COMANCHE!

PEACEMAKER

Book 1 of 9

By William S. Brady

Fontana Books, 1981

McLain had nothing left in Missouri. His wife was dead, his farm burned out.

The Civil War taught him the bloody art of killing, and now he was alone. He owned a brace of Colt’s Dragoon pistols, a Sharps carbine, and a horse. He followed the rebel guerrilla trail south to Texas.

And there, the Nokoni Comanche took his horse and plunged him into a violent struggle for survival that was even more savage than the whiteman’s war. A brutal fight for life that sent McLain down the killing trail again… But this time in pursuit of a dream.

All the Peacemaker books begin with a prologue that explains what has gone before, and this being the first sketches out the background for the place this and the following books will be set. Peacemaker comes from the group of authors later to known as the Piccadilly Cowboys and this series stands out from the others in that it is set in one place rather than featuring a drifter. These books follow the growth of a town. This means McLain isn’t the only regular character to appear in the series.

William S. Brady is a pseudonym shared by Angus Wells and John B. Harvey, the latter only writing a couple of entries in the series. Having multiple people returning in each of the books allowed the authors to develop their characters deeply which makes it easy for the reader to come to care about them, share their ambitions, their joy, their anger and frustrations and experience shock when a likeable character is in danger, hurt or even killed. 

This first entry into the series was written by Angus Wells and the story is really one long conflict against the Comanche which involves the US Army as well as McLain. Trying to free a captive who is being used as bait adds some excellent tension to the tale. Having McLain and Captain Donnely at odds with each other creates some great situations too in battles of words which see McLain facing the threat of being shot. The action scenes are vicious and extremely graphic as the author describes the damage done to the human body when hit by bullets, lances and arrows. The pace of the story never lets up as it races towards its final bloody battle. But the tale doesn’t end there as some of the surviving characters have personal differences to sort out and the seeds of a dream need planting.

Comanche is an excellent start to what was one of my favourite series to come from the Piccadilly Cowboys. The books can be hard to find these days, but there is some great news and that is that Piccadilly Publishing have finally been given permission to put Angus Wells’ work out in ebook form. Comanche will go on sale on April 1st, 2022. Other series that Wells wrote books for are set to follow too.

 

Hawk #9

THE WIDOWMAKER

as by William S. Brady

Fontana, 1981

The Willard brothers didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for when they took Ben King’s wife off the train. She was beautiful and her husband was rich… Rich enough to hire Jared Hawk to bring his wife back and kill the men who took her.

Hawk didn’t like King’s methods, but the big man’s money spoke loud enough to persuade him, so he took the job. It didn’t look too difficult… Not until he got tangled up in a spider’s web of lethal intrigue.

But Hawk had a way of solving problems – with a .45 calibre lead slug!

The Hawk series first appeared in 1979 and ran for fifteen books, the last one coming out in 1983. William S. Brady being a pseudonym shared by Angus Wells and John Harvey, this entry being written by Wells.

Like most anti-heroes created by the group of authors known as The Piccadilly Cowboys, Jared Hawk is a cold, heartless, character who can be every bit as cruel as those he is hunting, and the book has its fair share of savage violence told in all its gory detail.

Wells includes a number of short flashback sequences to explain some of Hawk’s past, in particular why he wears a black glove on his left hand and of his time working with John T. McLain (the lead character from another William S. Brady series; Peacemaker).

Like many PC heroes Hawk carries an unusual weapon, a cut-down Meteor single barrel shotgun, carried in a specially designed belt holster, and this gun is used to devastating effect.

The story itself gets off to a good start but then seems to plod on as much of the rest of the book is taken up with Hawk tracking the kidnappers, with nothing much happening, although Wells’ descriptions of landscapes and conditions are very well told.

Once Hawk finds the truth behind the kidnapping he decides to take matters into his own hands and the book comes to a blood drenched conclusion.

Perhaps not the best work to come from Angus Wells but still worth a look if your preferred choice in western reading is for the more brutal books.