Sunday, December 30, 2018

Review: The First Mountain Man

The First Mountain Man The First Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first entry in the Preacher series, this one tells the story of how the mountain man called Preacher, a self-sufficient loner, goes against his druthers and helps a wagon train of Eastern greenhorns across the untamed West while being pursued by a violent band of outlaws and getting involved with various skirmishes with Indians. Johnstone knows the time period and places exceedingly well giving the novel a sense of authenticity. Preacher is a fascinating character and I loved the banter between the mountain men and the pilgrims. Johnstone's take on this fairly standard plot is a very good one.

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Sunday, December 9, 2018

Review: Blaze! Bitter Valley

Blaze! Bitter Valley Blaze! Bitter Valley by Wayne D. Dundee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really like Dundee’s take on this series, adding some humor and playful banter between the gunslinging couple, and sex scenes that seem less gratuitous. The Blaze’s are recruited by a former prostitute who has recently married a rich ranch owner and has been “acquainted” with J.D. in the past, sparking some jealousy from Kate. It seems that the heirs to the ranch are not happy with the new wife and soon an elaborate murder mystery becomes the focus of the book. Solid entertainment and probably my favorite in the series thus far.

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Sunday, November 11, 2018

Review: Slaughter At Buzzard's Gulch: Caz: Vigilante Hunter: A Western Adventure From The Author of "Mojave Massacre"

Slaughter At Buzzard's Gulch: Caz: Vigilante Hunter: A Western Adventure From The Author of Slaughter At Buzzard's Gulch: Caz: Vigilante Hunter: A Western Adventure From The Author of "Mojave Massacre" by Scott Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This fast paced and compelling short novel tells the story of Caz, a compassionate bounty hunter, who finds himself in a violent battle with an saloon owner and his team of outlaws when he uncovers forced prostitution in the establishment. Caz is an interesting character and is complemented by a strong supporting cast that included Bess, a young reluctant prostitute, and Etta, a feisty boarding house owner. I liked this novel at lot and am looking forward to reading the further adventures of Caz.

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Friday, October 19, 2018

Review: The Hand of Dracula!

The Hand of Dracula! The Hand of Dracula! by Robert Lory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sure, it's silly, but it's a blast to read. An oddball team consisting of a wheelchair bound professor, who's quite an ass, an enormous Puerto Rican ex-cop, a shape-shifting, mind reading woman enslaved by Dracula, and of course the extremely violent Count who is always on the verge of being out of control, and who hates the professor and subverts his efforts when he can. The oddball team works loosely together to try solve a murder mystery with a wager between the Count and professor on the line. There's a lot of weirdness going on, a Manson-like cult, Mafia hit men, a nefarious funeral director and his brutish hunchback assistant, all of which make for a fun and crazy ride.

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Friday, October 12, 2018

Review: Assault on Soho

Assault on Soho Assault on Soho by Don Pendleton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bolan is ambushed at the airpot by mobsters in London on his way back from his adventure in Paris and is rescued by a beautiful kinky sex club owner. The Mafia raises the price on Bolan's head and recruits an army of assassins and mobsters, including Bolan's friend and mob infiltrator Leo Turrin. Bolan fights for survival with the aid of the sex club owner all while solving a murder mystery and taking more vengeance on the mob. A fun read, albeit a bit wacky, and definitely incentive to keep reading the Executioner series.

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Saturday, September 22, 2018

Review: Kiss and Kill

Kiss and Kill Kiss and Kill by Richard Deming
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Crisp plotting and a nice twist drive this short noir that tells the story of a sociopathic grifter and his wife/accomplice whose scams escalate to murder as they travel across the country bilking single women out of their money. The dollar was clearly worth a lot more when this was published. This era of paperback originals spawned several novels where the narrator was unreliable or a jerk. This is certainly one of the better ones. Recommended.

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Review: Slocum and the Family Business

Slocum and the Family Business Slocum and the Family Business by Jake Logan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Written by the late Ellen Recknor, a talented writer and storyteller of the Old West. This short novel is light on the action, and heavy on the eating for an Adult Western, not necessarily a bad thing. Slocum attacked by a fella named Goose who accuses him of killing his bother, then meets up with a young kid who thinks that Slocum is his father. The three of them end up working together to track down cattle rustlers at the ranch of Hiram, who feeds them well and in great detail. The sex scenes are less awkward than found in most AWS, perhaps because it was written by a woman. Nicely character driven with authentic prose and dialogue I think that this is a fine entry in the series. Book 366 in the series Slocum and the Rustler on the Run is also written by Recknor and continues the storyline. I've added it to the list of books that I'm looking for.

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Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Review: Monte Walsh

Monte Walsh Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This a wonderful novel telling the story of likable cowboy Monte Walsh and his faithful friend Chet Rollins in a series of vignettes that can be humorous, exciting, or touching. Shaefer provides a truly vivid and likely accurate portrayal of cowboy life in the latter half of the 19th century from the simpler times when ranch and cowboy activity was at it’s prime to when the influx of technology such as automobiles began to signal their coming decline and the end of a way of life. This is a special book that made me laugh and made me cry. It transcends the Western genre, much like Lonesome Dove, or The Time it Never Rained. Highest recommendation.

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Friday, July 20, 2018

Review: The Man Who Chose the Devil: Manville Moon, Detective #2

The Man Who Chose the Devil: Manville Moon, Detective #2 The Man Who Chose the Devil: Manville Moon, Detective #2 by Richard Deming
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Deming ramps up the violence in this PI Manny Moon novella, originally published in Black Mask magazine 1948, while maintaining the solid puzzle plotting that kept me guessing the murderer and motive. More information about this series can be found here - http://www.thrillingdetective.com/moo...

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Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Review: The Doomsday Affair

The Doomsday Affair The Doomsday Affair by Harry Whittington
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A relentless series of the UNCLE protagonists, Solo and Kuryakin, getting beat up, captured, drugged and chased page after page drive the narrative of this weakly plotted TV tie-in. The extremely sudden ending that left many unanswered questions didn't help either. Maybe my expectations were too high considering that I like both the TV series and the author.

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Saturday, July 7, 2018

Review: The Shot Rang Out: 52 Western Short Stories: Scott Harris: Author of the Brock Clemons Western Series and 51 Friends

The Shot Rang Out: 52 Western Short Stories: Scott Harris: Author of the Brock Clemons Western Series and 51 Friends The Shot Rang Out: 52 Western Short Stories: Scott Harris: Author of the Brock Clemons Western Series and 51 Friends by Scott Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun and remarkable collection of 52 flash/micro fiction short stories, most of them very good, each one different and revealing the unique voice of each writer. I love the concept for this collection and am thankful to Scott Harris for putting this together. I would like to see more of this type of work. Short stories, and especially Western short stories, have been lacking a visible stage for a long time.

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Thursday, July 5, 2018

Review: The Juarez Knife: Manville Moon, Detective #1

The Juarez Knife: Manville Moon, Detective #1 The Juarez Knife: Manville Moon, Detective #1 by Richard Deming
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first entry in the largely forgotten Manville Moon series of private eye stories, this one a novella from the January 1948 issue of Popular Detective pulp magazine. Moon finds himself engaged in a well plotted locked room type of mystery with a first-rate cast of characters and a few surprising twists. Moon is from the hard-boiled school of detectives, although he's not particularly violent, and he's clearly more compassionate than others from this era. I liked that it's long enough to tell an elaborate story in an hour or two of reading without getting bogged down in details or bloat. Excellent pulp fiction and recommended to fans of post-war private eye stories.

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Here's the cover of the January 1948 issue of Popular Detective:

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Quickly tiling book cover images on my Mac for this new background

I wanted to tile a bunch of book images into an image that I could use for this blogs background with the least amount of work possible. I suppose that this background would have come out a lot better if I had taken the time to make the images all the same size. Oh well.

On my MacBook, where I have already installed ImageMagick for ebook conversations, I downloaded 12 covers from my recent Goodreads books. Using "append +" I combined sets of 4 images into 3 horizontal rows, then using "append -" I combined the 3 rows vertically into the single tiled image seen below. When I get inspired I'll do this with images that are all the same size.

Here are the commands:

$ ls
10377600.jpg 14114017.jpg 25018779.jpg 40507810.jpg
10772831-2.jpg 173984.jpg 25792353.jpg 7134155.jpg
12754117.jpg 2466753.jpg 37847394.jpg 9280898.jpg


$ convert +append 10377600.jpg 14114017.jpg 25018779.jpg 40507810.jpg row1.jpg

$ convert +append 10772831-2.jpg 173984.jpg 25792353.jpg 7134155.jpg row2.jpg

$ convert +append 12754117.jpg 2466753.jpg 37847394.jpg 9280898.jpg row3.jpg

$ convert -append row1.jpg row2.jpg row3.jpg tiled.jpg

and the results:


Sunday, July 1, 2018

Review: Hot Lead issue two: The fanzine of vintage western paperbacks

Hot Lead issue two: The fanzine of vintage western paperbacks Hot Lead issue two: The fanzine of vintage western paperbacks by Justin Marriott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Several interesting articles in this issue. Paul Bishop's take on Harry Whittington's novelization of the movie "Charro" is spot on. Whittington manages to translate the treatment for what would become a mediocre movie into a really superb novel. Amazing novelist. The interview with artist Tony Masero, and articles about British Western comics artist Frank Bellamy, and the German Western pulp and paperbacks of the '60s are insightful. I never realized that Westerns were so popular in Germany. Excellent production standards for this fanzine. The formatting and graphics are impressive. I'm looking forward to issue three.

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Review: The Laughing Death

The Laughing Death The Laughing Death by Paul Edwards
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Author Robert Lory penned this installment of the series and sticks to the formula with John Eagle assigned to quash a plot by a mysterious and powerful Chinese master who intends release a deadly nerve toxin designed to kill millions in an attempt to destabilize Asia and take it over. Eagle is equipped with his usual high tech equipment and a couple of disposable assistants in a dangerous trek though Indonesian jungles to the hidden lair of the ruthless master. A fun and entertaining book if you don't mind the violence and misogyny inherent in these type of books, a couple of grimace inducing sex scenes could have been left out.

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Sunday, June 17, 2018

Review: Brute

Brute Brute by Con Sellers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Con Sellers manages to mix action, espionage, and romance into a compelling novel that tells the story of Brad Saxon, an immense brute of a man, inclined to bursting through walls, mirrors, and doors - or just ripping them off their hinges, and frequently beating the crap out of guys. Former GI and pro football player Saxon’s unrequited love for a Japanese prostitute that he hasn’t talked to in nine years takes him back to Japan to try to marry her - a bad idea as he stumbles into a complex plot by communists and the Japanese underworld to use hookers to record private conversations of US military officers in a effort to undermine US security. Plenty of hard-boiled violence, and some surprisingly touching and elegant sex scene narrative make this an interesting and fun read.

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Saturday, June 9, 2018

Review: Head West!

Head West! Head West! by Ben Bridges
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great new magazine with informative articles, interviews, and three Western short stories.

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Sunday, June 3, 2018

Review: High Fury

High Fury High Fury by Harry Whittington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another terrific Western from Harry Whittington, a prolific writer with remarkable consistency. No surprise, High Fury is a crime novel that takes place in the old West. It tells the story of a youth man on the run after being falsely accused of murder who, while tracking the one man that can prove his innocence, rescues a women who was savagely abused and left for dead by perhaps the same man. Things get more complicated when the son of the Cattle Baron who owns the town is suspected of being an accomplice. He soon must confront a town that has been turned against him, aided only by a sympathetic sheriff named Ox Slaughter and a kindly old doctor. The characters all jump off the page. This would make a fine movie.

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Sunday, May 27, 2018

Review: Kim

Kim Kim by Robert Colby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another fine private eye novel from the golden age of paperback P.I.s featuring the first person narrative of former cop Rod Striker, more lecherous than the typical P.I. and his assistant Myra Bailey, who narrates an excellent and thrilling chapter herself, which I thought was a nice touch. The short novel is well plotted and provides a few nice surprises. Striker and Myra are interesting characters and I would like to read more about them, although I can't find any mentions of them being part of a series. It's unfortunate that non-series detective novels seem bound for obscurity. This is a good one.

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Saturday, May 26, 2018

Review: Continental Contract

Continental Contract Continental Contract by Don Pendleton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kind of a James Bond vibe to this one as Bolan goes international with an unexpected visit to Paris and the French Riviera, including the casino in Monte Carlo. All this doesn't lend itself well to the established Executioner premise and there are a few times that Bolan acts out of character, some credibility straining coincidences, and more than a few plot holes. I still found it to be an entertaining read although it doesn't quite match up to the previous entries in the series.

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Sunday, April 29, 2018

Review: Meanwhile Back at the Morgue

Meanwhile Back at the Morgue Meanwhile Back at the Morgue by Michael Avallone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A terrific entry in the Ed Noon Private Eye series with a well drawn cast of interesting characters and Avallone's knack for wise-cracking and hard-boiled prose. The book follow classic mystery/whodunit conventions with Noon tracking down clues and then calling the characters together at the end to announce his hard earned conclusion. Loved all the Old Hollywood references. Highly entertaining from start to finish.

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Sunday, April 22, 2018

Review: Army of Devils

Army of Devils Army of Devils by G.H. Frost
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book has a reputation as one of the most over-the-top Action novels ever written so I knew what I was getting into when I started it, and although I found the blatant reactionary politics and the stupendous amount of gore distasteful, the book is in general an engaging and entertaining read. The violence and carnage are so extreme that it reaches the point of self-parody for the genre. The romance between alpha-male Lyons and his DEA agent girlfriend Flor is a strongpoint and it elevates the story above most typical Action fare. Much like sleaze and noir books it manages to be both offensive and entertaining which is a combination that I seem to be drawn to.

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Sunday, April 15, 2018

Review: Battle Mask

Battle Mask Battle Mask by Don Pendleton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fine entry in the series as Pendleton really fleshes out his Mack Bolan character and the the plot focuses more on intrigue and espionage than on pure action, which can become a bit monotonous and predictable. My favorite of the initial Executioner trilogy.

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Saturday, April 7, 2018

Review: The Sleazy Reader Issue 5

The Sleazy Reader Issue 5 The Sleazy Reader Issue 5 by Justin Marriott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Intersting articles about the sleaze offerings from Wenzell Brown and Harry Whittington, the biker mag "Easy Riders", and the Falconhurst series of plantation sleaze, and others. Loaded with pictures of paperback artwork which I have never seen before.

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Review: Death Squad

Death Squad Death Squad by Don Pendleton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mack Bolan rounds up a team of his former Viet Nam colleagues for a "Death Squad" in his continued war with the Mafia in this action-packed second entry in the series. Much of the action takes place while driving the streets of Los Angeles which reminded me of the Fast and Furious movies. The ten members recruited for the Death Squad seemed a bit excessive and it was hard to keep them straight. A couple of them end up being members of the spin-off series "Able Team" along with a rogue cop who is also introduced in this novel, so this book is probably one of the more essential reads in the Executioner extended universe.

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Friday, April 6, 2018

My Favorite Noir Novels

For sake of clarity about what a noir novel actually is I'll defer to the Otto Penzler definition that he posted several years back - Noir Fiction Is About Losers, Not Private Eyes.








So using the strict "Penzler" definition of noir, here are 10 of my favorites:
  • So Young, So Wicked - Jonathan Craig 
  • The Vengeful Virgin - Gil Brewer 
  • .44 - H.A. DeRosso 
  • Pick-Up - Charles Willeford 
  • Pop. 1280 - Jim Thompson 
  • Black Wings Has My Angel - Elliot Chaze 
  • Brute in Brass - Harry Whittington 
  • Sleep with the Devil - Day Keene 
  • The Name of the Game is Death - Dan J. Marlowe 
  • The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain 

Any thoughts?

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Review: Blaze!

Blaze! Blaze! by Stephen Mertz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are plenty of mystery-solving married couples in modern fiction with their snappy banter and sexual innuendo, but this is the first that I've read a book about an Old West gun-slinging married couple. This first book in the Blaze! adult western series is novella sized and packed with plenty of action and some mild sexual content. Take out the sex and gore and this would have been a fine Western pulp magazine story. An entertaining and quick read if you're in the mood for an escapist romp where you don't have to burn much brain power.

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Saturday, March 31, 2018

Review: Fargo

Fargo Fargo by John Benteen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book is a blast featuring over-the-top action, multiple double-crosses, and a sizzling fast moving plot. Neal Fargo is a typical bad-ass pulp action hero, the Doc Savage or Mack Bolan kind, with almost limitless skills when it comes to fighting and seduction. Heavily plot-driven books like this succeed based on the strength of the story and this one is a crackling good one. I'm glad to see that Piccadilly Publishing is releasing the series in ebook format.

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Saturday, March 24, 2018

Review: War Against the Mafia

War Against the Mafia War Against the Mafia by Don Pendleton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having read a smattering of randoms Executioners over the years I'm glad that I finally got around to reading the first book in the series. Mack Bolan's motivations and actions are clearly more morally ambiguous in this book, and although Bolan has dedicated himself to a relentless and brutal destruction of "evil", readers may find this somewhat bordering on psychotic. I think that this level of depth makes Bolan a fascinating character, much more than a typical action hero. All in all an excellent action book.

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Friday, March 23, 2018

Review: Hot Lead issue one: The fanzine of vintage western paperbacks

Hot Lead issue one: The fanzine of vintage western paperbacks Hot Lead issue one: The fanzine of vintage western paperbacks by Justin Marriott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Slick production, a slew of paperback cover artwork, and nicely detailed info covering the "Piccadilly Cowboy" books of the 70s and 80s make this an excellent addition to my fanzine collection. The "Piccadilly Cowboy" books were a response the sensibilities of Spaghetti Westerns, ultra-violent and sexually explicit, typically in long-running series, and written by British authors who weren't constrained by the conventions and tropes of the American Western writers of that era. I'll be keeping my eye out for many of the series reviewed here in my frequent used bookstore excursions.

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Sunday, March 18, 2018

Review: The Brain Scavengers

The Brain Scavengers The Brain Scavengers by Paul Edwards
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Written by Manning Lee Stokes the second book in the series continues to be more espionage/adventure than action focused. Much of the book is devoted to the beautiful Russian "psychoneuropharmacologist" who frets about losing her virginity to a man that she does not intend to marry, which makes her borderline rape later in the novel quite distasteful. John Eagle attempts again to defy insurmountable odds to rescue some insane American psychologists and a couple of defectors, including the woman, and also destroy some salvaged brains of insane geniuses that have been harvested by the Russians for diabolical purposes. The writing is strong and it's well enough plotted, although the first half of the book was a bit slow moving for my tastes. I have the next few books in the series in my collection and intend to read them.

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Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Review: The Crime and Corruption Novel MEGAPACK

The Crime and Corruption Novel MEGAPACK from Wildside Press is a real bargain. Four novels for $0.99. Available for Kindle  or other formats at Wildside Press. If four novels seems overwhelming then the essential reads are arguably Run, Brother, Run! and Kiss Me Hard.




A Season For Violence by Thomas B. Dewey
Dewey strays from his comfortable crime novel genre and attempts a drama involving a large cast of country club politicians and their powerful allies whose lives become unhinged during a scandal involving one of their own rich kids, and an upswing in drug trafficking. The novel starts out slowly - introducing many characters, then picks up steam a bit as the the lives of the characters begin to intertwine. Dewey manages to tie up the loose ends to a satisfying conclusion, although too many characters and an unfocused, meandering plot drag this one down.

Run, Brother, Run by Thomas B. Dewey
A terrific short novel from 1954 that was recently brought back into print by Wildside Press. Like the best of the ’50s paperback pulp fiction, the story has a lean and propulsive plot with plenty of hard-boiled dialog and violence. What set it apart for me is the originality of the plot, the well-drawn female characters, and a couple of twists that totally surpised me. A top notch gem that clearly deserves to find a bigger audience.

Empty Saddles by Burt Arthur
Marketed as a Western, the novel is instead a character study of a young lawyer named Joe who has recently returned from World War II, his difficulties getting reintegrated into his former small town life, and his quest to unseat the popular, albeit corrupt, politicians running the town. Joe has two love interests, the former flame and girl-next-door type Mavis, and a young and neurotic ingenue with the wonderful name of Avril Fawcett, whose fathers both happen to be corrupt politicians. The novel is a solid small town drama, perhaps a bit slow moving, with interesting characters and prose. It wasn't what I was expecting, however I liked it a lot.

Kiss Me Hard by Thomas B. Dewey
The short novel starts with a bang as an alcoholic piano player inadvertently rescues a missing heiress from carnival sex slavery while being pursued by an extremely angry husband. Doubts about the authenticity of the attractive and damaged young heiress preclude an eventful trip across the country in an attempt to return her to family - who don't seem very enthusiastic about the return of the missing sister. The protagonist was exceptionally well portrayed with insights into his blatant alcoholism, self-doubt, and loneliness as his relationship with the helpless young heiress evolves from good samaritan, to responsibility, and then to love.


Friday, March 9, 2018

Review: Showdown at War Cloud

Showdown at War Cloud Showdown at War Cloud by Lewis B. Patten
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like many Gold Medal Westerns this novel is essentially a crime story that takes place in the Old West. This helps to enhance the typical crime story concept in a couple of ways. First, bigotry against Native Americans and the mob mentality that goes along with it drives the plot, and second, the fear of a retaliatory Sioux attack against the town and the sense of impending doom and escalating tension keeps the story moving at a rapid pace. The entire story takes place in a 24 hour period. An intelligent, thought-provoking and somewhat grim novel. I liked it a lot.

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Thursday, March 1, 2018

Review: The Case of the Murdered Model

The Case of the Murdered Model The Case of the Murdered Model by Thomas B. Dewey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another fine entry in Dewey's "Mac" series of hard-boiled detective fiction. Mac is somewhat similar to Mike Shayne, Johnny Liddell, and Shell Scott - less of a brutal tough guy and more of a pragmatist and problem solver. Nicely paced with a solid and engaging mystery plot.

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Sunday, February 11, 2018

Review: Connolly's Woman

Connolly's Woman Connolly's Woman by Harry Whittington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wild one, even for a Gold Medal. Charlie Wilson, a Korean War vet and prisoner of war with memory problems, finds himself dissatisfied with his domesticated life, and in a series of ill advised moves, first locks himself into a bedroom with a mysterious young woman at a party, which sets his wife into a jealous rage. He then takes off on an insane treasure hunt boat adventure with a psychotic fellow Korean War prisoner and his trampy, sexy girlfriend. Everything goes to hell in a hurry and it's no surprise when the mysterious party woman reappears at the worst possible time. A real page turner, wonderfully crazy and sleazy, and highly recommended.

I read this in Microsoft Word as I created the ebook. Here's links to the ebook files:

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Thursday, February 1, 2018

Review: 52 Weeks, 52 Western Novels: Old Favorites and New Discoveries

52 Weeks, 52 Western Novels: Old Favorites and New Discoveries 52 Weeks, 52 Western Novels: Old Favorites and New Discoveries by Scott Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's not really accurate to say that I've finished it. I've read it chunks of it multiple times and continue to refer back to it when I come across a book or author that I know is mentioned in the book, or if I'm in the mood to seek out something new. Anyway, it's a superb reference book with 52 terrific reviews of Western novels from a collection of Western fans and authors. Some of the books are quite popular, others very obscure. Pictures of book covers make up a large portion of the book, and since I love paperback cover artwork this is one of my favorite aspects. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Westerns, a genre that is sometimes overlooked, but includes some of the best and most exciting fiction of the past century.

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Sunday, January 7, 2018

Review: The Fade Out: Act Three

The Fade Out: Act Three The Fade Out: Act Three by Ed Brubaker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The darkest, grimiest and most profane noir I've read in a while. As expected, everything goes to hell in these final issues and the creators do a great job pulling it all together to a satisfying ending. The ambitious work covers a lot of bases, alcoholism, sexual abuse, child molestation and post traumatic stress all in a well researched 1948 Hollywood setting. Brubaker, Phillips, and Breitweister make a superb creative team. Great stuff.

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Review: The Fade Out: Act Two

The Fade Out: Act Two The Fade Out: Act Two by Ed Brubaker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The plot picks up steam in these middle issues and we get to see how damaged all these characters really are. Some hopeful moments lighten things up a bit, breaking up the relentless sense of impending doom that permeates. I don't think that things are going well for these characters. Nice to see Dashiell Hammett make an unexected appearance. Moving on to Act Three.

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Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Review: The Fade Out: Act One

The Fade Out: Act One The Fade Out: Act One by Ed Brubaker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being an old movie buff I'm really digging the 1948 Hollywood references here. A lot of characters being introduced as the plot begins to unwind. The sleazy side of old Hollywood that is portrayed here resonates with the current #metoo hashtag denouncing sexual assault and harassment. The two similar looking blonde starlets, one presented in flashbacks is throwing me off a bit. I wish that one of them was a redhead.

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