AUTHOR FAVOURITES: COPPERHEAD by JULIETTE DOUGLAS

Juliette Douglas mentioned 3 favourites of her own books to me. She tells me COPPERHEAD, the first of her ‘Freckled Venom trilogy,’ is dear to her heart because it was her first book. And it did win the Laramie Award for best debut western. Juliette’s heroine in COPPERHEAD is Lacy Watson, a female bounty hunter pursuing outlaws who is also pursued by demons in her own past. She joins up with Wyoming Marshal Rawley Lovett to bring three psychopathic brothers to justice.

I’ve blogged about bounty hunters before, a staple of western fiction although hard to find in the real history of the Old West – male or female. One gun-toting western woman who was real was CALAMITY JANE – real name MARTHA JANE CANARY (or CANNARY.)

Much of Jane’s life – like the origin of her nickname - is shrouded in legends of her own making. She was born in Missouri, although her given birth year of 1852 has been questioned.  She claimed to have been a muleskinner working for the U.S. Cavalry. Captain John G. Bourke, who was on General Crook’s campaign against the Sioux in 1876, wrote: ‘It was whispered that one of our teamsters was a woman, and no other than ‘Calamity Jane’ a character famed in border story.’ Jane claimed also to have been an army scout who fought Indians, but another cavalry officer, Captain Jack Crawford, stated: ‘Jane… never was in an Indian fight. She was simply a notorious character, dissolute and devilish, but possessed a generous streak which made her popular.’ As a sign of her generosity, she once gave a destitute woman her shoes.

There doesn’t seem to be any hard evidence that she worked as a guard on a stage coach. She was acquainted with Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood shortly before his murder there in August 1876, but as to whether she secretly married him or gave birth to his child… who knows? The story that she confronted Hickok’s murderer, Jack McCall with a meat cleaver also can’t be verified.

Jane did appear in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in 1893 as a story-teller. It would appear that she lived in various locations in Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota and did work as a laundress and a prostitute, drink heavily, carouse loudly and sometimes wear men’s clothes. She also married several times and had two daughters. She died of pneumonia in 1903.

Jane has been widely portrayed in romanticised form by actresses from Doris Day, in the musical named after her,

to Stefanie Powers in an episode of ‘Bonanza’ (where she has an unhistorical relationship with Doc Holliday!)

Stefanie Powers  (as Calamity Jane) with Michael Landon in 'Bonanza'

Anjelica Huston’s portrayal in ‘Buffalo Girls’ (1995) was undoubtedly nearer the truth.

Sharon Stone in the movie ‘The Quick & the Dead’ isn’t exactly a bounty-hunter, but she’s the nearest to one I could find!

The last time I looked all reviews for COPPERHEAD are 4 and 5 star.

‘A gripping and compelling western with an engaging heroine’

‘Truly outstanding’

’The dialogue was wonderful’

‘I’d like to see it made into a film’

https://www.amazon.com/Freckled-Venom-Copperhead-Juliette-Douglas/dp/1502566028

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: TRACKDOWN by NEIL HUNTER

Mike Linaker is, like me, a Brit who writes westerns. He’s written under various names, producing traditional Westerns under the name RICHARD WYLER, creating and writing a pair of successful Western series, Bodie the Stalker and Brand, under the name NEIL HUNTER, and continuing the Frank Angel series as FREDERICK H. CHRISTIAN. In addition, he's written a number of Mack Bolan novels, as well as contributing entries to some of the Bolan spin-off series, and authoring the science fiction/police procedural series Cade.

Mike, writing as NEIL HUNTER, began his series featuring bounty hunter Bodie ‘The Stalker’ with TRACKDOWN. Bodie is hired by tycoon and aspiring politician Lyle Trask to hunt down the notorious Reefer gang, who terrorise the lawless U.S./ Mexico border country.

Historical evidence for old west bounty-hunters (at least those not after Native American scalps) seems to be sketchy. I have blogged about some of these men – from Charles Siringo to scalp-hunters like James Kirker – before.

Scalp-hunter James Kirker

The most famous was probably Tom Horn, (1860 – 1903) but even he never called himself a bounty hunter. He referred to himself as a ‘cattle detective’ or a ‘range detective.’ Horn started off as an army scout pursuing Apaches in Arizona, and was present at Geronimo’s final surrender in 1886.

A young Tom Horn with Apache scouts

He later served as a deputy sheriff in Colorado, went on to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency and hired out to various Wyoming cattle outfits. A rancher said of him: ‘He classed cattle thieves with wolves and coyotes, and looked upon himself as a benefactor of society in destroying them.’ He was reported to have said: ‘Killing men is my speciality. I look at it as a business proposition, and I think I have a corner on the market.’  His controversial life ended after he was accused of shooting a 14-year old boy from ambush. Found guilty of murder, he climbed the Cheyenne, Wyoming gallows on November 20^th 1903.

Tom Horn in gaol awaiting execution

Whatever the reality, bounty hunters are certainly popular with western writers. As well as featuring often in western novels, they were common on screen during the heyday of the TV Western. Steve McQueen made an appearance as bounty hunter Josh Randall in the 50s TV western series also called ‘Trackdown.’ This made such an impact it got him his own spin off TV series ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’

Steve McQueen and Robert Culp in ‘Trackdown’

In the movies bounty hunters have been played by everyone from Henry Fonda to Randolph Scott. After ‘Rawhide’ Clint Eastwood re-launched his career spectacularly playing ‘the man with no name’ in the so-called ‘Dollar Trilogy’ of ‘Spaghetti Westerns.’

Reviews of TRACKDOWN:

‘This is an action-packed story and I didn't put it down until I finished it.’

‘This book starts with a bang and just rockets along, propelled by Hunters lean prose.’

‘Top notch western.’

https://www.amazon.com/Trackdown-Bodie-Stalker-Western-Book-ebook/dp/B008218EXE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485851824&sr=1-1&keywords=neil+hunter

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: GUN FOR HIRE by NEIL HUNTER

Mike Linaker is, like me, a Brit who writes westerns. He’s written under various names, producing traditional Westerns as RICHARD WYLER, creating and writing a pair of successful Western series, Bodie the Stalker and Brand, under the name NEIL HUNTER, and continuing the Frank Angel series as FREDERICK H. CHRISTIAN. In addition, he's written a number of Mack Bolan novels, as well as contributing entries to some of the Bolan spin-off series, and authoring the science fiction/police procedural series Cade.

Mike, writing as NEIL HUNTER, began his series featuring Jason Brand, former army scout and deputy U.S. marshal, with GUN FOR HIRE. Brand has lost his deputy marshal’s badge due to perceived brutality and is now a bounty hunter. A wealthy rancher in New Mexico hires Brand to rescue his daughter from kidnappers. The pursuit leads Brand into Mexico and ultimately into a Rurales prison – ‘El Casa Muerte’ - the House of Death.

Rurales is Spanish for ‘rurals.’ This mounted rural police force was founded by BENITO JUAREZ in 1861. Four corps, each with 20 officers and 255 other ranks, were established. They were too few and poorly organised to effectively control the banditry widespread in Mexico during the 1860s and 1870s. Following his accession to power in 1877, President PORFIRIO DÍAZ expanded the Rurales to nearly 2,000 by 1889. Initially some captured bandits were forcibly inducted into the Rurales. Officers were usually seconded from the Federal Army.

Rurales officer

The Rurales were heavily armed; carrying cavalry sabres, Remington carbines, lassos and pistols. They wore a distinctive grey uniform braided in silver, which was modelled on the national charro dress and included wide felt sombreros, bolero jackets, tight fitting trousers with silver buttons down the seams, and red or black neckties. They were variously described as ‘the world's most picturesque policemen’ and ‘mostly bandits.’ 

Under Diaz, the Rurales became increasingly politicised, as much an arm of repressive government as a law-enforcement force. They acquired an image as a ruthless organization which – under the notorious ‘ley fuga’ - ‘law of flight’ – seldom took prisoners, shot captives without trial or arranged to have them killed ‘trying to escape.’ However, research by Professor Paul J. Vanderwood during the 1970s indicated that the Rurales were neither as effective nor as brutal as regime publicists had suggested.

Rurales execute prisoners

In the later years of the regime they were increasingly used to control industrial unrest, in addition to the traditional task of patrolling country areas.

The remains of the Guardia Rural were finally disarmed and disbanded during July–August 1914, during the Mexican Revolution.

Historical evidence for bounty hunters in the Old West is scant but they’re certainly popular in western fiction. They’ve been portrayed by everyone from Randolph Scott in ‘Ride Lonesome’

to Clint Eastwood as the mysterious ‘Man with No Name’ in the so-called ‘Dollar Trilogy.’

Steve McQueen came to fame as the bounty hunter hero of the TV series ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’

A mission to rescue a woman held captive in Mexico made me think of the 1966 movie ‘The Professionals.’

Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Lee Marvin in 'The Professionals'

Reviews of GUN FOR HIRE:

‘Linaker spins a fine yarn here. Brand is a good, well-developed character, not wholly sympathetic but enough so that the reader has no trouble rooting for him… The prose is suitably gritty, dusty, and hardboiled, and the action scenes, of which there are plenty, are excellent… It's a fast, very entertaining Western novel.’

‘Very exciting situations… a good sense of humour.’

‘This is a fast action western with twist and turns. Well written… with a great ending. I loved it.’

‘Great shoot-em-up reading!’

https://www.amazon.com/Hire-Jason-Brand-Western-Book-ebook/dp/B008823IP6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=14

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: BAD DAY FOR THE HANGMAN by JEFF BRELAND

Jeff Breland writes westerns, ghost stories and thrillers – and sometimes hybrids of all three.

He’s another author who likes the first thing he wrote best of his work – in Jeff’s case this is the first in his ‘bounty hunter’ series BAD DAY FOR THE HANGMAN. This features Jake Stone who’s a bounty hunter in everything but name.

In the company of a Mexican girl he pursues a ruthless killer across northern New Mexico.

It’s curious how bounty hunters in western fiction are often ‘good guys’: STEVE McQUEEN bookended his career in westerns as a bounty hunter, starting off in 1958 in the TV series WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, and, in his very last western in 1980, playing perhaps the west’s most famous bounty hunter – even if no one called him that – TOM HORN.

Steve McQueen as Tom Horn

The real Tom Horn

And both RANDOLPH SCOTT in ‘Ride Lonesome’

and CLINT EASTWOOD as ‘the man with no name’ are, at least in theory, on the side of the angels.

Despite the popularity of bounty hunters in western fiction, evidence for historical ones remains scanty. As well as Tom Horn, there’s CHARLIE SIRINGO (1855 – 1928) a Texas cowboy and author who, at the age of 36, joined the Pinkerton’s Detective Agency.

He began operating undercover, a relatively new technique at the time, and infiltrated gangs of robbers and rustlers, making more than 100 arrests. Reluctantly, he went undercover to undermine the Western Federation of Miners in the strike they held in northern Idaho in 1892. In the late 1890s, posing as a gunman on the run from the law for murder, he infiltrated BUTCH CASSIDY’s Wild Bunch.

The Wild Bunch in 1900: Front row 1^st left THE SUNDANCE KID; farthest right: BUTCH CASSIDY; Back row, 2^nd right: KID CURRY

Several members of the gang were captured or killed as a result of the information he gathered, including KID CURRY, eventually killed in a shoot-out in 1904. So Siringo was a bounty hunter more likely to bring a criminal down by digging away in the background, rather than by a bullet in a face-to-face encounter.

 Kid Curry

Award-winning author JACQUIE ROGERS (who writes for the Prairie Rose Publications stable as I do) has produced a fascinating blog on bounty hunters here: http://jacquierogers.blogspot.co.uk/2007/10/bounty-hunters-in-old-west.html

Reviews for BAD DAY FOR THE HANGMAN:

‘Breland has crafted a great character in Marshal Stone… An action packed book with a good plot…. This book was very exciting with twists and turns… I just kept going way past my bedtime because I couldn't figure out what was going to happen.’ 

https://www.amazon.com/Hangman-Lightning-Fast-Gunfighter-Action-Packed-Adventure-ebook/dp/B074LP4NJR/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1507989042&sr=1-7 

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: JASON KILKENNY’S GUN by KIT PRATE

Kit Prate (a Sundown Press author like me) tells me her favourite of her westerns is JASON KILKENNY'S GUN, now available on Sundown Press. Kit describes it as ‘a coming of age story; a young boy falls under the spell of a notorious bounty hunter without realizing the consequences for his family.’

In JASON KILKENNY'S GUN the bounty hunter is Rance Savage, still seeking revenge on the man who partially crippled him 20 years earlier; his young admirer is 15 year old Josh Kincaid. But then Savage finds the man he’s been searching for so long…

Historical evidence for Old West bounty hunters is scant, but they’re certainly popular in western fiction, being portrayed by everyone from Randolph Scott (‘Ride Lonesome’)

to James Stewart (‘The Naked Spur’)

to Steve McQueen in the TV series ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’

The theme of a youngster hero-worshipping a bounty hunter made me think of Henry Fonda (the bounty hunter) and Anthony Perkins in ‘The Tin Star’ (1957.)

Anthony Perkins & Henry Fonda in 'The Tin Star'

Tom Horn 

and Charlie Siringo

are two historical westerners who could almost be described as bounty hunters.

There were of course scalp-hunters in the Old West, men who went after bounty offered for Native American hair. Men like John Johnson, who carried out the infamous 1837 massacre of Apaches at Santa Rita, New Mexico, and James Kirker, an Irishman who operated in Mexico and went after Apache scalps c. 1840.

James Kirker

One reviewer on Kit Prate generally: ‘…The best in the business -- best plots, best characters, best action, and the unexpected details and gestures that vault the prose right off the page.’

Other reviewers on JASON KILKENNY'S GUN:

‘Your jaw will be hanging at the storytelling ability.’

‘Awesome… very enjoyable read.’

https://www.amazon.com/Jason-Kilkennys-Gun-Kit-Prate-ebook/dp/B01NARV4GT/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=httpliviajwac-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=7e42aa0bff329fc05b398bea83112191&creativeASIN=B01NARV4GT