THE TOUGHEST TOWN IN THE TERRITORY

 

THE TOUGHEST TOWN IN THE TERRITORY
By Tom West
Ace Books, 1965

“This town can always use deputies. It’s the toughest! They planted the marshal last week, lead poisoning. Third this season. Come sundown, the town’s a madhouse, south of the tracks. Abilene ain’t a patch on Prairie City. You might say it’s pure hell with the lid off.”

   “Wal,” the newcomer drawled, “I’m down to my last ten-spot. Just who hires deputies in this hell-raising town?”

   “Drop into the Bull Pen up the street,” rasped the clerk, grinning. “Better leave five bucks with me.”

   “For what?”

   “You’ll need a marker – in boot hill.”

The above conversation sets up the basic plot of this tale and the hard-boiled writing style gives the book a dark tone. The newcomer, a man just known as Tex, immediately questions his appointment, not as a deputy, but as Prairie City’s new marshal. Gamblers are betting on how long he’ll last and his deputies don’t seem to like him. Tex wonders why he should put his life on the line for a town in which he isn’t welcome. As the attempts on his life come, Tex gets close to quitting. Of course, he doesn’t and tension mounts. As the deadline for the bets to be paid on his death the gamblers set Tex up to be killed. Tex survives this but trouble still comes his way, especially when he decides it’s time to enforce the no guns in town law.

Tex also has women problems. He’s attracted to two and he soon has to deal with female jealousy. This could be the distraction that means he drops his guard for it to be the death of him.

The story is well written and the plot moves forwards quickly. It’s packed with tough talk and lively gunplay. The author uses some terms and words that I hardly ever see in westerns, such as having characters refer to each other as hairpins. I was also surprised to see a building called a bungalow. Many of the characters enjoy a smoke and often light up a cigaret, which later on is called a cigarette, then switches back to being a cigaret. Was this an author or publisher mistake? 

Tom West is a pseudonym used by Fred East, and this is only the second book I can remember reading by him. I really enjoyed the first one, Bitter Brand, and The Toughest Town in the Territory started so well, was full of potential, and Tex is an interesting hero. Once Tex has settled into his new job the story is held together by trying to bring law to Prairie City and becomes a series of unrelated incidents that Tex has to tackle. The promise of a showdown between Tex and forty ranch hands had me looking forward to an exciting action-packed finale but I was to be severely let down as the book took a ridiculous turn, making for the worst ending I’ve ever read. In fact, I had to re-read a few paragraphs to make sure I hadn’t imagined what I’d read, but no, this unbelievably stupid ending was real. What on earth was the author thinking?

Bitter Brand left me wanting to read more of Tom West’s work. If I’d read The Toughest Town in the Territory first, I very much doubt I’d have picked up another book by this author. I have three more West books in my collection, so the question now is will I ever read them? Maybe I’ll try one more but it won’t be anytime soon.

My copy of The Toughest Town in the Territory is part an Ace Double, the other story being Guns at Q Cross by Merle Constiner. 

BITTER BRAND

By Tom West

Ace Books, 1966

     “We need a dependable man,” the leading citizens of Cold Creek told Lobo Lawson, “and we figger you’re him. So we’re offerin’ you the post of town marshal.”

     Lawson was a stranger in town, but they already knew he was a good man with a gun. He’d just shot it out with a passel of bank robbers on the road to town and he demonstrated his skill with a six-shooter and a fast draw.

     Folks in Cold Creek appreciated that because they sure had been having their troubles. Marshals were being buried at a fast pace, there were son many hardcases around.     

     Lobo had brass all right, because he took that badge and pinned it on. He’d bring law to Cold Creek – hot on his heels, because Lobo had just escaped from a jail sentence and the Wanted posters would be featuring is face everywhere! 

Tom West is a pseudonym for English author Fred East, and perhaps others, and this is the first time I’ve read anything by him even though I have a few of his books in my collection.

The story starts with Lawson’s escape from the stagecoach taking him to Yuma prison. Soon he finds himself in Cold Creek and in need of funds. His intention is to rob the bank but he’s beaten to it. Tracking the bandits, he kills them and plans to move on with the loot, but the posse arrives before he can hit the trail and they hail him a hero, which in turn leads to him being offered the marshal’s badge.

Lawson still plans to rob the bank but his priorities change as he gets to know the townsfolk, particularly a certain young lady. After a child is wounded by drunk cowboys, Lawson finds himself enforcing a no guns in saloons law, which doesn’t go down well. Lawson is also at odds with one of the most influential men in town. Eventually two U.S. deputies arrive in Cold Creek and Lawson’s troubles really begin.

The author writes in a fairly hardboiled style and uses many terms I haven’t come across before in westerns, such as characters referring to others as “hairpins.” Other words at times made me wonder if I was reading a noir private-eye tale. Not that I minded any of this, as it certainly gave the book a character of its own. The pace was extremely fast and I wasn’t sure how the story would end for Lawson. Working out who the main bad guy was wasn’t hard, I had that nailed right from the beginning, but what he was up to was another matter. Once Lawson knew, he then had the problem of proving it as the vital evidence vanished. 

With plenty of twists and turns, the author kept me glued to the story. Characterization was pretty good for such a short tale and brief descriptions gave a good sense of time and place. There was plenty of gunplay and the vanishing evidence added some welcome mystery to the story. All in all, I found this to be a very entertaining read and I’m looking forward to reading another Tom West book soon. 

Bitter Brand is one story in an Ace Double book and it is backed by Rain of Fire by Merle Constiner and you can read my review of that here. I much preferred Bitter Brand of the two.

RAIN OF FIRE

By Merle Constiner

Ace Books, 1966 

Fane was just a quiet storekeeper in a small Montana rangeland town who had a hobby. He was a gun collector and an amateur gunsmith. But he was no gunman. 

Nevertheless, when a call came from an old friend, Fane picked up one of his best shooting irons and joined up with a couple of gunslicks to clear up the trouble.

His killer companions didn’t think much of Fane. He was a deadshot, sure, but he had a real slow draw. And in their business, a slow draw was a ticket to Boot Hill.

But there were a lot of other professional gun throwers around who were to test their skill against this amateur – and came out second best, even with a gun out first.

Not having read any of Constiner’s work before, I really didn’t know what to expect from this short novel that is told in thirteen chapters over 112 pages. The reason I picked this particular book was that the blurb caught my imagination so I was a little disappointed that Fane’s hobby played a very small part in the tale.

At first the plot is a little confusing, intentionally so, as Fane and his two companions, Arapaho and Crezavent, try to find out who they’ve been hired by and for what purpose. Even when they know whose payroll they are on, they still have questions as to the reasons. Throughout their attempts to find the answers, gunmen come out of the shadows trying to kill them. 

Constiner throws more twists into the tale through new characters, one of whom gives Fane cryptic messages that could help save their lives and possibly reveal the answers to why they’ve been hired and who they’re expected to kill. 

The story moves forward well, although it is occasionally slowed down when the author includes lengthy descriptions of places or buildings that Fane finds himself at but most of the time Constiner doesn’t waste words and gets straight to the point, so much so, that if you don’t pay attention, you’ll find yourself wondering how the story has progressed from one point to another.

Summing up, I’d say this tale held my interest fairly well, although it didn’t grip me as much as I hoped it might as I found myself putting the book down to do other things rather than read it in one or two sittings. Will I read another Constiner book? Possibly, but having so many to choose from, I think it might be a while before I do so.

Rain of Fire is one half of an Ace Double and it is backed by Bitter Brand by Tom West and I hope to get around to reading that soon.