December 28, 2011 – 1:11 am
How can a bounty hunter ever be on the right side of the law? The story written by Ray Hogan has post war brothers struggling to survive in a one-horse town. Frank Garret took the course of bounty hunter because the skills he learned in the Civil War proved to be the most prosperous vehicle for more money. His brother, Turner Garret, who was seriously wounded in the war was limited based on his durability and he only had the dexterity in his hands and mind to make his way on the frontier and that was gambling.
The story begins quickly and moves into high gear as Turner is accused of bank robbery. Frank is bringing in the body of a wanted murder unaware of his brothers problems. Returning to McCurdy Frank finds his brother in jail, place there by the County Sheriff, Tom January. The town marshal knew that the arrest wasn’t right but couldn’t buck the County Sheriff. Turner was destined to go to the county seat tomorrow and Frank had made it clear that he was going along to make sure his bother was treated fairly. The story spirals out of control as Turner is shot trying to escape jail. In anger and frustration Frank goads the sheriff into a gunfight and kills him. A more pressing problem develops as Frank gets a letter from a friend that helped them at the end of the war.
Before Frank can prove his brothers innocence of bank robbery and his justification on murdering the lawman he has to race off and save his friends ranch down by the Mexican border. Many events revolve around this trip and as a true western things are resolved and the good people overcome the bad. The stories many ups and downs appear to me as being several stories woven in to one to make the length needed to be classified as a story of satisfactory length.
I recommend this story to western readers as one that has a good base but could have used more work on development. Pick up the book at your library or get it on Amazon then read it and determine for yourself if it suites your description of a true stand alone western.
December 21, 2011 – 1:11 am
Is there such a thing as a cardsharp who has a conscience? In this western story Frank Derringer is that individual. The story opens up as Frank arrives in the crooked town of Tribune, Kansas attempting to even out a score. His friend was cheated out of money that he had worked hard for. Cheating the cheaters was easier than it initially looked but getting out of town was a much more challenging proposition. Unable to work his escape as he had originally planned Frank was befriended by Martha Jane Canary know affectionately as “Calamity.”
Jane’s nickname lead them both into swarms of lead bees that continued to challenge their very lives. A fellow traveler died and his last words would continue to place both Frank and Jane in renewed exposure to the prospect of dieing. Having to work together to solve their combined problems they struggled and almost succumbed to the lose of their lives. Dealing with multiple wives of their dead traveling companion and fulfilling the terms of his will made for multiple challenges to an easy way of life. Many things became impossible to handle as the two travelers joined forces.
The story has many twists and turns that keeps the reader engaged and pulls him into and through each and every twist and turn that the author has planned. More cheaters are uncovered with a very intricate plan and the reader has to keep on his toes to make sure that he doesn’t get lost in the smoke screens.
I recommend this book to western readers for the excitement and need to make sure that the right thing is done and the bad guys are punished and dealt with according to the rules of the time. Read this book and I know that you will enjoy it as much as I did.
December 14, 2011 – 1:11 am
From the back cover of the book the story is condensed to these few short sentence:
“Between the Arkansas River and the Santa Fe Railroad was the Gateway to the west. The cattle trail from Texas to Kansas was long, hot, and dangerous. And by the time cowboys got there, they had the money and means to make a boomtown explode–and make Dodge City a great place to be a defense attorney…as long as you weren’t looking for an innocent man.”
This western story written by Matt Braun tells the tale of a lawyer, Harry Gryden, who spent his time and energy defending the men and women who lived and worked on the opposite side of the law. Harry could not tolerate the people who placed themselves in a position to set the laws and hand out summary judgment to anyone who opposed the right side of the tracks. Open opposition and the outward joy of defeating the establishment with their too tight collars thrilled him and kept his vigor for the dark side of the law.
A lawyer who didn’t carry a gun and defended the shady side of the law was always open to attack. He felt that the lives of the people on the opposite side of the law were more interesting than the righteous upstanding citizens who wrote the laws. When you challenged the established norm and won, you were sometimes sought out by those who were in the right and wanted the advantage of your success. It appears from this story that the right side was trying to manipulate and control the dark side with out due process from the law.
I enjoyed the interaction of the characters and personally enjoyed Harry Gryden’s opposition to machine politics as it was played in western Kansas at the time. I recommend this book to western readers and those out there who are interested in a new understanding of how the west really worked. The conclusion of the book has some very insightful dialogue and I would not be surprised if the thoughts and speeches spoken would not have really happened. You need to read the book to make your own decision. See you down the trail.
December 7, 2011 – 1:11 am
Well here I go moving away from the western stories that have always been my mainstay. This story won an award, The Tony Hillerman Prize. I read the story and felt that even though it was out of my designated time frame it did justify a review. This southwestern tale is a mystery written by Tricia Fields. The story is set in the desert of southwest Texas. A new town Chief of Police, Josie Gray, is setting on a powder keg of problems. The police force is under staffed because of the economy while the Mexican drug cartels are flooding the area with illegal’s, drugs and the need for guns.
The story begins with an intrusion into the town of Artemis by a gang of killers who are determined to eliminate a previously shot American citizen. He was, a cartel leader, wounded in Mexico and then transported to the emergency clinic in Artemis. Keeping this cartel kingpin alive could cost a trauma unit team its lives. Where and how do you draw the line? How can chief Josie hold on to that line and stop the mayhem? A second amendment proponent is murdered with his body found inside a trailer where it doesn’t belong and a stash of weapons comes up missing. The problems continue to grow and intensify with few solutions showing their heads.
The chief is at her wits end and her strength and mental health are also slipping. She gets help from a source that she doesn’t expect and it seems that this is the boost she needs to stay the course. This female chief of police is not only struggling against the good old boys network but the desert dose surround and encapsulate her completely. The story moves with steady and interesting twists and turns. As a reader I felt the intensity and complex of the story grow and expand as I progressed through the book on to the conclusion.
Personally I felt that the conclusion could have been stronger but I have no clear-cut recommendations for the writer. I would recommend this story to all readers and the mystery reader may be disappointed but you the reader must be the ultimate judge of this stories success or failure.
November 30, 2011 – 1:11 am
When you are famous specifically as a man hunter and killer of men you develop a group of people who would like to see you gone from this life. They wish you dead and someone has Luke Starbuck targeted for that fatal trip. Having accepted a job to find a way into the infamous Wyoming outlaw strong hold known as the Hole-in-the-Wall and shot a bad man dead. Luke immediately begins to feel that maybe he is a target after he successfully eliminates a couple of men who were trying to stop his clock.
Normally he has been the hunter now he has become the hunted. Not liking his new position he heads on in to the Hole-in-the-Wall and ends up in a position that he wont be able to get himself out of with out help from the man he was sent to kill. He needed to go back to the beginning and start over by asking questions of the lawyer who was the set up person on this case. Having survived the confrontation inside the Hole-in-the-Wall with Cassidy’s help he had determined their connection had been Dutch Henry Horn a man Luke had killed in Pueblo tying him to Cassidy. In his bargain for his life Cassidy had ask that Luke not divulge anything he had learned about getting into the Hole-in-the-Wall. Luke had given his word and now he was in pursuit of why and who was out to have him killed. Dutch Henry had a son and all Luke had to do track him down and then stop this attack on his life and it would begin in Deadwood in the Dakota Territory. The story has many more ups and downs that muddy the water but Luke is tenacious in his pursuit of the man that has targeted his life.
I recommend this story to western readers to increase their historical knowledge and receive joy from a story told well by an expert western writer.s
November 23, 2011 – 1:11 am
This book is part of a western series highlighting the activities of the detective and man killer called Luke Starbuck. This story by Matt Braun targets the gang of bank and train robbers headed by the cold-blooded killer and confederate raider Jesse James. It was great to have a wealth banker wanting the James-Younger gang eliminated because it fit into Luke’s since of right and wrong. Accomplishing that task was going to be difficult and potentially dangerous to his life. Taking on a new disguise Luke set out to infiltrate the gang so he could kill the leader and the balance of the gang.
The story highlights the search and locating of the gang. The unsuccessful acceptance into the gang is a key to the continual pursuit of Jesse James. Most families in Clay county Missouri were related to the James family. Being confederate veterans and downtrodden farmers they also were very sympathetic to leveling of the differences between the rich and the poor. The James –Younger gang were only interested in feathering their own nest. The notion of the gang helping the poor was a false idea put forward by the dime novel writers to sell books. The gang and specifically Jesse kept robbery targets and gang members close at hand and continually under his watchful eye. New members were only those approved by Jesse and his sixth sense was almost fool proof. A robbery was carried out with military precision and wild daring. The Pinkerton’s had tightened the noose-giving rise for the need to leave their comfort zone of Missouri and the surrounding states for robbery targets. The Northfield, Minnesota bank robbery attempt was the plan that would end the success of the James-Younger gang.
The story is about the final months of the gang and it is packed with action and unusual happening that history tells us but does not give the reader anything to fill in the gaps. Matt Braun has the unique ability to add to the historical account and flesh out the story for the western reader. Does it have to be totally accurate? Only the men that were in the gang and participated in the raid know if it is true. The story as told makes for a fine picture of western history for you the reader.
I recommend this book for a fresh perspective on how it could have been. I enjoyed the tale and I know you will to if your mind is open to alternative proposals.
November 16, 2011 – 1:11 am
This is a western story with a modern twist. What do you do when the job you held and trained for goes away because all the Indians are now on a reservation or peaceful? The obvious new job would be a town Marshall. This is where the story begins and the fly in the cream is an eastern-bred woman of considerable good looks that thinks an Indian fighter is nothing more than a glorified murder. An election is going to be held for town Marshall and the ex-Indian fighter looses. As he is trying to leave town and improve his luck somewhere else a kidnapping occurs and the woman that thought all the Indians were peaceful is the victim and the kidnapper is an Indian that she knew and befriended.
The newly elected Marshall forms a posse and chases after the kidnapper and his captive. Two days later the Marshall and posse return empty handed. The Marshall enlists the Indian fighter to pursue the kidnapper with the offer of a horse and supplies. The carrot hanging out in front of his eyes is the potential of a five thousand dollar reward offered by a woman’s group that the captive belongs to. The search is long and he captures the kidnapper and frees the woman then a multitude of things happen and the story gets more complicated as the characters try and escape a band of Indians and they are forced to join an outlaw band for protection. The Indians that are in pursuit are those who had never gone to the reservation. There are many twists and turns as the action continues to become more intense and the characters are drive down blind paths.
I recommend this western story written by Jack Cummings. He is a new author for me to read and I like his presentation of the story. Go to your library and take home an arm- load of books and enjoy your western reading I am.
November 9, 2011 – 1:11 am
This is a new author for me, Stan Lynde, and the book is an interestingly written exhibit of western story telling. The story begins with the U.S. Marshall for the state of Montana sending; Merlin Fanshaw to help the town Marshall in Medicine Lodge a town in the middle of the Crow Reservation. The need for a Deputy U.S. Marshall is to extend law on to the Reservation. There are many homesteaders and ranches squatting on the reservation stealing Crow horses and occasionally killing a stray reservation Indian in the process. The first shock for Merlin was the town Marshall is black and he didn’t find out until he met him in person.
The events of the story began to unfold and jump into activity as the summer progresses. The murder of a teenage Crow boy shoot in the back and said to be butchering a rancher’s beef. The introduction of race hatred both black and Indian present many unforeseen events into the story. Lust is inserted into the story and it creates so many new problems that the story get more complicated with every event. The big ranchers son is a continually bad drunk and loses control of his actions as he get further into the bottle. He assaults a bartender and cut him up with a bottle on his return from beating up a woman that he had taken advantage of sexually. He was put on trial but his father bought off the witnesses and he got off the charges. As he was leaving the town after celebrating his victory he talked very disrespectfully to the town Marshall and the Marshall after being repeatedly provoked whipped him soundly and told him he was bared from town and he was never come back into town again.
The story has all kinds of twists and turns that leads the reader down through the story helping to confuse and stump the him in his effort to determining who are the major players and how are they going to survive till the end of the story. I definitely recommend this book to all readers and those that are specifically inclined toward westerns will be doubly pleased. A must read.
November 2, 2011 – 1:11 am
In the old west, ranchers suffered from the plague of rustlers so to combat this scourge across the land. Ranchers hired stock detectives, they were charged to catch and put to justice these men who chose to take stock from the hard working ranches in a particular area. Newt Bascom and Sam Jordan were two detectives that had cleaned up a large portion of the Texas Panhandle. They worked for the Panhandle Cattleman’s Association that was formed because the ranches were successful. When cattlemen flourished there was an abundance of rustlers and horse thefts in the area.
Their next challenge would be to find and return to its owner a prize Durham Bull who had been spirited away in the night. Before they took off after the rustlers they tracked the bull and its rustlers to determine what direction they were heading and then they would get an early start the next morning. They found the trail quickly and headed back to get their gear and prepare for the chase. Before they had searched out the trail they received a complete history of the bull and what it looked like. The two stock detectives were Bull Durham users Newt chewed and Sam rolled his own but both used the same brand and they were know around their home ranch as the Bull Durham twins.
The trail was a combination of ups and downs with many dead ends and lost trails. This left the two stock detectives scratching their heads and contemplated the location of the prize bull. They finally found the location of the bull and they become members of the individual gang that had stolen the prize bull and other top quality cattle and horses across the west. The unique way they re-branded the stock was a key to their success and Newt and Sam decided they would have to steal the bull again and drive it back to the ranch where it was taken from. This is not the end of the story but I want you to read this book to get the total story right down to the last footsteps of these two stock detectives.
I recommend this book and it is one that could get you back to reading the westerns you grew up with. Matt Braun the author of this book brings to life the individuals that made the west so unique in American history.
October 26, 2011 – 1:11 am
This western story begins in the Civil War and travels into the time shortly after the surrender of Lee at a courthouse in northern Virginia. The only way to get out of the prisoner of war stockade in Florence was to die. Men were dieing right and left with out food and shelter the cemetery outside the stockade was full and the wild hogs were having a field day digging up the bodies and eating the rotting flesh. Zeb Hogan had drawn the short straw and was elected by his comrades in arms to be the executioner of a fellow 16th Wisconsin Infantry prisoner who had turned into a rebel to get out of prison and escape the impending death of starvation and disease. So many were dieing that it was a simple task to be carted off to the death room where he would be buried as quickly as possible.
Surviving the grave was no easy task but with the help of Ebenezer Chase, Zeb escaped the grave. He now would need the help of this slave to find his way to Vicksburg Mississippi and full fill his sworn oath to kill sergeant Ben DeVere for the cowardly acts that he had committed in the Florence Stockade. Both main characters are young and Ebenezer, the slave, knows the country ways and Zeb knows the ways of the city. Together they are heading west each on their own mission but together. The story has many ups and downs as they move west and everything does not work out as originally expected. The trail they follow is over run with successes and failures but they continually push toward their destination. Both boys who have taken on the rolls of men continue to grow older in the ways of life discounting the few short years they have been on the earth.
I was very pleased with the story line and how the author Johnny D. Boggs was able to keep me involved and turning the pages of the book. I recommend this book to western readers and the civil war story readers also. Pick up this book and you will race to the end and not be disappointed.
