The Old Wolves

RUSTY SPURR #2

By Peter Brandvold

Berkley, August 2013

Deputy United States Marshal Spurr Morgan’s ticker isn’t what it used to be. After Spurr suffers a heart attack on the job, the chief marshal convinces him it’s time to step down. Unwilling to go out on a sour note, Spurr asks for one last assignment.

The chief sends him to bring a prisoner back to Denver from the Medicine Bow Mountains. The mission seems routine for an old hand like Spurr, until he discovers that the criminal in question is his old nemesis, Boomer Drago – the former lawman turned train robber that Spurr’s been trying to run down for years. Now, with Drago’s gang on his trail and a young girl named Greta needing help out of the mountains, Spurr is ready to face his dangerous final job and prove that even old wolves still have a mean bite…

There might only be two books dedicated solely to Spurr Morgan, but followers of Peter Brandvold’s work will know that this likeable old lawman has also appeared in a number of the authors other books under his own name and his pseudonym Frank Leslie. I for one am glad that Peter managed to write a book that brings an end to Spurr’s career before Berkley stopped publishing westerns so that Spurr didn’t become another hero that just vanished as a publisher cancelled a series without giving the author a chance to bring about a satisfying conclusion to his characters escapades.

This book offers everything Brandvold’s followers could ask for; a fast paced plot, tough characters – both male and female, some explicit sex, plenty of brutal action and occasional moments of humour. In fact there are some great one-liners to be found in this book, mainly coming from Morgan or Drago as they reflect on old age.

So does Spurr survive this assignment or does he meet his end by bullet or heart attack? I guess you’ll just have to read the book to find out, and hopefully enjoy this excellent story as much as I did. 

The Last Lawman

RUSTY SPURR #1:

By Peter Brandvold

Berkley, October 2012

Deputy United States Marshal Spurr Morgan may be an old dog in the business of tracking down desperadoes, but where his body fails him, his instincts remain unmatched. Spurr has his sights set on Clell Stanhope, the notorious leader of a gang called the Vultures. Not only has Clell managed to dodge the law, but he’s littered his trail with dozens of innocent men, women, and children…

Spurr Morgan has met his fair share of murderers, but this Vulture is the most brutally clever of the breed. Tracking him down requires as much cunning as it does hot lead. After Clell lures every last tin star into his bloody trap, Spurr thinks he may be the last man standing. That is, until a half-breed by the name of Yakima Henry offers his services…

Fans of Peter Brandvold will have already met Spurr Morgan a couple of times, in both books written under his own name and his pseudonym of Frank Leslie. Now Spurr gets his own series and let me quickly point out you don’t need to have read those previous books to fully enjoy this one, as Peter gives you all the background you need on Spurr’s history and fleshes this out with more of the aging lawman’s back-story.

Part of the charm of Spurr is that he is older than most western heroes. His mind says yes but his body says no, and it’s not just aching joints that he has to deal with as his heart is warning him regularly that it’s not going to keep working much longer…

This book is peopled with a terrific set of characters, Clell Stanhope being particularly memorable due to his tattoos (I’ll leave you to discover what they are). There’s also Erin Wilde, a woman driven to insanity, and, of course, there’s Yakima Henry who rides off the pages of his own series to provide some much needed help.

Peter Brandvold writes gritty, hard hitting prose that paints brutal visual imagery in the mind as his story moves quickly from one violent gunfight to the next that leave virtually no one unscarred, bringing Spurr to reflect, “life was a cold-eyed bitch at times, but it had to be lived.”

Recommended.

.45-Caliber Cross Fire

By Peter Brandvold

Berkley, April 2012

Cuno Massey may be a federal fugitive, but he’s Deputy U.S. Marshal Spurr Morgan’s best chance to run down a gang of gunrunners. A wagon train of rifles, ammunition, Gatling guns, and dynamite was stolen by U.S. Cavalry deserters who intend to sell the weapons to a Mexican general waging war against Yaqui Indians.

To even the odds against them, Cuno and Spurr form an alliance with Ojos del Fuega – “Fire Eyes” – a Yaqui queen as savage as she is beautiful, and her band of renegades. With so much firepower and so many deadly players on the warpath, Cuno and Spurr know that they’re sitting atop a powder keg with a sizzling fuse…

Book eight in the Cuno Massey series begins shortly after the end of the previous book, .45-Caliber Desperado. The story opens in the middle of a deadly duel between Massey and a Yaqui brave. This fight leads to Massey and his companion running for their lives pursued by more warriors. One exciting action scene quickly following the other, and this is pretty much how the story plays out, each savage fight leading straight to the next.

Due to Peter Brandvold including Gatling guns amongst the stolen weapons gives him the perfect opportunity to increase the death toll as these early machine guns are used to devastating effect as all sides get to use them at some point during this fast moving and violent tale.

During one of the brief lulls between the bloodletting Massey ponders on his future that only seems to have a bleak and lonely outlook. Can there possibly be something on the horizon to give his life purpose? Until then he seems content to throw himself into every dangerous situation going without much of a care to his well-being. 

Peter Brandvold has created a wonderful selection of vicious characters for Massey to battle, from gunrunners, Federales, bandits and Yaqui warriors. And it’s not just tough men Peter writes about, Fire Eyes and other female characters are just as strong and capable when it comes to killing and surviving in the authors’ savage lands where life is cheap.

Once again we see the welcome return of Spurr Morgan (an aging lawman who is soon to star in his own series – the first book Rusty Spurr: The Last Lawman coming out in October), who instead of arresting Massey persuades him to fight on the side of the law which results in them facing massive odds that end in a double battle centred around a train that brings the book to a brutal and spectacular close.