One-Eyed Death

CROW #7

By James W. Marvin

Piccadilly Publishing, July 2014

Originally published by Corgi, 1982

Time was when Crow found himself in Rosa Cruz, Arizona. Down on his luck – sick and stony broke. A time when the most menial of tasks would be welcome if it enabled him to eat. So when Ben Ford and the Spangel family ask Crow to guide them out West, he gladly agrees. He soon regrets his rashness, for the Reverend Spangel is a fiery, bible-thumping puritan, while his wife is half-witted. And almost all Crow’s charges are blind…

James W. Marvin is a pseudonym used by Laurence James and in Crow he surely managed to create the ultimate anti-hero. There’s not a lot about the man called Crow to like but that is what makes him so fascinating, what keeps me coming back for more.

James also seemed to enjoy creating characters that border on craziness, and this book contains a fistful of them, in name the Spangel family. Yet Crow just cannot bring himself to leave them to fend for themselves. Forms some kind of bond with the Spangel’s guide, Ben Ford, who is crippled.

The story isn’t complicated. The Spangel’s are searching for a place to settle down and during their travels are set upon by various groups of people who see them as easy pickings. Crow stops them the only way he knows how, unafraid of taking on massive odds alone. The action is described in all its graphic savagery.

There are plenty of killings and as expected not all of Crow’s group survive. One of their deaths being a surprise in how it happens. The trail will also bring out the best and worse in the Spangel family and some shocking revelations soon surface but Crow takes it all in his stride.

Overall this is a decent entry in the Crow series and at the price Piccadilly Publishing sells it for how can you not afford to give it a try? 

Cover Gallery: Crow

CROW 

by James W. Marvin

“Know what Crow used to say about livin’ by your guns? Said it made him like a kind of alchemist. Said he was the first man in history to turn lead into gold. Yeah. Meanest son of a bitch ever. Crow.”

No other name. Just Crow. Dressed in black from head to toe. The meanest man in the bullet-scarred annals of the West. Nobody ever turned their back on him. A cold voice in the shadows, a vengeful angel of death…

Time was when Crow was a Lieutenant in the Cavalry. A time when he rode against Crazy Horse and the Sioux. Commanded by Captain Silas Menges, a bloated, drunken obscenity of an individual. Even Menges’ beautiful, sensual wife, Angelina, couldn’t make up for the insults Crow took from him. No one crossed Crow and lived. No one…

You can read my review of this book here.

Time was when Crow was a loner, with just his weapons and his horse for company. A time when the snows covered Dakota Territory. When Many Knives led the Shoshone in battle against the white man. Against Captain Hetherington and a wagon train of helpless women. A time when Crow joined in the fight on an isolated plateau above the raging Moorcock river and defeat meant something worse than death…

Time was when Crow found himself holed up in Dead Hawk, Arizona. A time when the man in black wound up in jail. Killed a punk kid in self defence. Then set loose to bring back Mayor Abe Verity and his wildcat wife, Martha. Kidnapped by a band of Apaches. Or were they? Whoever it was better watch out. Best not to tangle with Crow if you wanted to live…

Time was when Crow picked up some business in Crossworld Springs, Arizona. A time he met the biggest, blackest man he’d ever seen. Name of Mavulamanzi. Spoke like an English milord. Seems he was hunting animals and needed Crow for protection, ‘specially for his woman, a real English lady. Strangest hunting party Crow’d ever been on. Kinda enjoyed it…until the Apaches showed up. Had to admit there was no one meaner or crueller than one of them savages. Except Crow…

Time was when Crow hankered to see San Francisco again. He’d no cause to get involved in that shoot-out at Death Valley but when Richard Okie started trying to buy his way out of trouble, Crow decided he could use some of that money himself – all six hundred dollars. So he hired himself out as a bodyguard to the Okie family – husband, wife and two teenage sons – to help ‘em find their lost gold mine. But the job turned out to be big trouble from the start – for he hadn’t reckoned on them being so city-soft…or the ruthless greed of Okie’s wife, Amy. But she’d met her match in Crow…

Time was when Crow found himself in the small town of Howell’s Leap, pursued by a lynch mob angry for his blood. A time when shots rang out from the church tower, and the panic-stricken townspeople sent in the shootist… But the story doesn’t end when Crow discovers crazy Alice and is forced to blow her head off, for she has two sisters – Olga and Marianna. Beautiful and innocent in appearance, the sisters will torture and mutilate for their pleasure. Now they have a motive – to avenge Alice – they’re deadly…

Time was when Crow found himself in Rosa Cruz, Arizona. Down on his luck – sick and stony broke. A time when the most menial of tasks would be welcome if it enabled him to eat. So when Ben Ford and the Spangel family ask Crow to guide them out West, he gladly agrees. He soon regrets his rashness, for the Reverend Spangel is a fiery, bible-thumping puritan, while his wife is half-witted. And almost all Crow’s charges are blind…

Time was when Crow was visiting Fort Garrett. Took a dislike to a young cavalryman called Jonas…and nearly broke every bone in his body… But while they were making their minds up what to do with Crow, a boy disappeared from the Fort, name of Cyrus Quaid…a sadistic sixteen year old, hated by the Apaches. So they send Crow out to find him…

Published by Corgi in the UK, the first book came out in 1979 and the last in 1982. James W. Marvin is a pseudonym used by Laurence James, and his anti-hero, Crow, is probably the most vicious lead character to ever appear in a western series.

Now Piccadilly Publishing is bringing the series back as ebooks, and the first is already available.

Crow #1

THE RED HILLS
as by James W. Marvin
Corgi – 1979

“Know what Crow used to say about livin’ by your guns? Said it made him like a kind of alchemist. Said he was the first man in history to turn lead into gold. Yeah. Meanest son of a bitch ever. Crow.”

No other name. Just Crow. Dressed in black from head to toe. The meanest man in the bullet-scarred annals of the West. Nobody ever turned their back on him. A cold voice in the shadows, a vengeful angel of death…

Time was when Crow was a Lieutenant in the Cavalry. A time when he rode against Crazy Horse and the Sioux. Commanded by Captain Silas Menges, a bloated, drunken obscenity of an individual. Even Menges’ beautiful, sensual wife, Angelina, couldn’t make up for the insults Crow took from him. No one crossed Crow and lived. No one…

The Crow series was written by the late Laurence James, one of the authors in the small group known as the Piccadilly Cowboys, who produced some of the most violent and brutally graphic westerns of their time. James perhaps writing the most twisted and sadistic books of them all.

With Crow, James created the coldest anti-hero than any of the others came up with. A man that is very hard to like, yet because of this becomes a fascinating character. How can anyone really like a man, who when we first meet him, kills a child’s pet dog in front of her simply because it took his scarf and the girl couldn’t get it back fast enough for him?

Even if Crow comes across as a heartless and vicious character then what of Silas Menges? The Captain is portrayed superbly and almost makes Crow seem like a warm and caring man. Menges’ foul mouth and demented beliefs soon having the reader hoping Crow kills him sooner rather than later.

Like many of the anti-heroes created by the Piccadilly Cowboys, Crow carries unusual weapons, a sawn down Purdey shotgun carried in a hip holster and a cut down sabre. Both are used to devastating effect.

The book starts, like all the Crow books, with a reporter asking an old man to relate tales about Crow. Both reporter and the old man are unnamed. The next chapter goes back in time and brings forth the shocking killing of the dog and from then the pace doesn’t let up. We don’t learn much about Crow’s past as he prefers not to discuss it, although at one time he does reveal some events from his past, but you’re never quite sure if what he says is true or just said to shock. The fight scenes are filled with blood and descriptive deaths and the body count is high, leading to a savage final torturous confrontation.

The Crow books aren’t going to appeal to all western readers, but for those who like anti-heroes and stories filled with brutal killing then this series is definitely worth hunting for.

Now republished as an ebook.