Review: Shoot-Out at Sugar Creek

Shoot-Out at Sugar Creek by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The popular Spillane/Collins team-ups have proven to be terrific books and the Caleb York novels that take place in the Old West are no exception. Every entry in the six book series has been special. Although you may expect York to be Mike Hammer in the Wild West, the lawful Caleb York is actually a much more multidimensional and sympathetic character. Here York's lover Willa Cather gets involved in a range war with a newcomer, the devious female Victoria Drummond. To greatly complicate matters, Willa finds herself on the wrong side of the law which York, now a Marshall, has vowed to protect. As the range war escalates York, finding himself in an extremely thorny situation, goes full-on Hammer with some drunkenness and brutality showing a side of York that we haven’t seen before. The last third of the book is nearly impossible to put down as the tension and violence ramps up, steering the narrative to a highly satisfying conclusion. It’s been a real pleasure visiting with York and the denizens of Trinity once again and I’m hoping for more Caleb York stories from Spillane/Collins.

Now available in print and ebook.