WESTERN NOVELS—JUSTICE AT SPANISH FLAT

WESTERN NOVELS

JUSTICE AT SPANISH FLAT

BRIAN GARFIELD

When he was eighteen years old, Brian Garfield wrote his first western, an original hardcover published by Avalon called Range Justice. It’s almost impossible to find, and easily confused with Paul Evan Lehman’s Range Justice—a paperback oater from Pyramid published in the same year, 1960, with the same title. Fortunately for readers, Ace Books released an abridged version of Garfield’s taught action piece one year later in its Double series. Retitled Justice at Spanish Flat, the slim 115 pages is backed up by Tom West’s The Gun From Nowhere.

There’s a lot to like about Garfield’s simple story. Chainlink Ranch foreman Tracy Chavis sets out with ranch owner Jim Boyce to sell a herd of cattle. Mission accomplished and money in hand, the two are ambushed. Boyce is killed. Rather than go home with his tail between his legs, Chavis stays on the prod and earns back every nickel, picking up a fast gun reputation along the way. When he comes back to Chainlink, Chavis finds Jim’s daughter Connie literally in the middle of a range war between Ben Majors and Sid Vivian.

Garfield excels when showing us the savvy methods Chavis uses to pull together a group of allies in battle to save the Boyce property, and is at his best in heart-stopping action scenes outside the town of Spanish Flats.

Chavis is a tough-as-nails moral paragon. Majors and Vivian, irredeemable. Connie’s naturally too big for her britches. The rest of the crew are more complex, and it’s a joy to watch Garfield’s well drawn ensemble of characters interact and grow during the course of events. The book’s wrap up is a foregone conclusion, but the rock solid narrative keeps the pages turning straight to the end.  

Written a decade before the revisionist Sliphammer (CLICK HERE), Range War and its abridged ACE Double version, Justice at Spanish Flat, set the tone for at least eight more Garfield westerns also set in Spanish Flat. A tip of the Stetson to blogger Cullen Gallagher for unearthing: Mr. Sixgun (1964), The Night it Rained Bullets (1965), The Bravos (1966), The Proud Riders (1967), A Badge for a Badman (1967), Brand of the Gun (1968), Gundown (1969) and Big Country, Big Men (1969)

CONTRIBUTOR: RICHARD PROSCH

WESTERN NOVELS—SLIPHAMMER

  WESTERN NOVELS

SLIPHAMMER

BRIAN GARFIELD

You think you’re having a bad day? Think about old Frank Stillwell, Tombstone business owner, sometimes deputy-sheriff, and suspected killer of Morgan Earp. In March of 1882, Morgan’s brothers have vowed vengeance…er, justice at their own hands.

Foolish, Frank gathers a few pals together and does his best to ambush Virgil and Wyatt at a Tucson train station. Get them, before they get you, thinks Frank. Which is about all the thinking Frank has time for before Wyatt cuts him in half with a double-barrel shotgun, and the Earps flee to Colorado. A warrant is issued for the arrest of Wyatt Earp, but immediately put under the Governor’s review. Once the Chief Executive approves, somebody’s gotta serve the papers.

In real life, Pima County sheriff Bob Paul was a friend of the Earps, as was the famed Bat Masterson. Strings were pulled with Colorado Governor Pitkin, and the matter was dropped.

But trusty writer Brian Garfield, known best for his suspense novels Death Wish (1972) and Hopscotch (1975) here picks up the six-shooter where history left it in the dust. In Sliphammer (1970), Garfield’s version of events allows a  Lt. Governor to okay the warrants.

You think you’re having a bad day? Think it couldn’t get any worse than the day Stillwell had? Consider this—Frank had it better than Arizona deputy lawman Jeramiah Tree. At least Frank’s death was quick.

Tree, nicknamed Sliphammer, because of the trick side-iron he carries, is tasked with traveling to the Earp-friendly town of Gunnison and taking Earp into custody.

What follows is a sly game of law craft and macho one-upmanship between Earp and Tree, complicated by Tree’s foolish brother, Rafe, lusty sister-in law, Caroline, and a town filled with rambunctious miners.

Earp’s got family complications of his own—whether he admits it or not—with his own wet-behind-the-ears brother Warren and jaded devil-girlfriend Josie, which Garfield uses to good effect. Both men struggle with their inner-demons even as they struggle with each other and the moral consequences of their actions. Garfield gives us a darker version of Wyatt Earp that most novels of the time, but keeps him just this side of despicable.

Because Tree is able to maintain respect for Earp while earning the latter’s admiration is the central struggle that keeps the story moving. Plenty of action, some graphic sex scenes, and a tough-as-shoe leather central character make Sliphammer a top recommendation.

CONTRIBUTOR: RICHARD PROSCH