FRANK
BONHAM
ONE
RIDE TOO MANY
LOGAN’S
CHOICE
The
Barricade Classic Western Series, edited by Martin Greenberg and Bill Pronzini
is a robust series of hefty trade paperbacks with rousing pulp-magazine
inspired covers of bright yellow and red. Each of the four offers a collection
of pulp stories by a specific author—Ed Gorman, Les Savage, Jr., Ryerson
Johnson, and Frank Bonham.
Bonham’s
entry is called One Ride Too Many and includes the title story along
with twelve others that originally graced the pages of Argosy, Zane
Grey’s Western Magazine, Dime Westerns, and Blue Book. Every
tale’s a winner, but I’ll give top props to one of my favorite western stories
of all time, the highly anthologized, Burn Him Out, which I first read
in The Mammoth Book of Westerns, edited by Jon Lewis.
In
this story, rancher Will Starret and his neighbors are under attack by a horde
of hungry grasshoppers. Big man Cowper’s foreman, Bill Hamp is for torching the
land, starting of course with what belongs to other men. Bonham stands consistently
by his theme of the sanctity of the individual above the mob. More than once, he
has his character Will Starret ruminate out loud or to himself about what it
means to own and work a piece of land. Bonham contrasts those ideas with folks
who simply don’t comprehend the enormity of the proposition. There’s a lot more
going on here than a simple action yarn, but there’s also action aplenty.
Equally
as important as the stories in One Ride Too Many is a partial bibliography
of Frank Bonham's Western novels, mystery novels, and young adult novels. A
great place to start for readers new to his work.
Included
in that list of published work is Logan’s Choice. Here’s the story of
Tom Logan, an Arizona rancher on the Mexican border whose father was a friend
of the vicious, free-roaming Yaqui Indians. Tom shares the region with rancher
Clyde Barksdale and a young homesteader from the East—Laura Sutton. Laura
blames Tom for the suicide of her wimpy brother, so Clyde figures he’s got an
open shot at Laura and her ranch, especially since his lunk-headed buddy, Joe
Been, is Laura’s ranch hand.
All
of this is background potboiler to the real trouble that fires up when
Barksdale and Breen kill a couple Yaqui Indians and steal their gold. They try
to frame Tom for the killing, but unbeknownst to them, local saloon keeper and
resident sleaze ball Nacho Ruiz has witnessed the event and wants his cut.
So,
the Yaquis want to knock off Tom in any one of a dozen gruesome ways; Breen
wants all the gold for himself; Nacho wants all the gold for himself; Barksdale
wants all the gold for himself—plus Laura Sutton and her ranch. Laura
isn’t sure what she wants, and good ol’ Tom just wants to live in peace and
quiet. There’s a bunch of killing to be done first, naturally and Tom’s not
above doing some—as long as he’s killing the right folks.
Bonham
puts together a tough-as-mesquite story that held my attention for two sittings.
While reading it, I was very glad I wasn’t buried up to my neck in sand
watching as crazed stallions pounded toward me. That’s one of the earliest
scenes in the book, and while the excitement lets up here and there, the
mystery and suspense only doubles down. Logan’s Choice is as good a Gold
Medal western as you’ll find. Mucho recommendo.
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