REVIEW of HIRED GUNS by STEVE HOCKENSMITH

 

STEVE HOCKENSMITH has written novels that are a hybrid of western and mystery, hybrids of horror and classic novels (‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls’) and a mix of mystery and magical. He’s also written short stories.

Several of Steve’s short stories have been nominated for awards in the mystery field. He won the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Derringer Award for ERIE'S LAST DAY, published in the May 2000 issue of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.’  Other short stories were finalists for the Shamus Awards and the Anthony and Barry Awards.

His short story HIRED GUNS: MULE’S GOLD was, for me, one of the highlights of the SIX GUN JUSTICE PODCAST WESTERN STORIES anthology. From my review of this anthology: ‘HIRED GUNS: MULE’S GOLD is a stark outdoors tale of prospectors searching the harsh Sonora desert for an abandoned gold mine. Meanwhile, they’re being stalked by hidden enemies. Again this features terse, cinematic prose, with some laconic humour. It reads like the gritty first chapter of a novel (or a series) which I would be very happy to read.’

Well, now it is one! It’s the first in a series of ‘Double-A Western Detective Agency’ novels.

Here’s my four star review of HIRED GUNS, the novel:

‘Fun’ is not a term that features too frequently in reviews of western fiction – more often books in this genre are praised for being ‘action-packed,’ ‘gritty,’ ‘exciting’ etc. But Steve Hockensmith’s ‘HIRED GUNS’ manages to tick all those traditional western boxes and still be rollicking good fun. It’s the first in a series of ‘Double-A Western Detective Agency’ novels. In 1894 Arizona a diverse group of mercenaries – an Anglo, a Mexican, a black man and an Apache – sign up to the Double-A. They’re tasked with helping a small mining company in its David-and-Goliath fight with a larger mining conglomerate. Action soon ensues. While there’s plenty of the laconic and the menacing in Hockensmith’s prose (‘Hoop and Romo watched Schuck’s men in tense, coiled silence.’) he freshens up the familiar western aspects with quirky humour where quips fly as fast as fists and bullets. So a satisfying and entertaining read for those seeking the usual western thrills, but also a lively re-invention for anyone looking for something more original. Highly recommended.’ 

You can find the review (and novel) online here: https://www.amazon.com/Hired-Guns-Western-Double-Detective-ebook/dp/B0CZXXGR4F/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr

and here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Guns-Western-Double-Detective-ebook/dp/B0CZXXGR4F

It’s difficult to find historical examples of gun men in the Old West involved in mining disputes. In the so-called ‘Battle of Cripple Creek’ – which also happened in 1894 – there was a dispute between the owners of the 150 mines in the area of Cripple Creek, Colorado, and the miners. The mine owners wanted to cut costs by slashing miners’ wages and extending the working day. The miners went on strike in response. A County Sheriff intervened on behalf of the mine-owners, supported by six ‘deputies.’ When he sent a team of six deputies to defend a mine, they were captured by the local marshal's ‘special police,’ who were on the side of the strikers. So were these ‘deputies’ and ‘special police’ hired guns? In this instance the state governor intervened, sending the state militia to calm things down, and helped negotiate a better deal.

BAT MASTERSON (1853 - 1921)

BAT MASTERSON and other gunmen were involved in the so-called Royal Gorge Railroad War of 1879. This clash was between the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the smaller Denver and Rio Grande Company. Masterson and co. were actually on the side of the larger company, (whereas the heroes in ‘HIRED GUNS’ are on the side of the underdog.) As a sheriff in Kansas at the time, Masterson had no authority in Colorado, but this did not prevent him from enlisting a large company of men, including  such noted gunmen as BEN THOMPSON, 'MYSTERIOUS DAVE' MATHER and possibly 'DOC' HOLLIDAY. However, Masterson's involvement came to an inglorious end on June 12, 1879, when he surrendered a roundhouse his men were holding. The ‘war’ between the railroads was finally settled out of court.

The most notable example on screen of a team of mercenaries hired to fight a powerful enemy is, of, course, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960.) I’m surprised I’ve not been banished from every western movie forum in existence, as I have previously expressed my opinion that this is NOT a great western film. It’s good, it has a great score and good action scenes, but it’s not a masterpiece, particularly in comparison with the film that spawned it, Akira Kurosawa’s SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) which is, IMHO, a masterpiece.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN itself spawned a series of mediocre spin-offs, including a 2016 remake where the ‘hired guns’ take on a mining tycoon.   

Another ‘hired guns’ movie is THE PROFESSIONALS from 1966.

A clash with a large mining company out west is depicted in BROKEN LANCE (1954.) Here they’re in dispute with a local cattle rancher.

SPENCER TRACY in ‘Broken Lance’

On TV conflicts with mining companies are depicted in ‘The Big Valley’ episode ‘Heritage’ and ‘The High Chaparral’ episode ‘No Irish Need Apply.’

From the right: CAMERON MITCHELL, HENRY DARROW and JOHN VERNON in ‘No Irish Need Apply.’

More reviews of ‘HIRED GUNS’:

“Tempered with a wry grin and the wink of an expert Western wordslinger, Steve Hockensmith delivers the action fast and hard as iron.”

“Steve Hockensmith has jumped to the front of the line to establish himself as a top-shelf creator of westerns… he’s a genre wordsmith with his own voice whose already here and giving us fortunate readers his very best.” 

“Steve Hockensmith paces the story superbly, building to a terrific final showdown. ... The story also contains some neat twists and turns and a touch of mystery. If you like traditional westerns that are packed with tough, brutal action, mixed with elements of humour and have plots that will keep you guessing until the end, then look no further than Hired Guns.” 

I’ve also blogged about Steve’s novel HOLMES ON THE RANGE where a character seeks to be the Sherlock Holmes of the Old West.

The blog includes a look at the Sherlock Holmes phenomenon, which has lasted 140 years. Find it here: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2022/03/author-favourites-holmes-on-range-by.html

 

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: HOLMES ON THE RANGE by STEVE HOCKENSMITH

 STEVE HOCKENSMITH has written novels that are a hybrid of western and mystery, hybrids of horror and classic novels (‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls’) and a mix of mystery and magical. He’s also written short stories.

Several of Steve’s short stories have been nominated for awards in the mystery field. He won the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Derringer Award for ERIE'S LAST DAY, published in the May 2000 issue of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.’  Other short stories were finalists for the Shamus Awards and the Anthony and Barry Awards.

His short story HIRED GUNS: MULE’S GOLD was, for me, one of the highlights of the SIX GUN JUSTICE PODCAST WESTERN STORIES anthology. From my review of this anthology: ‘HIRED GUNS: MULE’S GOLD is a stark outdoors tale of prospectors searching the harsh Sonora desert for an abandoned gold mine. Meanwhile, they’re being stalked by hidden enemies. Again this features terse, cinematic prose, with some laconic humour. It reads like the gritty first chapter of a novel (or a series) which I would be very happy to read.’

Find SIX GUN JUSTICE PODCAST WESTERN STORIES here: https://www.amazon.com/Six-Gun-Justice-Western-Stories-ebook/dp/B09CMV5GMH

and here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09CMV5GMH/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Like many authors I’ve featured, Steve’s favourite of his own novels is his first one: HOLMES ON THE RANGE. He says: “I think it established everything I would try to bring to my later books: offbeat but likeable protagonists, lots of humour that's hopefully funny without undercutting the stakes, and an approach to genre tropes and expectations that's both irreverent and affectionate.”

This is the first instalment of a 6-part series. It was a finalist for the Shamus and the Anthony Awards for Best First Novel.

Montana, the 1890s. Two itinerant cowboy brothers, nicknamed Big Red and Old Red, are working on a ranch when they come across a dead body, killed in a particularly grisly fashion. Old Red has become obsessed with the stories of British detective SHERLOCK HOLMES. He's determined to catch the killer using Holmes' methods. Whether he likes it or not (and mostly he doesn't), Big Red is dragged along for the wild ride as his brother tries to "deducify" his way to the truth. But standing between them and a solution to the mystery are stampedes, rustlers, and a cannibal named “Hungry Bob” stalking the range.

Though not the first fictional detective, SHERLOCK HOLMES is arguably the best known. Holmes was created by Scottish author SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930.) Whole libraries have been devoted to analysing Holmes, so this is a very brief and not even remotely exhaustive take on a literary figure who has fascinated the world for almost 150 years. I’ve used Wikipedia for most of my information.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

First appearing in print in 1887's ‘A STUDY IN SCARLET’ the character's popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories in ‘The Strand Magazine,’ beginning with ‘A Scandal in Bohemia.’ in 1891. In total. Doyle wrote 4 novels and 56 short stories featuring Holmes. All but one are set between about 1880 and 1914.

Holmes as depicted in 1904

Referring to himself as a "consulting detective", Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning. Most of his adventures are narrated by his friend DOCTOR JOHN WATSON. Other re-occurring characters in the books include Holmes’ nemesis, the criminal mastermind, PROFESSOR MORIARTY.

At times Holmes smokes a pipe and wears a deerstalker hat; he is also a violin player and occasional cocaine and morphine user (both were legal in late Victorian Britain.) He lives at 221B Baker Street, London (an address that didn’t exist until the 1920s.)

Conan Doyle felt "my literary energies should not be directed too much into one channel” so in 1893 he killed off Holmes in a hand-to-fight with MORIARTY over the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland; after a desperate struggle both men fell into the waterfall below. However, the public response, with distressed readers refusing to let Holmes die, was unprecedented. Conan Doyle received many protest letters, and one lady even began her letter to him with "You brute".

After resisting public pressure for 8 years, Conan Doyle brought Holmes back with perhaps his most famous adventure, ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES.’ He would sporadically write new Holmes stories until 1927. In his last years, the reader is told that Holmes has retired to a small farm on the Sussex Downs and taken up beekeeping as his primary occupation.

Tying in with HOLMES ON THE RANGE, the very first Holmes novel, ‘A STUDY IN SCARLET’ has a western element, as part of it takes place in late 19^th Century Utah.

Conan Doyle repeatedly said that Holmes was inspired by the real-life figure of JOSEPH BELL, a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland, whom Conan Doyle met in 1877 and worked for. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing broad conclusions from minute observations. Sir HENRY LITTLEJOHN, Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, is also cited as an inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn, who was also Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health in Edinburgh, provided Conan Doyle with a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime.

Joseph Bell (1837-1911)

By the 1990s there were already over 25,000 stage adaptations, films, television productions and publications – including spin-off novels - featuring the detective. ‘Guinness World Records’ lists him as the most portrayed human literary character in film and TV history, having appeared on screen 254 times as of 2012. Many actors have also portrayed Sherlock Holmes in radio dramas and on stage.

The following have all had a crack at Holmes in one medium or another: Tom Baker, John Cleese, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr., John Gielgud, Stewart Granger, Robert Hardy, Charlton Heston, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Raymond Massey, Ian McKellen, Roger Moore, John Neville, Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Plummer, Robert Powell, Ian Richardson, Robert Stephens, Orson Welles and Nicol Williamson.

I particularly like portrayals by:

BASIL RATHBONE, in a series of 30s and 40s films. Here Doctor Watson is portrayed by NIGEL BRUCE as a bumbling comic foil (although he’s nothing like that in the books.)

Nigel Bruce and Basil Rathbone

PETER CUSHING in ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ (1959) with ANDRÉ MORELL as Watson. (Cushing also portrayed Holmes in a TV series.)

André Morell and Peter Cushing

And JEREMY BRETT as Holmes in a British TV series that ran from 1984 to 1994.

Reviews of HOLMES ON THE RANGE:

"Delightfully offbeat." ‘Entertainment Weekly’

"Just when it seemed as if there were no more literary riches to be wrung from Sherlock Holmes, along comes Steve Hockensmith's inspired debut novel...The star of this tale is a fresh narrator's voice that whoops and hollers, dazzling the reader with colorful language, vivid images and hilarious asides. Sherlock Holmes in a Stetson turns out to be a dandy idea." ‘The Boston Globe’

"Sherlockians, Western fans and mystery lovers who enjoy their whodunits leavened with humor should all be delighted by Hockensmith's captivating debut." ‘Publishers Weekly’

 "HOLMES ON THE RANGE is a wonderful debut novel!’

 

Find HOLMES ON THE RANGE here: https://www.amazon.com/Holmes-on-the-Range-Mysteries-6-book-series/dp/B074CGRZ68?ref=dbs_m_mng_rwt_0000_ext

and here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0851Q2XXY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1