THE LAW OF BEN HODGE

 

THE LAW OF BEN HODGE
By Matt Chisholm
Cover art by Walter Popp
Panther, July 1959

The town simmered with hate between the north and the south, between the townsman and the drover, between the law and the lawless.

Hodge tramped the streets of the old town with a star on his vest, knowing the mob would kill him so that they could hang his prisoner…knowing the Texas drovers would kill him to rescue the murderer.

Hodge knew that there could only be one law now…his law – The Law of Ben Hodge.

This is the third and final book Matt Chisholm wrote about Ben Hodge. The previous stories are briefly mentioned but you don’t need to have read them to fully enjoy this tale. In those earlier books, Hodge was trying to save himself from being hanged. In this one Hodge is trying to protect a guilty man from lynch law.

Hodge finds himself reluctantly wearing a star when the towns’ lawman is laid up. A drunken cowboy has accidently shot and killed a child. The townsfolk want his neck stretched immediately. The drovers want to free their friend. Everybody wants Hodge out of the way so they can do what they feel is right. Both sides prepare to fight each other so they can get to the man they want.

Once Hodge accepts the badge, he intends to enforce the law. He soon has his suspicions about the killing. Was it accidental or done on purpose? If the latter, what is the motive? Behind his back, powerful townsmen plot the death of Hodge’s prisoner and professional gunmen prepare to carry out their boss’s orders. 

Chisholm builds the tension well as the story swiftly moves towards its violent conclusion. Along the way there are plenty of bursts of action. Hodge takes some punishment too. As the plot becomes more complicated it is hard to see how any of the main characters will survive. Hodge’s wife Rose has a part to play, although she is unaware of the danger she is in and Hodge doesn’t know either. 

I did feel this story wasn’t as strong as the previous Hodge books. That may be because I’ve read many more tales about a lawman trying to protect his prisoner from a mob than I have where the protagonist literally has a rope around his neck and has moments to somehow free himself from the noose. Having said that, The Law of Ben Hodge was still a very entertaining read and left me looking forward to reading more from this author very soon.

Matt Chisholm is a pseudonym used by Peter Watts, a British writer who has long been one of my favourite western authors. 

HANG A MAN HIGH

 

HANG A MAN HIGH
By Matt Chisholm
Panther Books, June 1959

They found him standing with a still-warm gun in his hand . . . his brother dead, shot through the back of the head; his brother Marve . . . whom everyone liked and trusted. 

The gold was gone from its hiding place, and now the finger of suspicion was pointed in Ben’s direction.

In that country, for that crime, they would demand that the Law HANG A MAN HIGH.

This is second of three books Matt Chisholm would write about Ben Hodge. As if the man didn’t go through enough troubles in the first book, the author plunges Hodge into more deadly danger which could see him with a rope around his neck again. 

Events of the earlier book, Hodge, are mentioned quite often in this one, and a number of characters from that story return for the sequel. Due to that I would suggest reading the first book before this one to get the greatest enjoyment from it. Hang a Man High can be read as a stand-alone title though as the author includes all the background you need to understand the relationships between the characters and the problems Hodge had to face in that story.

This is a tough tale that is filled with non-stop action. Hodge has to endure a number of brutal fist-fights that leave him a battered man. Even he doesn’t know where he finds the energy to go on, but he does know that if he doesn’t, he’ll be swinging from the gallows. Handguns, rifles and shotguns are all used regularly too. 

Hodge and his two friends, Pete and Ned, loyalty to each other is admirable, all ready to die for each other as they struggle to discover just who killed Marve. What’s equally puzzling is where the gold came from. Hodge certainly didn’t know it was hidden in his home and neither did his pards. It isn’t long before all three begin to wonder if they can trust anyone else as more and more people seem to be involved in whatever it is that is going on.

There’s a lot of blood and death before Hodge gets a break and begins to work out who is behind the death of his brother. Hodge, Pete and Ned will all have their parts to play in bringing down the culprits and will suffer whilst doing so before everything comes to a conclusion in a confined space. 

Peter Watts is the author behind the pseudonym of Matt Chisholm and he’s long been a favourite writer of mine and this book strengthens that thought. Hang a Man High isn’t as goog as the first Hodge book but it comes very close and is a western that I think all fans of the genre would find an entertaining read. Me? I’m looking forward to reading the third Hodge book, The Law of Ben Hodge, as soon as possible.

HODGE

 

HODGE

By Matt Chisholm

Panther Books, 1958

The stranger rode into the dusty cowtown . . . and there was Cass, who should have been dead! But he wasn’t, he was the sheriff, and the feud which had simmered in years gone by, blazed out with renewed violence. Cass was now backed by the law and in no time at all he had planned a ‘legal’ killing . . . and the noose hung ready.

This was Matt Chisholm’s second book, and his first to feature characters he would write about again. Matt Chisholm is a pseudonym for author Peter Watts, who also wrote westerns as Cy James and Luke Jones. Altogether, he had about 100 books published and was one of the UK’s best selling western authors.

The opening chapters are extremely suspenseful as Hodge comes across a cabin outside of town where a young girl lives. Inside are two hurt men and it appears they are waiting for her father to return home. Hodge is soon held at gunpoint and it is obvious there’s something very wrong here. Hodge turns the tables and it isn’t long before he rides into town and gets the shock of his life when he discovers a man he thought he’d killed still lives. He’s also taken aback when he finds a woman, Rose, living in town too that he was once sweet on. Seems she’s promised to Cass’s brother, Geoff. From then on Hodge’s life only goes downhill and deadly confrontations came one after another with barely a chance to take a breath between them.

Like most of Chisholm’s characters, Hodge isn’t infallible and his mistakes put him in very dangerous situations. Chisholm often ends his chapters, or scenes, with cliff-hangers, making it very difficult to put the book down as you’ll need to know what happens next. Once Cass works out how to get rid of Hodge legally, the author really builds the tension as a beaten Hodge is taken to jail and is soon standing in a wagon bed awaiting the fixed outcome of the townsfolk trying him which will surely result in his hanging. This is truly a great how-is-he-going-to-get-out-of-that moment. 

Even at this early stage in Peter Watts’s writing career the author’s strengths are very clear. Superb characterization, excellent plotting, and none-stop action that all combine to provide edge-of-the-seat reading.