. Mayo

Pinnacle Books, December 2023

Spring, 1850. After a brutally long winter in the Rockies, Mack Harrigan and his growing family have learned to manage the harsh realities of frontier life. Their new friends, the Shoshone, have taught them the skills they need to survive in this rugged land, from tracking and hunting to fishing and foraging. But the skills they need most are those of the Shoshone warrior, when their camp is attacked by an enemy tribe…. 

Sometimes there is a need for violence. This is one of those times.

The attackers are merciless. They crush the skulls of their victims. Slice off their scalps. And kidnap children as prisoners of war. The Harrigans are horrified by the bloodshed and brutality of the attack – and are determined to fight back alongside the Shoshone. But their mission to save the children will ultimately send the battling Harrigans even deeper into the wild frontier. Farther west than most dare travel. And closer to finding the American dream – if they survive…. 

After only a handful of pages, Matthew P. Mayo plunges the reader into the midst of a vicious battle for survival as the Shoshone camp comes under attack. The Harrigan’s are split up and the author keeps switching between them as they fight frantically to save themselves, each other, and their Shoshone friends. Most of the combat is hand-to-hand, knife-to-knife, club-to-head, and is described graphically. This has to be one of the longest opening battles I’ve read in a western as it continues for around 80 pages, yet never outstays its welcome. Then it’s straight into a desperate chase to track down and rescue the stolen children.

The second part of the book sees the Harrigan’s continue on their journey, heading towards California. As expected, there is plenty of deadly danger waiting to pounce on them. One of my favourite characters from the first book, Bearpaw Jones, makes a very welcome return and it’s through him that one of the Harrigan’s will meet a famous person and get a job offer that is difficult to turn down, but will it be taken? It’s not just humans that pose a threat to the Harrigan’s as a bear has a large part to play and Mayo writes some nail-biting sequences involving this animal. 

The seeds for possible future storylines are also planted, and I can only hope that we don’t have to wait too long before a third book appears. 

American readers can get a copy here
British readers can get a copy here

WESTBOUND

THE BATTLING HARRIGANS OF THE FRONTIER 1

WESTBOUND

By Dusty Richards and Matthew P. Mayo

Pinnacle Books, March 2023

Mackworth “Mack” Harrigan’s family legacy burned to the ground in the spring of 1849. The Ohio mill that brought them prosperity was now cinder and ash, and his ruthless father had perished in the flames along with their fortune. If the Harrigan’s have a future, it lies out west in open country where they can build whatever lives they choose. Mack knows his wife, Ell, and their children Kane, Meghan, and Fitch are more than capable of overcoming the challenges of their journey.

The untamed frontier is full of seriously deadly battles. From a rough river voyage to wagon train travel across desert lands plagued by dust storms, the Harrigan’s encounter desperadoes and merciless killers who view them as little more than prey. As Mack and his family adapt to their merciless surroundings, they realize they must enforce their own laws and dispense their own justice…

Sadly, Dusty Richards died in January 2018. He wrote numerous westerns under his own name and pseudonyms. Like has been done with William W. Johnstone, Pinnacle Books have decided to keep his name alive by continuing to put out new work under his name which is written by other authors. Unlike on the Johnstone books, Pinnacle have added the real author’s name to the cover, something that will be greatly appreciated by many readers.

I have read a few westerns written by Matthew P. Mayo and enjoyed them all, so I was pleased to see his name on the front of this book. That was what made me buy it and I’m glad I did as I found it to be an excellent read.

The Harrigan family are easy to relate to. It was fascinating to see how they’d adapt to surviving in the west as they really are fish out of water. They need help and get both good and bad advice. Mack’s stubbornness doesn’t help either which is why they end up joining a small wagon train guided by a drunk. They also set out on their journey at the wrong time of the year and snow is also going to be an obstacle they’ll struggle to overcome.

Matthew P. Mayo writes some terrific scenes packed with tension, deadly situations that you can never be sure how they’ll turn out. Scenes such as Mack trying to rescue his father from the mill fire and a desperate race for survival from the hungry flames of a prairie fire. I don’t want to highlight anything else for fear of spoiling this gripping tale for those who are planning to read this book.

I wasn’t sure how the story would end and Matthew P. Mayo had a couple of surprises waiting in store for the closing scenes which left me both grinning and looking forward to reading the second book, A Need for Violence, which has been announced for an August 2023 release.

Chaparral Range War

By Dusty Richards

Berkley, February 2013

When the Texas legislature decided to stop paying its Rangers, Phil Guthrey knew it was time to move on to greener pastures. As he rides into the Arizona Territory, he finds a slew of criminals running free – thanks to the Crook County’s no-good sheriff. With reports of rape, arson, theft, fatal shoot-outs, and foul play, Guthrey decides to make it his mission to rehabilitate Crook County, not to mention capture the heart of the spunky Cally Bridges.

As Guthrey sets out to bring to justice the men terrorizing his new home, he knows he must ultimately find a way to uproot Sheriff Killion if he wants to clean up the county for good. The fight will be long and hard, but for a former Texas Ranger like Guthrey, getting your hands dirty is just part of the job…

Dusty Richards soon had me hooked as I wanted to find out if Guthrey could achieve his aims of cleaning up Crook County as it seemed his upcoming marriage could get it the way – would one have to be sacrificed for the other? Dusty Richards also creates an air of impending doom over Guthrey’s future with Cally and I found myself wondering if she’d be alive at the end…of course I can’t reveal the answer to that question here.

There isn’t a lot of gun action as most of the plot is based around getting the required number of votes so Guthrey can become the new sheriff and round up all the known criminals to the letter of the law. This all has to be timed to perfection or lawlessness could take control of Crook County, and it’s this race against time that captured my interest and kept me reading.

Dusty Richards has been writing westerns for a long time now, under both his own name and pseudonyms. He’s a Spur Winning author, and, as expected, his experience shows in creating an excellent set of characters and his writing style is extremely readable.

This book has been billed as the first in a new series but as of this moment I haven’t seen any dates for the next one.