Apache Spring

By J.D. Kincaid

Hale, July 2014

A band of young Apache braves rampages across Dawson County, New Mexico. When a stagecoach bound for El Paso is held up by outlaws all but one of the coach’s passengers are massacred. Young Lizzie Reardon, a schoolmistress about to start her first job in Burro Creek is the sole survivor, but she has seen the attacker’s faces and is now their target.

Deputy Sheriff Frank McCoy joins forces with the famous Kentuckian gunfighter, Jack Stone, to foil the plot. Bullets fly and not all will live to see another day.

The first of J.D. Kincaid’s Jack Stone books came out in 1989 I believe and the author has steadily been putting out further books, and this, the latest, brings the total to at least twenty.

You don’t need to have read any of the previous books to enjoy this one. Yes, there is mention to some events from those past stories but this is done to help fill in Stone’s background for new readers.

J.D. Kincaid switches regularly from different sets of characters and all sides will have a part to play in the exciting climax of this fast moving tale for which the linchpin is a dead Apache brave and to reveal anymore than that will spoil it for anyone intending to read the book.

Filled with well-drawn strong characters of both sexes, hard-hitting mildly graphic violence, and a simple yet effective plot, this story proved to be very entertaining and left me eager for Jack Stone’s next adventure.

J.D. Kincaid is a pseudonym used by James C. Dalgleish.

Apache Spring at Amazon.com

Apache Spring (Black Horse Western) at Amazon.co.uk

Wyoming Double-Cross

By J.D. Kincaid

A Black Horse Western from Hale, June 2011

When the notorious Blair Wilton and his gang of outlaws decide to raid the bank at Medicine Bow, they send in Chicago confidence trickster Paul Springer to reconnoitre the town. Here a chance encounter with an old acquaintance from the windy city causes Springer to change his plans suddenly.

To add to the outlaws’ woes, Jack Stone, the famous Kentuckian gunfighter, enters into the fray and goes up against Wilton and his gang.

Will it be Stone or Wilton who survives the final, deadly confrontation?

This is the latest adventure in J.D. Kincaid’s popular series featuring gunfighter Jack Stone. I’m not sure if all the books put out under the J.D. Kincaid pseudonym are Stone stories, but the majority are.

Like the previous Stone book I read the gunfighter doesn’t actually appear in the story for quite a while, and once he does it’s only for brief moments until the last fourth of the story. J.D. Kincaid uses the rest of the book to outline his plot, introduce his well- crafted characters and develop the relationships between them all.

Springer is a great character, one who will have you guessing as to just what his intentions are, it’s his plans that the title comes from, but he’s not the only one who is planning a double-cross. Another memorable character is Kid Sawyer who first appears in chapter one and then isn’t mentioned for a long time, yet he remains in the readers mind, and the author makes you wait before re-introducing him again.

J.D. Kincaid’s books are easy, fast reads, full of action, that leave me looking forward to the next. The authors’ real name is James C. Dalgleish, but whether he writes under any other pseudonyms I have no idea.

Wyoming Double-Cross is officially released on June 30^th, but is available now from the usual Internet bookstores.

Portrait of an Outlaw

by J.D. Kincaid
A Black Horse Western from Hale, July 2009

Scotch John MacGregor has a burning ambition to become as famous an outlaw as his forbear, Rob Roy. And he is well on the way to achieving his aim as he and his gang rampage across the State of Colorado, robbing banks, holding up stagecoaches, and easily eluding the various law enforcement agencies.

However, fate takes a hand when Pinkerton agent, Dave Lansom, meets up with the renowned Kentuckian gunfighter, Jack Stone, and together they combine to track down the outlaws. As Scotch John soon discovers, the pair make a formidable team.

J.D. Kincaid has been writing Black Horse Westerns for twenty years, and a few of his books sit in my collection as yet unread. It would seem that most of J.D. Kincaid’s books feature Jack Stone, and being a big fan of series fiction, I was looking forward to reading this.

I was surprised to discover that Jack Stone doesn’t appear in this book until at least halfway through the tale, but then again the title is Portrait of an Outlaw so I should have expected most of the book to be about the outlaw in question.

The book begins by following MacGregor as he arrives in Colorado, gets himself in a situation that leads to killing a few people, one of whom is a lawman, and finding himself on the run. Thus begins his career as an outlaw. Wanting fame, like his idol, Rob Roy, Scotch John, uses his reporter cousin to spread word about his crimes, and it’s this need to become famous that ultimately leads to his downfall.

The book is very easy to read and moves quickly from one action packed event to the next. Kincaid rarely takes time to describe locations in any kind of detail, just does so enough to give the reader a sense of which part of Colorado we are in and this helps to keep the story moving forward at such speed. Character descriptions are also brief and to the point. The impact of bullets against flesh and bone are quite graphically portrayed, and, here’s my other surprise, there is isn’t any falling in love theme for any of the characters – this is something that seems to take place in nearly all the BHW I’ve read recently. That’s not to say there aren’t any women in the story, indeed it’s MacGregor’s involvement with a young women that begins his life as an outlaw and his kidnapping of another that becomes his final crime.

And does this story make me want to dig out those other J.D. Kincaid books I have? Yeap, you bet it does. Kincaid’s hero, Jack Stone, is the kind of no-nonsense, get on with the job regardless, kind of western hero I enjoy reading about, so I can definitely see myself hunting through my collection for those other books I have sometime soon.

Portrait of an Outlaw has an official release of July 31st but is available now from the usual internet sources.