El Dorado Sojourn

By Paxton Johns

The Crowood Press, February 2019

Born Gallant returns to Salvation Creek on a whim, but this leads to a bloody saga he could never have foreseen. Word from the elderly Frank Lake leads Gallant on a quest to rescue a young lawyer, who has been kidnapped to prevent her from blocking a corrupt Kansas City politician’s chances of fame. To the north of the town of El Dorado, an old line cabin becomes the focus for Gallant’s efforts. But it’s back in Kansas City that the climax unfolds, when Gallant confronts old enemy Chet Eagan in a clawing fight to a bloody finish.

This is the fourth book in Paxton Johns’ series featuring Born Gallant. The story does mention events of the earlier three books and the author does provide enough information for a new reader to the series to understand how those events shape what happens in this tale, along with the relationships between the various characters, so that the book can be read as a stand-alone tale, but I would recommend reading the earlier books first to get the most from this one. Those books being Encounter at Salvation Creek, The Killing of Jericho Slade and The Bloody Trail to Redemption. It’s not just Born Gallant who links the books and once again Gallant finds his life entwined with that of Melody Lake and Stick McCrae, to name but two. 

The plot seems fairly straight-forward to begin with, but the author soon slips in a number of twists and turns that soon had me wondering how Gallant and friends could possibly rescue Melody in time to bring down the corrupt politician. It’s these surprising elements that keep me returning to this author’s work along with his ability to tell his stories in a gripping and entertaining style that is a pleasure to read. 

There may only be four Born Gallant books at the moment but there are plenty of other Black Horse Westerns from this author to choose from as he writes under other pseudonyms too, Will Keen, Matt Laidlaw, Jim Lawless and Jack Sheriff. His real name is John Paxton Sheriff and you can read an interview I did with him here. If you are looking for a new western author to try then this author is certainly one worth considering. 

The Bloody Trail to Redemption

By Paxton Johns

Crowood Press, August 2016

English aristocrat Born Gallant is riding to Dodge City to meet up with old friends, when he is attacked and left to die. Initially relieved when rescued by a lawman and his posse, Gallant’s fortunes take a turn for the worse when his apparent rescuers accuse him of murder. A witness has sworn that he saw him stab the Kansas senator, and it seems certain that Gallant will hang for a murder he did not commit.

Gallant’s old friends newspaperman Stick McCrae and lawyer Melody Lake are able to rescue him from his predicament, but disaster after disaster befall the trio as it becomes increasingly apparent that several people want him dead. A web of political intrigue and vengeance is uncovered, but will Gallant be able to unmask the true murderer before he himself becomes a victim?

This is the third book to feature Born Gallant and although it is a self-contained story it does reveal a lot about what has happened in the previous stories, so it may be worthwhile tracking those down and reading them before this one. Whichever choice you make I’m sure that you’ll enjoy this book as much as I did.

Paxton Johns is a thinly disguised pseudonym used by John Paxton Sheriff for this series about Born Gallant. I’ve been a fan of Sheriff’s work for a long time (he writes under a fistful of other names too) and always enjoy his twisting plots that offer plenty of surprises.

This book grips from the opening scenes and will have you struggling to work out what is going on along with Gallant and his two companions. Every time they seem to be getting somewhere someone else pops up with a gun, a threat of jail, or a comment that destroys their theories. All this makes for a very entertaining read that left me hoping we haven’t seen the last of Born Gallant even though the last paragraph of the story perhaps hints that we have.

Encounter at Salvation Creek

By Paxton Johns

Hale, September 2011

When rich young Englishman, Born Gallant, arrives in America after the death of his father, he goes first to see family friend William Pinkerton. The boss of the famous detective agency at once gives him an assignment: the head of the Kansas City office has been murdered, there has been an attempt on Pinkerton’s life, and he wants to know why.

From that day on, Gallant finds himself embroiled in a fight to the death against gunmen hired by warring cattlemen fighting against reorganisation of their industry. Helped by young trainee lawyer, Melody Lake, and a newspaperman, Stick McCrae, Gallant’s fight to bring the killers to justice takes him from Kansas City to the hell-hole of Salvation Creek. Will he prevail in the final bloody showdown?

This is the first book to carry the author name of Paxton Johns, and it proves to be a very good debut. Born Gallant makes for an engaging hero, a man who sees the humour in his own name, can play the out-of-his-depth greenhorn perfectly to throw his adversaries off balance, doesn’t carry a gun of his own, but is exceptionally sharp-witted and can more than stand his ground in a fight. In fact his bumbling fool act is used to great effect, particularly in a barroom scene when facing the gunman suspected of shooting Pinkerton.

The book contains a number of twists and turns, is peopled with many well-drawn characters of both sexes, its action sequences are superbly written, and finishes with a frantic race against time. All this means that Encounter at Salvation Creek is an exciting and entertaining read, which leaves me wondering, and hoping, that Born Gallant will appear again in a further adventure.

As the author explains in a note at the end, the Cattlemen’s Associations around which the story revolves really existed, and the changes being fought about did happen. Although the story is fictional it is based on something that did happen in the mid 1880s.