SUNDANCE

 

SUNDANCE
By Richard Telfair
A Gold Medal book from Fawcett, 1960
Reprinted by Frederick Muller Ltd., London, 1961

He’d been a gunfighter back in his wild, young years before he’d become half owner of the Hotel de Paree, before life had given him a second chance. Now things were quiet. He liked what he was doing – and he liked himself.

That was until the Broadhurst bunch hit town, wrecked his hotel and terrorized the town. What started as just a bunch of waddies looking for some fun erupted into something more dangerous.

It was only then that Sundance strapped on his gun....   

Hotel de Paree was a TV western series that ran for one season from 1959 to 1960. It starred Earl Holliman as Sundance. I have no idea if this book, Sundance by Richard Telfair, was an official tie-in novel or not as there’s no indication to the TV series anywhere on the cover or in the book. I’ve never seen the TV show, but from what I can gather it sticks faithfully to the TV series in some areas, changes some parts, and ignores others; for instance, there’s no reference to Sundance’s mirrored hat-band at all – a gimmick to make the show different to others westerns on TV at the time. Annette Deveraux is in the book but her sister/niece/daughter Monique doesn’t appear in the story and there is no mention of her either – I’m not sure of their relationship due to the internet naming her as all of these.

The story is straight-forward. Perhaps a little thin on plot, although it does contain a neat little twist during the cowboy’s raid on Georgetown to free their imprisoned ramrod. Gunplay erupts fairly frequently, but a lot of the time Sundance does everything he can to avoid having to use his gun. 

There’s a lot of tough talk and discussions between Sundance and Annette, the latter of which I felt held to story up at times. The author certainly came up with some engaging characters such as Marshal Bond – his belief in the law is impeccable, it’s just a shame others don’t hold it in such high regard. Then there’s the cowhand Cowl. The Texan, Tris Pony who Sundance has a tense confrontation with near the beginning of the story, and when they both walk away from this you just know they’ll have to face each other again. 

This book is worth considering if you’re looking for a quick easy fun read without a complicated storyline that plays out exactly as you’ll expect it to. 

Richard Telfair is a pseudonym used by Richard Jessup. 

THE WILD STALLIONS

SUNDANCE

THE WILD STALLIONS

By John Benteen

Leisure Books, 1973

The Appaloosa horses bred by Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce Indians were the finest anywhere. That’s why the Army wanted to get its hands on the herd—so it could breed up top-quality remounts and ride the Indians down even easier. To do it, they hired a sadistic horse-trader named Luke Drury.

There was just one problem. Jim Sundance had no intention of letting Drury or the Army get their hands on the Appaloosas. Instead, he planned to sell them to an English aristocrat and have them taken out of the country.

But Drury played rough … up to and including cold-blooded murder. So now it became a race against time. Hunted every step of the way, Sundance, and the beautiful Lady Bucknell, had to get the horses to the relative safety of Mormon country, and then get them shipped out to England. But they were going to have a fight on their hands … one that could only end in wholesale slaughter …

Most of the early Sundance books are based on real historical events. This one has some of that in it, but I believe the main storyline about hidden stallions is fictional. The author does include real people, such as Calamity Jane, and gives the reader loads of background about the Nez Perce and their treatment by the white man, the U.S. Army in particular. 

There’s also the question of where this book fits into the series. As you’ll see my copy (pictured above) doesn’t carry a number and I’ve seen it recorded as the seventh book in numerous lists. However, I have seen the exact same cover with a number six printed on it. Figuring its place in the series becomes even more complicated when you read the book as there is a lot of reference to The Battle of the Little Bighorn and Sundance’s involvement in Custer’s death. In fact, the book reveals just what did happen between the two men. None of this has yet turned up in a Sundance book if read in listed order, as the book usually said to be number nine, Taps at Little Big Horn, covers Custer’s last stand. To confuse things even more, my copy of Taps at Little Big Horn has a large number seven printed on it. Many of the Sundance books have been put out by Piccadilly Publishing as ebooks, and they’ve altered the originally order so the books run chronologically by storyline, thus their Taps at Little Big Horn is number five and The Wild Stallions is number seven. I suggest you use Piccadilly Publishing’s order to get the best enjoyment out of the early entries in the series.

John Benteen is a pseudonym for Ben Haas, although later other authors would take over the series. Haas mixes historical fact seamlessly with fiction in an exciting storyline that sees Sundance and Lady Bucknell struggle to get the horses to safety. 

The book starts with Sundance riding into Deadwood to meet Lady Bucknell’s husband so a deal can be made to sell the stallions to the Englishman. Sundance is the only person who knows where the horses are hidden. Things don’t go to plan and soon Sundance and Lady Bucknell are prisoners, held captive by Drury and his gang. I must admit how Sundance and Lady Bucknell escape stretched my belief somewhat as I just couldn’t see how certain elements of the escape could possibly happen. 

Once Sundance and Lady Bucknell head out to retrieve the horses the story really picked up and became a gripping read. Haas introduced some excellent Nez Perce characters and the problems they all faced in getting to the horses and then driving them to Mormon country meant I found the book hard to put down. Haas includes some neat little plot twists; some terrific action scenes and the story had a great ending. All this left me looking forward to reading another Sundance book soon.

And just to mess with your head some more after my thoughts on when this book should be read in the series, I’ll finish with this note. For some reason Leisure published The Wild Stallions again in the series, but under the name of Ride the Man Down, the 22nd book in the series. 

The Bronco Trail

SUNDANCE #6

By John Benteen

Piccadilly Publishing, March 2015

Originally published 1973

They were called the Tucson Ring, and they were a group of greedy businessmen who were getting fat on keeping the Indian Wars alive in Arizona Territory. One of their plans was to keep Geronimo on the loose by supplying him with whiskey and ammunition. 

But General George Crook had a plan to stop them, and Jim Sundance was the most important part of it. 

His orders – to go to Arizona, find out who was selling whiskey and guns to Geronimo, stop them any way possible … and bring Geronimo in for good.” 

It was a tall order. But if anyone could bring it off, it was the man they called Sundance. 

Most of the Sundance books are based on historical fact and this one deals with the surrender of Geronimo, although this story is mainly about stopping the whiskey runners, and it’s this gang that Sundance must infiltrate, and then, when the time is right, stop them dead.

Nearly all the main characters actually lived, including the leader of the whiskey runners, Bob Tribolet. There have been many books that deal with Geronimo’s surrender and what I found refreshing about this one is that the author decided to concentrate on people other than Geronimo for his story. In fact Geronimo only appears near the end.

John Benteen (Benjamin Haas) tells his tale in a hard-boiled style, pulling no punches as the story races to its harsh ending. Along the way Sundance has to make some difficult choices, among them whether to help the Army bring in Geronimo. There is plenty of tough action described superbly in all its savagery; not least a very visually written knife fight.

If you’ve yet to read a Sundance book then this would be a great place to start.

Taps at Little Big Horn

SUNDANCE #5:

By John Benteen

Piccadilly Publishing, November 2014

First published by Leisure Books, 1973

It was the fall of 1875 and all the Plains tribes were at peace. The best Cheyenne hunting grounds were under Army control. But then General Custer found gold in the Black Hills and set out to stir up a war to save his prestige. 

Sundance got involved when Custer locked him into a filthy prison for four months, and when he got out, his hatred for Custer was like a burning flame. Sundance was all Cheyenne when the Indians faced Custer – he vowed to have his revenge, and if he did, Custer would never leave Little Big Horn alive. 

Like the majority of the early Sundance books this one is based on fact, mixing a fictional hero with historical fact and real people seamlessly. Most of the story deals with events leading up to the Battle of Little Big Horn.

You don’t need to have read the previous Sundance books to get full enjoyment from this one as John Benteen includes a fair amount of Sundance’s back story, in this case mostly told by George Crook, who is one of Sundance’s close friends, one he fears he may have to face over a gun before long.

Sundance also has some powerful and far reaching decisions to make. He’s offered a way to perhaps stop the coming Indian war, but this could mean giving up his woman, Barbara Colfax, whom he met in the first book of the series: Overkill.

Benteen’s descriptions are excellent, particularly a frantic struggle to travel through snow and trying to survive a blizzard that threatens to freeze to death those caught in it.

Of course we all know how the historical elements of this fast-paced tale have to end but it’s witnessing how Sundance finds himself facing Custer that made this story for me. There’s double-cross to deal with, lots of life or death situations, brutal action, and a tension filled jail-break. All told in Benteen’s griping, gritty prose that defies you to put the book down before the last word is reached.

John Benteen is a pseudonym used by Ben Haas and I’ve yet to come across a western by him that isn’t worth reading.

Taps at Little Big Horn (A Sundance Western Book 5) at Amazon.co.uk

Sundance #2

DEAD MAN’S CANYON

as by John Benteen

Leisure, 1972

Sundance, the professional fighting man of the plains and the Baron from the Austrian Court made a deal. For $35,000 the big man with the bronzed face and the yellow hair would take the nobleman into deadly Apache territory to search for Emperor Maximilian of Mexico’s priceless treasure of lost jewels.

Before it was over, Sundance would meet Cochise, Chief of the Chiricahuas, and, together with a luscious young woman, face his closest crapshoot with death. And a score of men’s bones would bleach on the floor of Dead Man’s Canyon.

Having read quite a few of the 43 books that make up this series, I always thought the earlier entries were the best, so I expected another good read from this, the 2nd of the Sundance books.

Benjamin L. Haas, writing as John Benteen, starts the book well with a tough battle with Indians, which is very quickly followed with a brutal fistfight between Sundance and an outlaw leader called Gannon. Unfortunately the book goes into a slump after this as the plot is outlined, this being the search for Maximilian’s priceless treasure. The jewels are said to be hidden deep in Apache territory and once Sundance meets up with the Apaches the book picks up in pace again and ends with some great action as Sundance and Cochise team up to take on Gannon and his gang.

Shame about the slump, otherwise not a bad read.