THE JURY ON SMOKY HILL

THE JURY ON SMOKY HILL

By Jack Curtis

Cover art by Lino Saffioti

Pocket Books, February 1992

Sheriff Dave Cromwell was chosen to stop the gun-happy, liquor-fuelled Texas cowboys who were tearing up Ellsworth, Kansas. But when the good and proper townspeople reached the end of their patience, they decided to take the law into their own hands.

Dave had four prisoners in his jail when the men with white sacks over their heads came bursting in. A few hours later the four captives were hanging from the railroad trestle just outside of town. Knowing each of the twelve “jurors,” Dave turned in his badge. But the killings would not leave him alone.

One by one, the members of Ellsworth’s hanging party began dying. Dave Cromwell thought the executioners were getting pretty much what they deserved. The trouble was, now no one was safe in Ellsworth. Not until the cycle of vengeance was stopped… 

It's been a long, long time since I last read a book by Jack Curtis, an author who wrote for a variety of television series including Big Valley, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman, and Zane Grey Theater. Why it’s taken so long to get around to reading him again I can’t say, especially when I really enjoyed the previous book I read by him, Texas Rules. Curtis put out both stand-alone titles and a five-book series about a man called Sam Benbow.

The Jury on Smoky Hill is a fast-moving story that blends western and murder/mystery seamlessly. There is very little gunplay but there are plenty of killings. Most of the deaths take place off-screen but by doing this the author doesn’t give any clue as to who is murdering the hanging party. Those so-called jurors begin to point the finger of accusation at Cromwell who is trying to get a ranch up and running after handing in his badge. A gunfighter brought in as Ellsworth new lawman seems quite happy to take orders from the men behind the hangings. The main strengths of this tale come from the author’s ability to create a suspenseful storyline, tension in his characters and anticipation within his readers as we await the next death. Who will it be? Will the vengeance seeking killer succeed in taking out all the hanging party?

Even though the author doesn’t name his killer until the final scenes are ready to be played out, most readers shouldn’t have any difficulty working out who it is. This doesn’t ruin anything though, as you’ll still want to discover if this person kills all his targets or gets stopped before doing so.

The end of the book didn’t quite turn out as I expected as the author had a neat little twist waiting, one that finished the story in the best way possible for me. 

Hopefully, it won’t take anywhere near as long before I pick up another Jack Curtis book as it did between this and my previous Curtis book. 

GUNSMOKE

GUNSMOKE

By Gary McCarthy

Cover art by Bill Dodge

Berkley Boulevard, December 1998

Amidst the peril and confusion of a frontier town, Marshal Matt Dillon is a man who stands up. For justice. For honor. And for the safety of Dodge City’s law-abiding citizens. No gunman is too fast, no stage robber too cunning, no crisis too large for this fearless lawman of the West…

When Doc suffers a mild heart attack, Matt Dillon must find a young frontier doctor to help the aging man with his workload. Dr. Jerome Gentry seems to fit the bill. He quickly becomes popular with the townspeople after mending a few patients – and a little too popular with the ladies, single or otherwise. Matt suspects the newcomer may be a lying charlatan. But the handsome doctor’s healing skills are soon put to the test when a gang of cattle thieves starts shooting their way into Dodge City.

This is the first of three books Gary McCarthy wrote based on the long-running television show Gunsmoke. I have never watched Gunsmoke so I have no idea how accurate McCarthy’s characterization of the people is, or whether he tells his story the way the TV show did. 

Reading the blurb above, you’d expect Dillon to play a large part in this story, but that’s not so. Yes, he does feature but other characters take centre stage, namely Gentry, Doc Adams, and Festus. Doc starts to evaluate his life and career after suffering a heart attack and after making a couple of mistakes, that could have been fatal if not for Dr. Gentry’s intervention, decides the time has come to retire. This makes him even more cranky than usual and leads to some bitter conversations that are often quite humorous. Of course, the townsfolk don’t want Adams to retire and do their best to persuade him to change his mind.

Although the main storyline is about whether Adams will step down from being the town’s doctor and if Gentry will replace him, the book does contain some lively action scenes too. Gentry’s womanizing leads to a killing that might just see Gentry change his ways. Then there’s the wounded rider who comes into Dodge with a tale of cattle rustlers. The lawmen of Dodge City then have to sort this out which results in some exciting gunplay. 

For the main characters every thing turns out pretty much as you’d expect, but Gentry’s future is always up in the air and kept me guessing until the end. 

I’ve read quite a few books by Gary McCarthy and enjoyed them all and Gunsmoke turned out to be another entertaining read. I’ll definitely be reading the other two books sometime soon and I might see if I can catch an episode of the TV series too.   

Shadow of the Hawk

By Ron Honthaner

July 2015

Mountain-man Mike McCloskey, a run-away slave Thaddeus, and a young orphan Jericho, lives cross paths and they become lifelong friends. As time passes Jericho becomes a sheriff, Thaddeus moves into town, but Mike continues to live and trap with his Indian wife and daughter in the mountains even though the days are numbered for his kind of life.

When Mike heads into town to purchase supplies, he defends an Indian friend’s life from outlaw cowboys and sets in motion a collision of mishaps—a single mistake changes his life and the lives of friends and enemies alike.

Ron Honthaner is a film and TV veteran whose first script for Gunsmoke landed him a job on the series, going on to write other scripts for the show, then working as post production supervisor and later, associate producer. He was the recipient of two Cowboy Hall of Fame awards for his work on the Gunsmoke producing team.

The first half of this fast moving tale includes many flash-back sequences to explain the relationship between the three main characters, although much of the emphasis is on McCloskey’s life working on flat-boats and steamboats. Most of the books other characters have their backstories explained too as a group of very different people find themselves riding in a posse.

Once McCloskey becomes the target of the posse after a bloody and vicious rage driven rampage then the emotional side of hunting a friend becomes a major issue of the story and you can never be sure which way the tale will go next when it comes to who will kill who if the opportunity arises and how much the bond of friendship will dictate the state of play.

Honthaner’s writing is a pure joy to read and his background in writing for TV is very evident in how easily this story paints visual imagery in the mind-eye. Character development is excellent and the action scenes brutal and graphic. What happens to McCloskey to make him go on a killing spree comes as a complete surprise. After that the story is a straight chase tale that may not end how you think it will.

If anymore westerns by Ron Honthaner are published you can be certain I’ll be reading them.

Latigo

By Steve Hayes

Hale, March 2013

Bounty hunter Latigo Rawlins was looking to start a whole new life with young Emily Mercer, but Stillman Stadtlander had other plans for him. Latigo had given evidence to prove that Stadtlander had paid to have some rival Mexican ranchers killed, and now Stadtlander intends to see him pay for his betrayal, at the end of a rope.

It doesn’t matter to Emily that Latigo is wanted for more than a dozen killings of his own. She is in love, and because of that she’ll move heaven, earth and everything in between to save the life of the man she plans to marry.

She might just do it, too, for she had powerful allies in a man known only as Drifter ... and his gun-swift friend, Ezra Macahan. Then there was a lady marshal named Liberty, who was to influence Emily in a way no one could have foreseen.

I’ve not read any of Steve Hayes books before, other than a shared authorship title written with David Whitehead, and this story makes me wish I had. Latigo seems to be a continuation of his previous book, El Diablo (not that you need to have read that before this to enjoy it), and further checking seems to point to all his westerns being linked by various characters or places.

Steve Hayes has a background as a screenwriter and has worked on some of the classic TV western series such as How the West was Won, The Westerner, Gunsmoke and High Chaparral. Check here to find out more about Steve.

As one would expect from someone with so much experience this story proves to be well structured, moves forwards at a terrific pace, throws in a surprise or two – for instance the death of one of the main characters that leads to an excellent twist – and is filled with action. All this written in a very easy to read style.

On finishing this book I was left looking forward to his next, She Wore a Badge, which comes out in July and I'm also eager to dig out the other books by Steve I have in my collection.

Interview: Joseph A. West

“Read it without delay” – Max Evans

“A writer of extraordinary originality and promise” – Robert Olen Butler

“I look forward to many years of entertainment from Joseph West” – Loren D. Estleman

First I want to thank you for agreeing to answer my questions Joe.

You’re most welcome, Steve. It’s an honor to be here.

You’re originally from Scotland, how did you end up in America and becoming a writer?

I was working on Fleet Street as a reporter for the Daily Mirror and was recruited to work in the United States for an up-and-coming supermarket tabloid named The National Enquirer. My plan was to spend a year in the U.S., see the country then return to Britain. But two things happened: I fell in love with America and, around the same time, my wife. Emily is a stern, 23rd generation Michigan Yankee, but without her I’d never get a novel published. She’s my inspiration and a wonderful, if heartless, copy editor.

What was the first novel you had published and if this wasn’t a western what was your first western?

The first book I had published was the non-fiction, BADGE OF VALOR, about “hero cops in the front lines of danger.” My first western was ME AND JOHNNY BLUE, a comedy novel about two hapless, not-too-bright punchers trying to survive in the changing west.

Which writers influence you?

Early influences were Dickens and Walter Scott, then, later, Louis L’Amour. I read GUNS OF THE TIMBERLANDS as a teenager and all his novels since. Louis had his faults, but as a storyteller he is first rate.

Which western writers would you recommend?

I don’t read much western fiction, but Kirby Jonas impresses me as a wonderful writer who knows what he’s talking about. Ralph Cotton and David Robbins are good too. For a while I tried to be Elmore Leonard, but I set that bar way too high. Now, sink or swim, I just try to be myself. I realized a long time ago that I was not the greatest writer in the business, nor was I ever likely to be, so I concentrate on doing the best I can and giving the reader value for his or her hard-earned money.



Which past western would you like to see back in print and why is this?

Easy – all those novels of mine that have already bitten the dust, yanked from the shelves, and gone to book heaven. Or should that be purgatory?

How much time do you spend on researching your books?

As much as I possibly can. Terrain and weather are always major elements in my books since they influence how my characters think and act. If a writer gets the rivers, mountains, streams and trees right, he’s half-way there. Guns and horses I already know about. Often, I only get eight weeks to write a work-for-hire novel, so adequate research can be difficult.

Please tell us a little about how you go about writing a book, such as how much time you spend per day writing?

I never work from an outline. I put my hero in a dangerous, impossible situation and let him battle his way out of it. Given free will, characters take you on a wild ride you never imagined and take the story in directions you never anticipated. This is especially true of women. I’m not a great hand with female characters, so I give them free rein to do whatever they want. They never cease to amaze and charm me, just like in real life. As for my work day, I usually start about 10 in the morning and work through until three in the afternoon, seven days a week (well, six during football season). I find that after five hours my brain just seizes up and begins to sputter and smoke. Anyway, I aim for 1500 words a day, but usually fall a little short.

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Hell, no. I have enough trouble writing one.

You’ve been writing under the Ralph Compton name for some time, both series characters, such as Buck Fletcher, and stand-alone titles. Please tell us a little about these.

The Ralph Compton books are all work-for-hire, and I write them because I like to eat. I can’t write in Ralph’s style, nor do I try. I do the best I can, send the novel off to New York and keep my fingers crossed. Touch wood, they’ve never bounced one back to me for a rewrite, so I must be doing something right. At the moment times are hard for writers, and I appreciate any work I can get. In a way, a work-for-hire is a great compliment from the publisher. Three or four times a year, I get an email from my editor that says simply: “Joe, write me another Compton, due XXXX.” I never hear from him again until the next assignment. I guess he knows I always send him a professional product on time.

You’ve written a trilogy of books about Johnny Blue, are we likely to see him return in another book?

The three books in the ME AND JOHNNY BLUE trilogy were my first westerns, written when I was new to the business. They are raw, poorly constructed and unsophisticated. I’d love to be able to recapture their naive charm but I have moved on since then. The short answer to your question is: No, Johnny Blue has hung up his guns and spurs and he ain’t never coming back.

You wrote a six book Gunsmoke series, each having a forward by James Arness. Did you get to meet or speak to him, or was this done after you’d written the book?

I never spoke to big Jim while I was writing the GUNSMOKE SERIES. I had to deal with the Hollywood studio that owned the rights, and at times that was a nightmare. Example: “Mr. West, you can’t put false-fronted buildings in Dodge. They are a Hollywood invention.” And: “I’ve been around cows and they don’t cause flies.”

Oh dear.

Have you written under any pseudonyms, and if so, can you tell us which?

No, I always use my own name. Vanity, I suppose.

Three more Compton books are listed for publication, one later this year and the other two in the first half of 2010 – the books being, Bounty Hunter, Stryker’s Revenge, and Death of a Hangman. What can readers expect from these?

Their money’s worth I hope! BOUNTY HUNTER takes place in San Francisco and the Barbary Coast and involves pirates, pitiless gunfighters, a serial killer slasher, hard-eyed whores, mysterious Celestials and luxury steam yachts with big guns mounted in the bows. I enjoyed writing that book! STRYKER’S REVENGE is my first attempt at a U.S. Cavalry versus the Apaches novel. Stryker is a badly disfigured cavalry officer who saw his dream of a dazzling military career in Washington disappear and now grinds out his days at a dusty outpost in the New Mexico territory. DEATH OF HANGMAN is the story of a hanging judge who breaks the very laws he executed men to uphold.

Which of your westerns would you recommend to someone who hasn’t read any of your work yet and why?

I would recommend ME AND JOHNNY BLUE for his sheer entertainment value. For a more traditional take on the western, any of the Buck Fletcher series. And, of course, THE MAN FROM NOWHERE, the novel I currently have on sale.

Do you think paper produced books will ever be replaced with electronic books?

Right now the e-book is a fad and it remains to be seen if it has legs. I don’t think there’s enough money to be made by authors of original works for electronic publishing to replace the royalties of traditional paper books. We’ll always have e-books of course, but I predict their importance will diminish over the next couple of years.

What do you think of the western genre today and what do you think the future holds for the western?

Right now, westerns are better written than at any time in the past, and they are constantly changing, addressing 21st century problems in 19th century terms. But the audience for the western novel will remain small into the foreseeable future. I don’t see TV returning to the genre, the engine that drove the western novel boom of the 50s and 60s. No, I think right now the western market is probably as good as it’s going to get.

What is your favourite western movie and why?

Without doubt, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. Henry Fonda as a bad guy, Claudia Cardinale at her most beautiful, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, the superb and evocative background music…can’t beat that. I have to say this movie was director Sergio Leone’s masterpiece.

Finally what do you read for pleasure?

I love James Patterson (when he was writing the books himself) for his bam-bam, in-your-face style. Right now I’m reading RELENTLESS, Dean Koontz’ latest novel, and up next is RAIN GODS by James Lee Burke. Oddly enough, I don’t read much western fiction and, after the book is published, I can’t even bear to look at my own, makes my hair stand on end!

Interview: Gary McCarthy

Gary McCarthy is a name well known to western fans, as well as writing many books under his own name Gary has written under a variety of pseudonyms too. So first I must offer my thanks to Gary for agreeing to talk to Western Fiction Review and then hope everyone finds his comments as interesting as I did.

The first question I asked was what made Gary decide to become a writer?

In 1973, I was working as an Economist for the State of Nevada in Carson City and bored out of my mind. I had written three westerns and hadn't been able to sell them. One snowy night I went and saw HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, hated it and decided that I had nothing to lose by writing a western whose main character was the anthesis of that anti-hero played by Clint Eastwood. So I created a character that was short, heavyset, couldn't shoot or ride a horse and wore a derby hat., but he was an ex-circus strongman and champion bare knuckles fighter. His name was Darby Buckingham and he was the leading dime novelist of his day...but he'd never been to the West. In THE DERBY MAN, my first of many Derby Man novels, Darby Buckingham goes west to see and find the real stories...and so I had a unique character in looks and manner and he became instantly popular. I very much likened him to William Conrad who played in the then popularTV series "Cannon" and he was unique and many dimensional! In the next book, I gave him the lovely, buxom and brainless Dolly Beavers and so they began their adventures throughout the West. I used a lot of humor in that series and it kept me laughing and writing.

Are there any particular authors that influenced him or he recommends?

I have been a member of Western Writers of America for many years and so have had a lot of fine writer friends. I, of course, love the work of Jeanne Williams, Elmer Kelton and Frank Roderus and suppose my favorite author of westerns was Glendon Swarthout whose novel THE SHOOTIST was being filmed when I lived in Carson City and is one of my all time favorite movies. Other western writers high on the list are Alan LeMay and Loren Estleman.

I then asked how Gary plans his books, especially those based around true historical events?

I write fast with intensity doing a novel in about two or three months. Some writers I know start with an outline, but I don't. I start with a character or place and go from there. One of the most important things for me is to do historical research on the area where my novel takes unfolds. I think my best historical novels are YOSEMITE, GRAND CANYON, MESA VERDE and the novels that I wrote for the RIVERS WEST SERIES, especially THE COLORADO and THE RUSSIAN RIVER.

Which of his books would he recommend to someone who hasn’t read any of his work yet?

The two westerns that I am most pleased with are SODBUSTER and RESTITUTION, although the dearest to my heart remain the DERBY MAN series which I always thought would make a fine TV series. The last of that series, THE COMSTOCK CAMELS came about from my years of visiting Virginia City, Nevada and watching the crazy Comstock camel races. In this novel, the elegant Darby Buckingham wins a bet and has to settle in receipt of a mangy, spitting camel and so writing that kind of tongue-in-cheek western was a pure hoot.




Having read quite a few of Gary’s books I asked if he had a personal interest in horses as many of his plots revolve around them?

You mention that horses are often prominent in my novels and that's because I am a pretty fair horseman. I was on my college rodeo team and have owned horses most of my life and still do ride the high country of Northern Nevada today. I love and think they are absolutely beautiful creatures. Writing THE HORSEMEN series was especially interesting for me because I took pure blooded horses from the South and sent them into the West.




There have been a number of attempts to publish a series of books based on successful television series such as Alias Smith and Jones, Bonanza, Kung Fu, and Gunsmoke – at least three different series have been tried of the latter. All these series have only last for three to six books, and I wondered if Gary had any insights as to why?

I did write four GUNSMOKE novels, but I didn't enjoy them and they didn't work for me. I think that was partly because I was...well, kind of intimidated by those great TV characters but also that at the time the owners of the series wanted so much money that it wasn't profitable for me to do anymore of them or for Berkley to publish them. Maybe that has changed over time.

Which book did he win a Spur Award for?

I've written in quite a few series, one of the very best being Jory Sherman's RIVERS WEST series where I think I wrote eight, winning a Spur Award for THE GILA RIVER and being a Spur Award Finalist for THE RUSSIAN RIVER. Oddly enough, I think that THE COLORADO was the best one that I wrote in that fine historical series.

Which other series’ has he written for?

I believe that I've had 46 western and historical novels published under my name and I have probably written at least that many under pseudonyms. I'm still writing for the LONGARM SERIES and have also written a few for GUNSMITH and LONE STAR. My good friend and fellow writer, Frank Roderus and I teamed up on a couple of series writing under pseudonyms, most notably, RAILS WEST and MAN OF HONOR. It's fun to write with Frank, we alternate on the books and delight in putting each others characters in terrible, almost impossible fixes.

Quite a few of Gary’s books have appeared on tape or CD, does he think the producers and narrators have done a good job with them?

I've been extremely fortunate to have almost all of my published novels reproduced in audio by Gary Challender's Books-in-Motion and sometimes when I'm on long driving trips, I listen to them and they are excellent. When I first sold a novel to BIM I wanted to record them myself, but Gary Challender sagely suggested that I hear one first by his "professionals" and I quickly decided that I had better stick to the writing part and let his studio readers do their fine work.

What does he read for pleasure?

As for what I most like to read, I again turn back to the writers that I've already mentioned. I also like to read murder mysteries, my favorite authors being Michael Connelly, Greg Iles and extremely talented people who understand that characterization is always more important in writing than plot.

Finally what does Gary think of the western genre today and what does he think the future holds for the western?

I am sad to say that I think that the western is dying just as is my generation and those before that grew up avidly watching and reading westerns. However, I would add that outstanding westerns in print and on the screen will continue to be occasionally popular. I'm genuinely grateful to Robert Duvall, Kevin Kostner, Clint Eastwood, Tom Selleck and a few other fine actors that continue to keep the genre alive on the screen. When a really fine western, like LONESOME DOVE, BROKEN TRAIL, TOMBSTONE OR QUIGGLY DOWN UNDER is produced, it rekindles in the public's eye that the stories set in the early American West are unique, and powerful.

In reality, the West was a tough, gritty place where life wasn't really all that much valued. But even so, it had a majesty, an aura about it that cannot be diminished or forgotten no matter how much time may past. I'm glad that I was able to experience the American West though my writing and I hope that my stories have given readers both insight and enjoyment and that is not a bad legacy for any man's money.