Wild Pitch by A. B. Guthrie

Buster Houge is an ornery old man, but while none of his neighbors hate him no one really wants to kill him. At least that is what everyone says. There is only one problem: someone shot Buster in the head at a nighttime picnic. Now it is up to Sheriff Chick Charleston to find out who that person is. The Sheriff is a man with an interesting past, but he is not accustomed to hunting a murderer. When the murderer strikes again the stakes are raised. Will Charleston be able to prevent another murder? None of the locals seem like the kind of people who would become a sniper, but one of them must be. Is it one of the old timers in the area? Is it the retired Geology professor? Perhaps it is the Psychiatrist? No one seems  to have an idea.

Wild Pitch is an engaging mystery with a western setting that takes place sometime in the middle of the 20^th century. The narrator is Jason Beard, a 17 year old who helps the Sheriff out with odd jobs and hopes to become a major league baseball pitcher one day. Through Jason’s eyes we are able to get a glimpse of the interesting characters who live around the small town of Midbury, Montana.  Guthrie is writing more than a mystery in this novel. He gives us a glimpse into the life of a small, rural town in the West. There is the elderly widow who sings hymns everywhere she goes. There is the town drunk, the old doctor, all of the classic characters you would expect.  Guthrie’s style is light and humorous. Thanks to OpenRoad Media this novel, and the others in the Chick Charleston series are now available in ebook format.  Let’s hope that a whole new generation will be able to discover these enjoyable gems from the Western genre. I know that I enjoyed it and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

Dry Bones (Walt Longmire #11) y Craig Johnson

It's been over a decade since Walt Longmire first stepped off the pages of The Cold Dish and into our lives. Since that time there have been another 10 novels, several novellas, and a television series. It is hard to describe the writing of Craig Johnson. His prose is both sparse and poetic at the same time. His characters have become old friends and I always look forward to hearing from them again. In Dry Bones they are all here again. Walt Longmire, Vic Moretti, Henry Standing Bear, and all of the others. Called to investigate an apparent drowning, Sheriff Longmire gets caught up in a dispute over the fossilized remains of the largest tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered. The complications only grow as an Acting Deputy Attorney General for the US Government decides to make his name by prosecuting the local museum. As all of this is going on Sheriff Longmire has to negotiate poisoning, several missing persons, and a difficult family situation.

Craig Johnson never fails to bring great story, great characters, and his winning style. Dry Bones is no different. The Longmire stories are not just about the mystery. They are about the characters. As always I find myself laughing at their dry humor and feeling the pain when they suffer loss. It's too bad that these characters are fictional. It is always hard to wait for a year to read a new story. It is always worth wain the wait. If you have not read the Longmire series let me encourage you to do so. They contain a power and a beauty every bit as large as the High Plains of Wyoming.

Last Kind Words Saloon

This was a major disappointment. I've heard a lot about McMurtry as an author. Saw this new book and decided to check it out. I'm very glad that I checked it out from the library instead of buying it. This was just awful. I'm not even sure what he was actually trying to do. It reminds me of one of those lousy westerns from the late seventies or early eighties. You know, the ones that liked to throw names around even though they didn't mean a thing. You might have Wyatt Earp and Buffalo Bill Cody save President Grant from a KKK army under the command of a Mexican General. In fact that plot might have been better than the one presented here. A near as I can tell we have an aging Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday watching the days go by. Along the way they join up with Buffalo Bill, who loses his show, then dies. All of this before they head down to Tombstone. Never mind that at the time they went to Tombstone Earp and Holiday were in their early 30s. And that Bill Cody didn't die for another 30 years after this. And that somehow Wyatt's third wife becomes his second wife. And that this whole thing smells worse than the random character thrown into story whose entire vocation is skinning skunks. Do yourself a favor and skip this book. At least it's a short book, but I feel that Larry McMurtry owes me for the four to five hours of my life I lost to this dismal mess.

Escape From Five Shadows by Elmore Leonard

Corey Bowen is 1 year in to a seven year prison sentence for rustling. He maintains his own innocence. He is assigned to a construction project headed by a corrupt government contractor building a road to nowhere. All he wants to do is escape. After his first attempt he learns that it is not easy to evade the Apache scouts hired to track prisoners. Next time, he plans on making it work.

Escape From Five Shadows is another great western novel from Elmore Leonard's early days. It deals with the themes of corruption and deceit as well as hope and redemption. The characters are as tough as the land that they inhabit. When I was thirteen I started reading westerns. It has been years since I stopped reading them. Books like Escape From Five Shadows remind me why I should read more.

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The Broken Gun by Louis L'Amour

Dan Sheridan buys an old broken gun in a pawn shop and finds part of a ninety year old journal wrapped up and stuck inside the barrel. He is a writer and decides to look into the story of the Toomey brothers. The only trouble is that the people who own the land now have a secret, and it is a secret that they are prepared to kill for. Soon Dan finds himself on the run, hunted through what once once Apache country. Only his pursuers don't realize that he is no city boy. He was born and raised on a ranch and served in Korea and Vietnam. Now as the deadly cat and mouse game plays out there is a large ranch and the life of a beautiful woman at stake.

When I was 13 years old I discovered Louis L'Amour. I read every book I could get my hands on. It has been a long time since I read one of his books. The Broken Gun reminded me why I loved him so much. You have the classic tough guy. The women in L'Amour are no shrinking violets. They are tough as the land that they come from. Of course you couldn't really have a L'Amour book without one good knock-down drag-out fist fight. This is a lot of fun



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Complete Western Stories by Elmore Leonard

This is a collection of Elmore Leonard's thirty Western short stories. These stories were written at the beginning of his career. Several of these classic stories were turned into movies. The most famous story in the collection is "3:10 to Yuma" which was turned into a classic western film starting Glenn Ford and then horribly butchered and mangled into a remake starring Russell Crowe.

There are a number of other excellent stories here. Leonard does not use the normal stereotypes seen in so many western television shows and movies. "Tonto Woman" tells the story of a woman who has been rescued from captivity only to be exiled by society. "Hurrah for Captain Early" gives us a story rarely heard. How black soldiers saved Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders at San Juan hill.

These are all good stories. This was my first Leonard book and I enjoyed re-reading it as much as
I enjoyed reading it the first time.

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