Review: 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 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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Review: 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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