DEATH'S BOUNTY

HAWK

Number 3 of 15

By William S. Brady

Cover art by Robert Adams

Fontana, 1979

Jared Hawk rode into Santa Maria on the trail of a Mexican outlaw with a $1,000 bounty on his head.

He didn’t know he was riding into a revenge war between the Mexicans and the Apache Nation – until the people of Santa Maria offered him one thousand dollars American to get them out to safety. Down a trail that was lined with blood-hungry Indians.

Hawk took the money and gave his word – and he wasn’t the kind of man who went back on a promise. Even when it meant losing a woman to the harsh code that demanded blood for blood . . . and a life for a life.

William S. Brady is a shared pseudonym. The two authors writing behind that name are Angus Wells and John B. Harvey. To start with, they alternated books, but later the majority were written by Harvey. This was due to a second series being launched under the William S. Brady name with the same two authors writing the books, although it was Wells who wrote the most of them. 

Death’s Bounty was written by Wells and it has all his trademarks. Tough, brutal characters fighting to stay alive in a hostile environment. Here’s it’s the cold and snow. The story takes place over Christmas. Hawk is a heartless anti-hero, a man who looks out only for himself, but here he seems to mellow a little when around a certain young lady. Could he be falling in love? He even considers ending his career as a hired gun and settling down with her. His infatuation with Manuela Ortiz leads to more trouble though, for she has a protective brother who soon swears he will kill Hawk. Juan Ortiz and Hawk put their differences aside, promising to face each other once the people of Santa Maria have been led to safety. Trouble is there’s a hell of a lot of Apache’s out to stop them.

Wells describes the many violent deaths in as much gory detail as he can. As followers of this series know, Hawk carries a sawn-down Meteor single barrelled shotgun in a special belt holster. This weapon gets used numerous times and Wells relishes describing what happens when its charge tears through the human body. This story has a massive death toll and it isn’t long before you’ll be wondering just who will be alive by the end.

Hawk doesn’t know about the massacre that starts this tale or why this was done. Even when he does know, he doesn’t really care. All he wants is to stay alive and collect his pay, perhaps start a new life with Manuela. 

Wells also includes memories that explain why Hawk is the man he is, why he wears a black glove on his left hand and why he carries that Meteor shotgun. 

Like many of the books that come from this group of authors, these days known as the Piccadilly Cowboys, this story contains plenty of gallows humour and also mentions characters from other series, for instance a man who carries a razor in a pouch behind his neck gets a name-check.

For me, this has always been one of my favourite books in the Hawk series and I really enjoyed re-reading it after all this time. It must be some 30 years or more since I last read it. The Hawk books can still be found in used book stores but they can take some searching out. If you don’t want to take time hunting for them at sensible prices, you’ll be pleased to know that Piccadilly Publishing are currently putting the series out as ebooks. For me, it’s a shame they haven’t managed to secure the rights to use the original artwork as I always thought Robert Adams captured the likeness of Hawk perfectly.

COMANCHE!

PEACEMAKER

Book 1 of 9

By William S. Brady

Fontana Books, 1981

McLain had nothing left in Missouri. His wife was dead, his farm burned out.

The Civil War taught him the bloody art of killing, and now he was alone. He owned a brace of Colt’s Dragoon pistols, a Sharps carbine, and a horse. He followed the rebel guerrilla trail south to Texas.

And there, the Nokoni Comanche took his horse and plunged him into a violent struggle for survival that was even more savage than the whiteman’s war. A brutal fight for life that sent McLain down the killing trail again… But this time in pursuit of a dream.

All the Peacemaker books begin with a prologue that explains what has gone before, and this being the first sketches out the background for the place this and the following books will be set. Peacemaker comes from the group of authors later to known as the Piccadilly Cowboys and this series stands out from the others in that it is set in one place rather than featuring a drifter. These books follow the growth of a town. This means McLain isn’t the only regular character to appear in the series.

William S. Brady is a pseudonym shared by Angus Wells and John B. Harvey, the latter only writing a couple of entries in the series. Having multiple people returning in each of the books allowed the authors to develop their characters deeply which makes it easy for the reader to come to care about them, share their ambitions, their joy, their anger and frustrations and experience shock when a likeable character is in danger, hurt or even killed. 

This first entry into the series was written by Angus Wells and the story is really one long conflict against the Comanche which involves the US Army as well as McLain. Trying to free a captive who is being used as bait adds some excellent tension to the tale. Having McLain and Captain Donnely at odds with each other creates some great situations too in battles of words which see McLain facing the threat of being shot. The action scenes are vicious and extremely graphic as the author describes the damage done to the human body when hit by bullets, lances and arrows. The pace of the story never lets up as it races towards its final bloody battle. But the tale doesn’t end there as some of the surviving characters have personal differences to sort out and the seeds of a dream need planting.

Comanche is an excellent start to what was one of my favourite series to come from the Piccadilly Cowboys. The books can be hard to find these days, but there is some great news and that is that Piccadilly Publishing have finally been given permission to put Angus Wells’ work out in ebook form. Comanche will go on sale on April 1st, 2022. Other series that Wells wrote books for are set to follow too.

 

Peacemaker #5

BLOOD RUN

as by William S. Brady

Fontana, 1982

The stageline was a lifeline. It linked Garrison with the other Texas border towns. It brought new blood and new money. And raiders! Their trade was death, paid in blood and bullets.

McLain was the lawman. It was his duty to see the stage got through…no matter who stood in the way.

The Peacemaker books came from the group of British western authors know today collectively as The Piccadilly Cowboys. This series lasted for nine books with six of them being written by Angus Wells and the other three by John Harvey. These two authors also wrote another series together as by William S. Brady: Hawk.

In fact the two series are linked more than just by the author pseudonym. The Hawk series came first and there’s often mention of John T. McLain as being the man who helped Jared Hawk learn to handle weapons, in fact he gave Hawk the swan-down Meteor shotgun he wears in a special belt holster. There were always rumours of the two starring in a book together, sadly this never happened as the English publishers ceased publishing westerns before it could happen.

The Peacemaker series differed from the majority of the Piccadilly Cowboy’s western series in that it didn’t feature a drifting hero. After the end of the Civil War, McLain rides into the small town of Garrison and stays. The books follow the growth of this town and also feature a cast of regular characters. This allowed the authors to spend time developing these people as well as the town. Each book begins with prologue filling new readers on the main details of what had happened in the previous books.

As the blurb indicates this story revolves around attempts to link Garrison with other towns by stage. Of course it’s not just Comanche that cause problems, there’s bandits too, being helped by a greedy solider who sees the payroll the stage is carrying as an easy way to riches.

This entry in the series comes from Angus Wells so the violence is extremely detailed and gory. Having said that there is not as much as in some of Wells’ books. Much of this story tells what the various characters are doing, how they are planning to steal the payroll and double-cross each other. All this leads to an exciting final bloody confrontation between all sides.

One thing that always made me smile about this series is that McLain rode with Bloody Bill Anderson, Butcher Harvey and Josey Wales throughout much of the Civil War, and that it was Wales that suggests McLain heads for Texas at the end of the war.

Blood Run reads like a fast moving traditional western except it contains a bit more blood and guts than those who’ve never read a western from this group of writers might expect. In my mind the Peacemaker series is definitely worth exploring…if you can find them.

Hawk #9

THE WIDOWMAKER

as by William S. Brady

Fontana, 1981

The Willard brothers didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for when they took Ben King’s wife off the train. She was beautiful and her husband was rich… Rich enough to hire Jared Hawk to bring his wife back and kill the men who took her.

Hawk didn’t like King’s methods, but the big man’s money spoke loud enough to persuade him, so he took the job. It didn’t look too difficult… Not until he got tangled up in a spider’s web of lethal intrigue.

But Hawk had a way of solving problems – with a .45 calibre lead slug!

The Hawk series first appeared in 1979 and ran for fifteen books, the last one coming out in 1983. William S. Brady being a pseudonym shared by Angus Wells and John Harvey, this entry being written by Wells.

Like most anti-heroes created by the group of authors known as The Piccadilly Cowboys, Jared Hawk is a cold, heartless, character who can be every bit as cruel as those he is hunting, and the book has its fair share of savage violence told in all its gory detail.

Wells includes a number of short flashback sequences to explain some of Hawk’s past, in particular why he wears a black glove on his left hand and of his time working with John T. McLain (the lead character from another William S. Brady series; Peacemaker).

Like many PC heroes Hawk carries an unusual weapon, a cut-down Meteor single barrel shotgun, carried in a specially designed belt holster, and this gun is used to devastating effect.

The story itself gets off to a good start but then seems to plod on as much of the rest of the book is taken up with Hawk tracking the kidnappers, with nothing much happening, although Wells’ descriptions of landscapes and conditions are very well told.

Once Hawk finds the truth behind the kidnapping he decides to take matters into his own hands and the book comes to a blood drenched conclusion.

Perhaps not the best work to come from Angus Wells but still worth a look if your preferred choice in western reading is for the more brutal books.