Keith
Souter, writing as Clay More, is, like me, a Brit who writes
westerns. He’s not afraid to mix genres, as in WANTED DEAD OR REVIVED, which mixes the
western with steampunk! (And maybe a little bit of the vampire novel.) He tells
me he has 2 joint favourites of his own work, one of which is JUDGE ON THE RUN.
Wesley Talbot is the youngest judge in the territory and a highly-respected
one. So why does he adopt the identity of wanted desperado Diamond Jim Chance
and go on the run? What dangers lurk in a hidden canyon in the Pintos Mountains?
And who is the real mastermind behind a gang of vicious killers?
Meanwhile the
ruthless bounty hunter known as The Deacon is on the judge’s trail, after the
judge hung his brother. The climax is a gunpowder-laced showdown in the church
of a small Mexican village.
Judges
have rarely featured as action heroes in westerns, although Joel McCrea did in
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK (1955.)
As the
story involves bounty hunters and a Mexican village I had to image Steve
McQueen in both ‘WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE’
and ‘THE MAGNIFICENT 7.’
The Deacon character
reminded me of Lee Van Cleef in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE.
Meanwhile here’s 2 of the
Old West’s most notorious judges:
JUDGE ROY BEAN, (c. 1825 – 1903) the self-styled ‘Law west of the Pecos,’ who, it appears,
only hung 1 man
and
JUDGE ISAAC PARKER, (1838- 1896) the ‘hanging judge’ of the Fort Smith gallows, who hung 79.
Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Judge-Run-Clay-More-ebook/dp/B00BN0ZCDG/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481442494&sr=1-1&keywords=judge+on+the+run+clay+more
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