Gun Work: The Further Exploits of Hayden Tilden by J. Lee Butts (Western novel)

Former Deputy U.S. Marshal Hayden Tilden reminisces about his time working for "Hangin'" Judge Isaac Parker from the confines of the Rolling Hills Home for the Aged in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is the 1940s, and Tilden is 90 years old, but his memory is as good as ever. Gun Work begins with a transcribed interview taken by Tilden's biographer, Franklin J. Lightfoot Jr., reporter for the Arkansas Gazette.

With his fellow deputy marshals Carlton J. Cecil and Nate Swords in the Brotherhood of Blood, Tilden hunts down the worst of the worst as Judge Parker's "personal manhunter," and it's OK if he doesn't follow Frank Buck's famous motto "bring 'em back alive." In fact he's rather infamous for the opposite. As outlaw C.W. Jemson points out, "Heard 'bout the way you catch folks, Tilden. Not many as you go out lookin' for come back breathin'."

The main story of Gun Work is told by Tilden to his rest-home sweetheart Martha Frances Harrison ("she likes me to call her Martye") after the announcement that tonight's movie is to be about Wyatt Earp. Tilden allows that his West was not so romantic, and Martye urges him to tell her his story of "obsession, murder, blood, and betrayal."

This time, the assignment, delivered as always by Judge Parker's go-between George Wilton, is to hunt down Jesse and Leroy Coltrane, suspected of slaughtering the Cassidy family with their captured brother Benny, and to retrieve the surviving daughter, Daisy, from Fort Worth. But things are never quite that easy, especially since it seems there are always outlaws ready to challenge the notorious Marshal Tilden.

Author J. Lee Butts writes an exciting Western in Gun Work, with plenty of bullets and bravado. Modern Western writers aren't afraid to get down and dirty in their descriptions of the consequences of gun work, and J. Lee Butts offers up a level of bloodshed that even a horror fan can appreciate, including one highly memorable comment from a witness regarding a shot-off piece of skull: "Lord, Lord. Glob of goo still has the hair growin' out'n it."

That's also an example of the terrific, colorful language to be found in Gun Work. Butts comes armed with an arsenal of similes to describe everything from a falling body to a quiet room. And over 200 pages, he seems to never repeat a single one. The dialogue and repartee between Tilden, Cecil, and Swords is also a treat. Keep a special eye out for the conversation early on between Tilden and Swords regarding Swords' predilection for uncommon eats. ("Fry up some coconuts along with an armadiller, and you've got yourself one helluva meal, my friend.")

I was just looking for some newer work by a Western writer I hadn't read before, and I made quite a discovery in J. Lee Butts. Gun Work is entertaining on many levels, and I recommend it highly to those looking for something that combines humor and grit in a tight, action-filled package.

The Adventures/Exploits of Hayden Tilden, novels by J. Lee Butts:
1. Lawdog (2001)
2. Hell in the Nations (2002)
3. Brotherhood of Blood (2004)
4. Ambushed (2006)
5. Written in Blood (2009)
6. Gun Work (2010)

Longarm (Longarm #1) by Lou Cameron writing as Tabor Evans (Western series)

Prolific author Lou Cameron created Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis "Longarm" Long in 1978, and you couldn't ask for a more complete character introduction that the one he gives in the opening of the first novel in the series, simply titled Longarm. In a smooth narrative style, Cameron chronicles Longarm's rising in the morning, and we get the whole rundown from nearly every detail of his appearance (his hair is tobacco-leaf brown) to his whiskey preference to his philosophy on hygiene.

On this particular morning, Long goes into the office of his boss, U.S. Marshal Billy Vail for an assignment: to go to the tiny village of Crooked Lance and bring Cotton Younger to face trial. When Longarm gets there, though, he finds that others had the same idea.

A Canadian mountie, a local sheriff, a French-Canadian bent on revenge, a couple of bounty hunters, and a captain of the U.S. Army all want Younger, either for the crimes committed under their jurisdiction or for the price on his head (as well as his assumed knowledge of the whereabouts of Frank and Jesse James and the even bigger rewards for them).

So, since nobody is letting anybody go anywhere with their prisoner, things come to a standstill. Soon, people start getting killed and true identities come to light, and it's up to Longarm to bring his man back to justice — even though Younger swears he's not Younger — and find out what happened to Deputy Kincaid, who came to Crooked Lance looking for Younger and disappeared.

This initial entry in the long-running series is one of the more interesting and well-written I've read yet. Cameron offers surprises galore in Longarm and keep the suspense high. Who is this Frenchman who doesn't speak French? And who is the woman who keeps climbing into Longarm's bed in the dark of night? Cameron knows his period and continually inserts little nuggets of historical context.

Longarm (bound with the second novel in the series in "double" fashion) is a hot-blooded Western and a good old-fashioned mystery with a solid, sensible ending. Only one question is left unanswered, but it serves to end the book with a chuckle. Even the love interest is drawn in an intriguing fashion, with the woman Longarm ends up with being the only one who can hold her own in a intellectually stimulating conversation. This novel starts the series off well, and Cameron (who was still occasionally writing Longarms as recently as 2006) sets the standard for all to follow.

Longarm on the Goodnight Trail (Longarm #80) by Melvin Marshall writing as Tabor Evans (Western series)

From a tip by a former Texas Ranger, U.S. Marshal Billy Vail (himself a former Ranger) assigns Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long — better known as Longarm (as in "the long arm of the law") — to investigate a suspicious trail drive of Mexican longhorn steers traveling to Denver.

This case is full of questions: Who are the Arapahoe Cattle Syndicate and the mysterious Sterns who seems to be connected to them? Why are the steers being driven instead of shipped by rail? And why are they insured at $200 a head, with a $1,000 bonus to the trail boss for getting them all there?

The case is controversial too, though, so Longarm cannot investigate it in an official capacity — and if things go sour, he and Vail could both lose their jobs — so Longarm goes undercover, despite his newly wounded trigger finger, as a trail hand named ... Custis ("Not many folks know I even got a first name").

After a weak opening that suffers from too much information too fast, author Melvin Marshall (writing under the Tabor Evans house name) really hits his stride with the meat of Longarm on the Goodnight Trail — the eightieth in the long-running Longarm series. The scenes on the trail were exactly what I was looking for, having picked it up seeking a read similar to Ralph Compton's The Goodnight Trail with a mystery added.

But Longarm is instantly confronted by events and people that want to keep this drive from being a success, such as a tribe of Lipan Apache that do not want the steers to cross their land (resulting in a great hand-to-hand combat scene in a stream), a dwindling supply of grub with no hidetowns in sight, a sudden tornado, a flash flood, and even Charles Goodnight himself, who won't let any herds from Mexico or south Texas cross his land for fear of hoof-and-mouth disease. (Though he does offer an alternate route via the New Goodnight Trail.)

Those who read Longarm for the mystery will be disappointed: the solution doesn't play fair and is given short shrift in any case. But those looking for a fast-paced cattle-drive story — especially those who would normally give series Westerns a pass — should be pleasantly surprised. With author Melvin Marshall's attention to all the details inherent in such a venture, trail-drive novel enthusiasts would do well to pick up a copy of Longarm on the Goodnight Trail.

East of the River (The Gunsmith #328) by Robert J. Randisi writing as J.R. Roberts (Western series)

Clint Adams, better known as the Gunsmith, knows he's in for trouble whenever he goes east of the Mississippi, but a high-stakes poker game in Ajax, Indiana, is too good to pass up. When he finds it's been called off, he's irked, but you can't reasonably expect to receive a telegram when you're constantly on the move. His ersatz host recommends the nearby town of Dexter, where Clint gets himself embroiled in a Deputy U.S. Marshal's search for evidence against some local bank robbers.

I don't know what money Clint lives on; he doesn't seem to be selling guns like he did in the earlier books in the series. [Update: see author comment.] But he helps out at least 3 people in this story and sees not a cent from any of them, apart from the occasional free beer or roll in the hay. But suspension of disbelief notwithstanding, author J.R. Roberts (in reality Robert J. Randisi) has produced yet another entertaining page-turner with East of the River.

Roberts/Randisi has a very visual style that could easily translate to the screen. The author even changes perspective often during action scenes — as if he were editing the program "in the camera," so to speak — which keeps the mind alert. In general, he doesn't linger on a scene; he has his characters tell us what we need to know, and he moves on. I read the whole of East of the River in about ninety minutes.

Which brings me to my only complaint regarding this book: it's just too short. The story is thin and wouldn't stand for much expansion, but calling East of the River a novel is a stretch, even compared to other entries in the series. The large type, wide margins, and the fact that all the chapters begin on the right-hand page (very often leaving a blank facing page) all suggest that even the publisher had a hard time getting it to look like a book worth paying six dollars for. And there may lie the issue in a nutshell: I don't usually pay full price for books, but when I do, I want to feel I got my money's worth.

Luckily, Randisi is an always entertaining and sometimes even innovative writer. Possibly in response to those readers of series Westerns who complain that the obligatory sex scenes get in the way of the story (or even stop it cold), in East of the River he has cross-cut a scene of one kind of action with a scene of another kind, folding them together like the cards in a shuffling deck. Just one more reason that The Gunsmith is my favorite Western series.

True Grit by Charles Portis (unabridged audio book read by Donna Tartt)

I read a lot of books (over 100 a year), and it's rare that I actually have an emotional response. Not to the story — that has to happen or reading would be no fun at all. I mean feeling genuine affection for the characters, so that I'm actually sorry the story is over.

True Grit is the first book in a long time to elicit that response from me, and I'm not exactly sure why it did. It was certainly not the plot, which is simplicity itself: fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross hires an unconventional deputy U.S. marshal (and former member of "Quantrill's Raiders"), Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, to hunt down Tom Chaney, the man who killed her father. That’s all, but it takes the whole book for that storyline to complete itself, and what a glorious ride it is.

What makes the read memorable is how Portis draws his two lead characters. The title attribute is at first meant to apply to Cogburn, of course, but we soon discover that Mattie herself has just as much "grit" (the word "sand" is also used in this way) when she asks the local sheriff for his opinion on who the best marshal is:

He said, "...I reckon William Waters is the best tracker. The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking.... Now L.T. Quinn, he brings his prisoners in alive.... He will not plant evidence or abuse a prisoner. He is straight as a string. Yes, I will say that Quinn is about the best they have."

I said, "Where can I find this Rooster?"

Mattie is full of surprises, but we soon find that Rooster is, too. Introduced as a hard-drinking, unreliable man who is the epitome of the loner, Rooster begins to grudgingly admire the "sand" (a.k.a. "grit") of this "child" and a kind of respect (and later, affection) grows between them. It is this unexpected turn of character (along with other surprising touches that kept me on my toes) that display Portis's skill to such great effect.

Donna Tartt (an author in her own right) gives a fine reading on the audiobook of True Grit. Her Mississippi accent substitutes for the Arkansas twang of the characters well enough for most listeners, and her vocal characterizations are utterly perfect. Not only are they distinct and unmistakable, but they also express a deep knowledge of these people as individuals, allowing the listener to completely get lost in the story.

Tartt's afterword adds little except to express her entire family's love for the book (it is, I understand, an introduction to the print edition, and is probably better served in that capacity), but acts as a good celebration of a book that is likely to become one of my favorites, as well.

Like I stated at the beginning, very few books speak to my emotions the way that True Grit did, and I look forward to reexperiencing its wonders in the near future because this is one book that will require multiple readings to really understand its subtleties. This is not just a terrific Western; it's a terrific novel, and one that deserves a wider audience.