STEVE CARROLL WRITES

Rio Desperado  (1962)   by Gordon Shirreffs As  Rio Desperado  opens, gunslinger Burke Dane cuts down the lynched body of his half-brother on the outskirts of a town where the young family man had gone to buy cattle. Dane’s only clue is the unique style of braided rawhide  reata  that was used to hang his brother.  Armed with basic knowledge of the town and the power-hungry cattle baron who runs it, Dane sets out to find those responsible and exact justice. He also intends to retrieve the $5,000 in poker winnings that was stolen from his brother’s corpse so he can give it to his brother’s widow and children.  This basic set-up is all that is necessary in the hands of a pro like Shirreffs, who wrote over 70 novels in his day. There is a depth of character and a literary flair to this book that belies its pulp roots. Dane saves the life of Jesse, a hot-headed young hired gun worki...

A Badge for a Badman  (1967)   by Brian Wynne (Brian Garfield) This is the 6 th  of 8 westerns featuring Jeremy Six, marshal of   Spanish Flat, written by Brian Garfield under the pen-name of Brian Wynne.  A   Badge for a Badman  kicks off in fine   form with an excellent and suspenseful sequence detailing how Marshal Six, his   deputy, Dominguez, and a small   group of devoted friends go into covert action   upon realizing that Burl Marriner and his gang have arrived in town to steal   the   Reservation consignment from the town bank.  Burl is a hard-case whose son,   Cleve, and a nephew, Wes, both share a history with Jeremy Six. It   all ends   with Six outgunning the elder Marriner and capturing an injured Cleve.  The real   villain of the book though is the now widowed Ma   Marriner who immediately pulls   together a large group of outlaws and sets off to free her son and kill M...

The Bravos (1966) by Brian Wynne (Brian Garfield) Under the pen name of Brian Wynne, veteran author Brian Garfield (best known for Death Wish ) wrote a total of 8 westerns featuring Jeremy Six, marshal of the town of Spanish Flat. Lean and mean, The Bravos sketches in the basics of Jeremy Six in its opening pages as he tracks down and captures a killer wanted for murdering a woman back in Spanish Flat. We quickly learn that Marshal Six is methodical, calculating, and deadly with any form of gun.  He succeeds in subduing his man, but upon arrival back in town, Six is overpowered by a mob who lynch his prisoner. Six is so disgusted by this complete lack of respect for the law that he abandons his badge and Spanish Flat, embarking on a journey that ultimately is one of self-discovery and redemption as he tries to sort out his place in a world where the law has no value or respect.  He soon finds himself traveling toward the town of Rifle Gap with 2 unwanted companions, Rafferty...