Lady Outlaw

THE JUDGE #12

By Hank Edwards

Harper, April 1994

If it wasn’t for a bunch of renegade Pawnee, Clay Torn might have made it to Lonesome Pine sooner and avoided the wild shootout that left three men and Sheriff Logan dead. All because Miss Chancey Lane stirred up a ruckus and chose jail and justice over outlaw suitor Ash Wheeler. Ready to strike again, Wheeler doesn’t care who he has to kill to get her back.

Now Torn wants something, too – to see Ash Wheeler behind bars. Using the pretty, deadly Chancey as bait, Torn rides across the meanest country in Nebraska to smoke out the infamous Blue River Gang and nail the most wanted man on the western frontier.

Book twelve is the last of The Judge series. Would it bring the run to a satisfactory end or just be another fast-paced action-packed entry in this enjoyable series by Hank Edwards and vanish from the shelves with no indication that this would be the final book?

You don’t need to have read any of the other books to enjoy this one, as it is a self-contained tale like all the rest in the series, only linked by a single story thread that runs through the entire series, that of Clay Torn’s hopes of finding his missing fiancée as he travels the west dealing out his kind of justice as a federal judge. Would he finally discover what had happened to her in this book? We do discover that Torn is now beginning to think he may never find her, and in Chancey Lane there might just be a woman to replace his intended.

Hank Edwards is a pseudonym, ten of the books written by Jason Manning. Robert W. Broomall writing books two and four. Like all the other entries in this series it is a very entertaining read that sees Torn having to make some tough decisions and deal with some brutal outlaws by using his gun rather than a gavel. 

For me, and other fans of The Judge books, it's a shame it doesn’t bring the series to a close. Presumably the publisher decided to bring the series to an end after this book had been written so that the author couldn’t make it obvious this was the last one. 

Overall, this series has provided me with hours of reading pleasure and I believe many other western readers will have enjoyed it too. 

Iron Road

THE JUDGE #11

By Hank Edwards

Harper, December 1993

First there’s fire on the tracks a few miles short of Whiskey Flat, then cannon shots turn the Great Western’s locomotive into a mass of twisted steel. Tempers flare and the stakes are high as two rival railroads race to drive a spur through Wolf Creek Pass – a line that will make a fortune freighting gold and silver from the rich Colorado mines.

Suddenly Clay Torn stands alone against vicious saboteurs led by men who think their powerful political connections put them above the law. But Judge Torn is going to make sure Great Western gets a fair shake – even if it means giving Coastal & Northern a righteous run for the money.

A storyline that has turned up in many western books but I can’t remember reading another where one railroad company employs a band of ex-confederate soldiers who refused to surrender using a cannon to destroy the oppositions locomotives. This alone adds a neat twist to this tale. Torn’s method for dealing with this is nicely done too but does lead to complications later on.

The story mainly follows Torn but some chapters and scenes are told from other characters viewpoints so the reader knows who is doing what and for what reason. Having said that there is one person who I thought wasn’t quite who they said they were and I was proven correct but not as I expected and this revelation and the violent act it leads to came as a complete surprise adding a welcome twist to the tale.

Hank Edwards is a pseudonym for Jason Manning who wrote ten out of the twelve books in this series, and he keeps the story moving forwards at a fast pace as Judge Torn tries to discover who are the spies and saboteurs and then work out a way to stop their deadly tactics. In doing so Torn will have to face a lethal adversary who he first met in the previous book, Death Warrant, and this time there isn’t any way to escape a face-off Torn knows he can’t win.

Like all the other books in this series I found this one to be a quick and entertaining read and I’m sure it won’t be long before I pick up the final book to see if the series comes to an end and Torn finds the woman he’s been searching for since it began. 

Border War

THE JUDGE #9

By Hank Edwards

Harper, March 1993

Clay Torn is in the peaceful, booming border town of Eagle Pass when vicious Garza Santiago and his outlaw army strike. Blood and terror reign as Santiago plunders the city of its gold and guns and rides off with Judge Torn’s closest friend, Meg Slaughter.

Against good sense and risking his own safety, Torn rides through the burning town to get Meg back. If he must, he’ll take on the entire rebel army to rescue the woman who once saved his life.

If it’s action you want then look no further than this book. The story starts with a duel attack on Eagle Pass and the nearby fort and the gunplay never lets up after that as Torn and two companions take on massive odds in their attempt to free Meg.

Quite why Santiago has targeted this particular young woman isn’t apparent to begin with, and another question soon rears its ugly head, who has hired Santiago to kidnap Meg? Answers are soon discovered but knowing this doesn’t help in solving Torn’s quest, only throws more deadly odds in his path.

Hank Edwards is a pseudonym, this time finding Jason Manning writing behind the pen-name. Manning has created an excellent set of characters for this story; Meg Slaughter, torn between her feelings for two men; Lieutenant Chapman driven by love and who lets jealousy blur his decisions; Santiago, greed motivated and thinks nothing of double-crossing anyone if it’s to his advantage, to name but a few.

The story races along to its dramatic bloody battle that concludes with a large death toll and Torn riding off to face his destiny, hopefully free of the nightmares that have haunted him throughout this savage turn of events.

Border War is a great entry in this series and it leaves me eager to read the next book, Death Warrant, as soon as possible.

The Judge #7

BAD BLOOD

as by Hank Edwards

Harper, May 1992

Clete Bartlett has a dark heart that pumps nothing but bad blood. One drunken night, Clete rides roughshod through cattle town Ellsworth, Kansas, until his wild gunfire finds its mark in an innocent storekeeper.

Sheriff Drew Mitchell arrests Clete for murder, and stirs up a hornet’s nest of trouble. Turns out that Clete is the only son of cattle baron Carter Bartlett, a ruthless man who would do anything to spring his son – even kill a sheriff.

Judge Clay Torn has other ideas. He means to bring Clete to trial. But if anything did happen to Drew, Torn would ride to hell and back to bring every last one of them to justice. As it turns out, hell is only the halfway point.

Judge Clay Torn is a memorable lead character, not least for the knife he carries concealed beneath his coat; a weapon he uses with deadly proficiency. His single-minded belief in handing out justice to the letter of the law, without ever bending the rules often puts him in great danger, and in this story Torn’s beliefs are really going to be put to the test as to whether everyone truly deserves to be brought before the law or given a second chance.

The plot of this book isn’t anything the seasoned western reader won’t have come across before, but Hank Edwards tells it in an entertaining way that had me turning the pages quickly. The odds Torn finds himself up against will have you wondering how he’s going to come out on top, forty-to-one really do seem like insurmountable odds.

The Judge is a series I’ve enjoyed so far. Hank Edwards is a pseudonym with all but two books being written by the author who wrote this one, Jason Manning.

The Judge #6

 LAWLESS LAND
as by Hank Edwards

Harper, January 1992

Lawlessness runs rampant in Missouri due to outlaws who are still killing for the dead Confederate cause. The worst gang operates in Cass County – farmers and store clerks by day, bandits and butchers by night. One of this gang has been captured, and the Attorney General wants Clay Torn to be the presiding judge at what could be a violent murder trial.

But to do his job, Clay must deal with ghosts of his own past, because the leader of the Cass County gang is Hadley Fourcade…and he and Clay have been trying to kill each other for fifteen years.

Having the Judge come face to face with Hadley Fourcade allows the author – Jason Manning writing as Hank Edwards – to fill in some of the back-story of Clay Torn. The long running feud began before the Civil War and many of chapters go back into the past to tell how this came about and how this continued through the War, and how the hatred grew.

The Civil War parts of the story are told in a factual way, occasionally coming over like a history lesson, and I wished that more time was taken to cover the actual battles. Although the clashes between the North and South are well told, I think more could have been made of the horrors of the battles Torn found himself in.

The story told in the books present threw in a number of surprises as to the identity of a couple of characters, and you had to wonder how Torn and the small group of lawmen he rode with could emerge victorious against such overwhelming odds.

Overall this book was an entertaining read that will, perhaps, be of more interest to fans of The Judge series, due to it telling of Clay Torn’s past, than a first time reader of this series. To the latter I’d suggest trying a couple of the earlier books first.

The Judge #5

STEEL JUSTICE

as by Hank Edwards

Harper, September 1991

Receiving a desperate message for help from Sheriff Mike Walker, Judge Clay Torn heads for North Fork Town in the Nations. He’s greeted by the body of Sheriff Walker, back shot. With no clues Torn still resolves to find the murderer. Not long after a woman is brutally butchered but are the killings linked? Torn still has very few clues as his hunt takes him into a web of fear and death.

I felt the beginning of the book was a little slow, the first chapter reading pretty much like a history lesson of the Nations and the tribes that lived there. Fascinating stuff, but it didn’t do much to grip and pull me into the story. I feel this kind of information is better interspersed throughout the story.

Once Torn sees the horse carrying Walkers body come into town the story really picked up, and I found the book difficult to put aside for any length of time. Torn has lots of suspects but little to no proof. As the body count increases so more characters are introduced, all of who become more suspects.

The author, (Jason Manning) writes well, adding clues and red herrings throughout, a couple of the murders are particularly brutal and the book has some excellent gunfights near the end.

This turned out to be an excellent read, and one that should appeal to most western fans.