The Gunsmith #16

BUCKSKINS AND SIX-GUNS

as by J.R. Roberts

Charter, May 1983

“Buckskin” Frank Leslie is a small, wiry man with twin Peacemakers that blaze faster than most men can blink an eye. And it’s a lucky thing for Clint Adams when Buckskin Frank jumps into a gunfight on his side – leaving four unlucky hombres dead on the barroom floor. The Gunsmith always repays a favour. But this time it lands him in big trouble with the town banker – and a different kind of trouble with the banker’s daughter!

This book has all the hallmarks of the series: very short chapters, a dialogue driven story, a plot that builds quickly, bad guys plotting to double-cross each other, and the inclusion of a real person.

There’s a lot of sex – a trademark of the early titles in the so called adult western series that began in the 1980’s – and it seems as though Clint Adams beds every female he meets.

I had to grin when I read the names of the banker, Sherman Jory and his henchman Martin Cort – the latter is a pseudonym used by Jory Sherman on his and his wife’s western series Bolt, which has been switched around from Cort Martin.

So, like most of The Gunsmith books, this is a quick and easy read that offers some great bad guys such as Saber, the man brought in the kill both Adams and Leslie. A couple of surprises are thrown in at the end too and all the plot threads are tied up neatly.

Easy Company #19

EASY COMPANY and the INDIAN DOCTOR

as by John Wesley Howard

Jove, August 1982

A wounded rustler, who turns out to be a woman, the arrival, by mistake, at Easy of a ‘green’ army doctor and stirred up Sioux all link to provide Easy with more than enough trouble. Seems the rustlers have more than rustling on their agenda and getting the women out of the outpost is one of them, this involves a traveling photographer. The son of the Sioux chief ends up on the white doctor’s operating table and if he dies war is inevitable...could be if he lives too!

The author (Kenneth Bjorgum in this case) of this book puts the men of Easy into some tough situations and you just have to wonder at how they’ll come out on top. Many of the series' regular soldiers and wives play important parts in this story that seems to get more complicated as it goes on.

I found the book to be a fast easy read. The author must have done quite a bit of research into operations as these are covered in detail. The urgency to solve the problems faced by Easy are nicely balanced with the humorous banter between the soldiers and civilians, most notably the photographer.

All in all this is an entertaining book and a good entry into this series.

Spur #1

HIGH PLAINS TEMPTRESS

as by Dirk Fletcher

Leisure, 1982

Spur McCoy was quick, smart and smooth enough to get any woman he wanted. He’d just joined the government’s new Secret Service Agency, and as his first assignment west of the Mississippi, he was sent after a vicious band known as Rontrell’s Raiders. They were all ex-soldiers, as ready to kill, rape and loot as they were during the bloodiest days of the war. Now, in Fargo, just one man dared stand against them, and he was the kind of man who never left a job undone.

Although this author reveals who Rontrell is right at the beginning he also hooks the reader by not divulging the reason why Rontrell is subjecting Fargo to this reign of terror, and it isn’t until the end that the answer is revealed, thus giving Spur a difficult case to crack.

The storytelling is told in a straight forward style, in fast moving prose, that makes the book very readable. There’s plenty of action – of more than one type – the violent kind being quite brutal at times.

Spur is portrayed as a man who doesn’t like sharing information, or wanting help, in tracking down Rontrell and discovering why he kills. There are one or two twists thrown in at the end and all the plot threads are tied up neatly.

The above title may confuse some readers of this blog as they maybe unaware of this book as there is another Spur #1, the book called Rocky Mountain Vamp. In fact there are two book 2’s and 3’s. All the books are different and I can only guess as to why the series started at number one again. Possibly because the covers on the original first three were being used on Ramsay Thorne’s Renegade series which was being published at the same time? These cover painting clearly being the wrong time period for the Spur series too.

Dakota Lawman #1

 LAST STAND AT SWEET SORROW
by Bill Brooks

HarperTorch, Feb. 2005

This the first in a new series about Jake Horn, a healer, now falsely accused of murder.

Sweet Sorrow is filled with misfits, drunks, gamblers and dreamers. The perfect town for Jake to get lost in. But a strange plague of madness, brutality and murder runs rampant - and a slippery Texan named Roy Bean is pressuring Jake to become the town Marshal. Unknown to Jake a famous bounty hunter is tracking him down to collect the substantial reward for bringing Jake Horn in stone cold dead!

Bill Brooks writes a good book filled with interesting people, many who have a troubled past. Occasionally I thought the need to tell us about his characters past bordered on the long side, seemed a bit like padding, particularly when the same ground was covered in two different peoples backgrounds. One thing that came over well was a sense of sadness for all the characters; they all seemed to be those dreamers mentioned earlier.

The violence is brutal and shocking at times. The madness driving people to the edge, and beyond, of insanity. The question of what was causing these violent acts hooked me from the beginning, kept me reading to find out the answer. At one point it seemed as if there would not be anyone living by the end.

My first book by this author and it wont be my last.

Glory Trail

 as by Brett Pasco

A Black Horse Western from Hale, 1992

Todd McStay is relishing his reunion with his old buddy, newspaper man Max Rydell. Then Jessica Reilly tells them about the army detachment bound for the Dakota Badlands in search of her brother Olly. It seems impossible that anyone escaped the Sioux massacre of over two hundred cavalrymen serving under General Custer. Knowing it’ll make a powerful story Rydell tags along. McStay follows him, suspicious that Max knows more about the murder of his mother ten years ago than he is letting on. Many men will die before McStay’s questions are answered and the mystery of the last survivor of Custer’s Last Stand is solved.

A book that, through memories, tells of a strong friendship between McStay and Rydell, that turns to mistrust and hate as suspicion of involvement in murder fuels emotions.

The above being one of the mysteries this book contains, the other being that of the survivor of Custer’s Last Stand.

So plenty to grip the reader’s attention, and mainly it did, although I felt the story wondered occasionally with the inclusion of a few too many tales from the past of McStay and Rydell.

The story contains loads of action, from wagon hold-ups, fistfights, kidnap and novice soldiers battling renegades.

Pasco throws in a couple of nice twists before the story in done and the identity of the survivor is revealed, and that of Rydell’s involvement in the death of McStay’s mother is explained.

Glory Trail is a very readable and entertaining book.

Searcher #1

as by Josh Edwards

Charter Diamond, August 1990

This is the first of a 12 book series.

Once, John Stone had everything a man could ever want: wealth, position, and a woman who loved him. But that was before the Civil War. Now, he's lost his fortune, and his fiancée has disappeared. All he has left is his Colt, a picture of Marie, and a mission – to roam the West until he finds the woman he loves. He is the SEARCHER.

Josh Edwards is a pseudonym for author Leonard Levinson.

Levinson's hero is a tough man, quick to use his Colt or fists, he doesn't back down no matter how large the odds, which is good for Stone as he has the ability to attract trouble without trying. Stone is also a little out of his depth as he ventures west, here hired to scout for a wagon train heading for Texas. The wagon train contains many well portrayed secondary characters, as are the cowboys, outlaws and Indians they'll come up against.

The story is confidently written and moves along at great pace. The book is filled with terrific action, my favourite part being how Stone deals with some outlaws wanting to charge the wagon train members to use a pass through the mountains.

Then there's a more personal battle that makes for intriguing reading, that of Stone's promise to himself to stay faithful to Marie, when faced with temptations.

To get the best enjoyment from this series it is best read in order, but please note that the publisher made an almighty blunder when publishing books 11 and 12 and put them out the wrong way round, book 12 should be read before #11.

Tanner's Guns

as by Matt Logan

Lulu, April 2007

originally published as a Black Horse Western, 1991

Pancho Villa needed guns before he could march on Mexico City. Elliott Blaze had a whole damn’ arsenal for sale. All he needed was someone to deliver the weapons to the bandit general – and that was where Jake Tanner came into it, and in next to no time he was up to his shell-belt in trouble; dodging outlaws, swapping lead with the armies of two countries and, in a final, terrifying showdown, pitting his wits against the federales’ awesome secret weapon!

Tanner’s Guns is a fast paced, gripping, well told story, that has two great main characters, that of Tanner himself and his sidekick, Englishman Harry Stanford-Brown. Matt Logan’s descriptions of locations and action come over as very visual reading.

Matt Logan also includes some interesting background information to the Mexican Revolution that seems to be a natural part of the story rather than an added history lesson.

There’s a great twist to the tale when the lost guns turn up again, and the federales’ secret weapon makes for an exciting final battle.

This is the first book I’ve read by Matt Logan (writer David Whitehead) and I found it impossible to put down once started. Now I’m eager to hunt through my collection for the other books I have by this author.