WESTERN NOVELS—SPUR TO THE SMOKE

WESTERN NOVELS

SPUR TO THE SMOKE
STEVE FRAZEE
PERMA BOOKS (1955) 

More action here than in a typical Frazee title, with young Lee Vale refusing to become an aggressive blowhard like his father, Roderick, boss of the Black Diamond ranch.

The elder Vale is infamous around the Colorado Sapinero country for stringing up alleged horse thieves and being handy with a gun. As these things go, Roderick is a coward and cuckold, letting his right-hand man, Sam Harvey, take care of his honor—as well as his wife.

When folks around the town of Kebler hatch a plan to take over some of Vale’s prime grazing land, they turn to the guidance of a whacked out preacher, who assures them of their divine right. Only clear-headed Lee can save the day, but he’s tired of covering his dad’s ass.

Frazee takes his time setting up all the characters involved in the plot. In fact, I think the story would’ve been better with a few less hangers-on. Still, once I got into it, I liked the book a tad more than the previous Frazee I read, Utah Hell Guns. In Spur To The Smoke, the friction between father and son was kept hot until the finale, and the romantic interludes for our young hero were more complex and pronounced—if not overly integral to the plot. 

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WESTERN NOVELS—BONANZA: KILLER LION

WESTERN NOVELS
BONANZA: KILLER LION
STEVE FRAZEE 

With a career writing about fathers, sons, and men working together, Frazee was a good choice to pen a book about the testosterone-heavy Ponderosa. What’s interesting is that the first half of this Whitman TV tie-in is pretty much a Hoss solo story, with Little Joe and Ben only showing up two thirds of the way through to lend a hand. In fact, this story of a rescued lion cub’s adoption and subsequent troubles, belongs entirely to the most amiable Cartwright brother.

While wintering at a Ponderosa line camp with a herd of new Herford cows, Hoss rescues a lion cub after killing its mother. The good hearted cowboy can’t bring himself to part with “Rimrock,” the increasingly tame kitten.

Many pages are devoted to Hoss and Rimrock in playful interaction. After the relationship is established, the plot deals with the necessity of hiding the cat from fellow ranchers and law men.

After Hoss returns home, an old carpet bagger is found dead, apparently the victim of a lion attack. Well, you can imagine where things go from here. Was Rimrock to blame?  What will Hoss do? Will Bonanza end like Old Yellar?

Peter Brandvold wrote on Facebook that H. A. De Rosso seemed to have a hard time keeping things light in  Whitman’s TV tie-in The Rebel, something I thought was also true for Cole Fannin in The Rifleman. Not so here, as Frazee seems comfortable at telling a light hearted story with an emphasis on all-ages fun.

I won’t tell you fellars how it turns out, because as kid-oriented as it is, it’s absolutely worth checking out.

CONTRIBUTOR: RICHARD PROSCH