WESTERN NOVELS—GUNS OF LEGEND #7 IN SATAN'S CIRCUS

WESTERN NOVELS

GUNS OF LEGEND #7

IN SATAN'S CIRCUS

BRODY WEATHERFORD

REVIEWED BY TIM DEFOREST 

Tomcat Meyer, the lawman who was introduced as a supporting character in Colorado City Kill, takes center stage as the protagonist in this book. He's tasked by Allistar Legende to find a guy named Sid Graves and bring him to Legende.

The purpose of this is fairly clear. Graves testified against a New York City mob boss. Legende arranged for him to get a new identity out West—a sort of Wild West version of the Witness Protection Program.

But Graves is now making waves. He's getting involved in gambling and gunfights, and building a reputation that could bring him to the attention of assassins working for the New York mob...What's unclear is Graves' motivation. Why is he apparently setting himself up to get killed? 

This is the premise for a fast-paced and extremely entertaining Western. There's plenty of action and several unexpected plot twists. Perhaps the greatest strength of the story are the characterizations. Every person Tomcat encounters, even if they are only around for a chapter or two, is given a unique personality. I've rarely encountered a book in which I've enjoyed meeting each and every character so much. Whether its a despicable villain such as the albino killer Cormac Paige or a well-dressed and well-spoken gentleman farmer named Bachelor Bates, all of them both advance the plot and add to the novel's unique atmosphere.

The novel comes to a fantastic conclusion, involving an outlaw lair, an apparently hopeless situation, and a last-minute rescue involving some unusual weaponry.

Five of the seven Guns of Legende books have featured Frank Landry and Emily O'Connor as the main characters. They are absent from this book. Frank and Emily are strong protagonists and I have no problem with them being the series' usual heroes. But I'm glad to see an occasional book in which other agents of Allistar Legende get thrust into the spotlight. The series as a whole as built up a wonderful cast of regular and semi-regular characters. All of them deserve a chance to shine.

WESTERN NOVELS—THE GUNS OF LEGENDE #6: DIRTY DEEDS

WESTERN NOVELS

DIRTY DEEDS 

THE GUNS OF LEGENDE #6

BRODY WEATHERFORD 

REVIEWED BY TIM DEFOREST

The Society of Buckhorn and Bison is tasked with catching a con artist who is specializing in selling phony deeds to supposedly valuable land. Beautiful gambler Emily O'Connor is assigned to the case, which also involves solving a murder, rescuing a kidnapped woman who might actually be in cahoots with the bad guys and (on a personal level) recovering thousands of dollars in poker winnings that were stolen from her. 

Her ex-husband, whiskey peddler Frank Landry, is also put on the case, though at first they aren't working together. Frank teams up with a beautiful Italian countess, using her as window dressing as he tries to out-con the con man. He discovers, though, that the countess might have an agenda of her own. 

The story smoothly blends action and mystery, keeping it fast-paced and interesting. Frank and Emily , who have appeared in all but one of the books in the series so far, are strong protagonists. They handle themselves well in gun fights and other dangerous situations, but are also smart and able to think quickly when they need to.

The climax, which involves several characters getting trapped in a mine before the villains come to a satisfying comeuppance, is wonderfully handled. "Dirty Deeds" is yet another winner in the Guns of Legende series.

WESTERN NOVELS—COLORADO CITY KILL

WESTERN NOVELS

COLORADO CITY KILL

THE GUNS OF LEGENDE #5

BRODY WEATHERFORD

REVIEWED BY

TIM DEFOREST

After one book in the series in which they did not appear, Frank Landry and Emily O'Conner return as the primary agents of Alistair Legende to complete the Society's latest mission.  I've come to think of the Guns of Legende series as a sort-of western Mission Impossible, with agents assigned to missions as their particular skills dictated. So Frank and Emily are the Martin Landau and Barbara Bain of the series, appearing on a fairly regular basis.

This time out, the plot is driven by a series of con jobs. The villain, Tate Holbrook, is running a scam on Colorado City, taking money on the false promise to provide the city with fresh water. When he commits a murder to protect himself, Legende sends Frank and Emily (along with another agent named Tomcat Meyer) to bring Holbrook to justice. This involves the good guys running a con of their own, designed to get Holbrook away from his ever-present bodyguards.

It's a wonderfully constructed plot. Plans go awry, forcing Frank and Emily to improvise a new plan while being held at gunpoint. A half-dozen outlaw brothers show up, looking for revenge on Frank and Tomcat over another matter entirely, throwing yet another monkey wrench into their plans. And it will turn out that there might be other people around running cons of their own.

There are a number of exciting action scenes, but the story's fast pace is driven largely by the efforts of different characters to outsmart each other. It's a Western AND a multi-faceted con artist tale. And it even sneaks in a look at the differences between justice and revenge. I loved it.

WESTERN NOVELS—DUEL IN DODGE CITY

WESTERN NOVELS

DUEL IN DODGE CITY

THE GUNS OF LEGENDE #4

BRODY WEATHERFORD

REVIEWED BY

TIM DEFOREST

In this volume, we meet an agent of Alistair Legende that we had not encountered before. And the first few short chapters of the book do a superb job of introducing us to him. Lucas Chambers is a gunfighter, but we also quickly learn that he's cool-headed when facing danger; that he can come up with clever plans but also is able to improvise on the fly; and that he has Chronic Hero Syndrome. 

In the first chapter, he's going up against another gunfighter who beat an aging prostitute to death, because the woman was the sister of a friend. Soon after, he randomly meets a child who's beloved dog was stolen and immediately undertakes the task of recovering the dog. 

We also learn that Lucas' wife was murdered, leaving him with what in some ways a very cynical outlook on life. The details of how his wife died and an encounter with the man responsible are weaved into the plot. 

Lucas' mission is to prevent the assassination of presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes. He is to eliminate one of the assassins, take his place, and find out who else is involved in the plot. But events to not proceed smoothly. 

Lucas soon finds himself saddled with a partner he does not want--a woman who is almost certainly insane and who either loves Lucas or wants to kill him. Or both. But circumstances leave him with no choice but to accept this. 

The story is punctuated not just by some great action scenes (a gunfight in a hotel room is particularly exciting), but also by the level of suspense maintained from start to finish. Lucas has to pretend to be stalking Rutherford Hayes, while at the same time watching his back in case other assassins try to take him out. And all of this, remember, is happening while he's looking after a partner who clearly lives in Crazy Town.

It all comes to a wonderfully original conclusion that I don't want to hint at--it's best if the final confrontation with the bad guys sneaks up on you without any knowledge of how its going to play out.

WESTERN NOVELS—GUNSMOKE AND ICE

WESTERN NOVELS

GUNSMOKE AND ICE

THE GUNS OF LEGENDE #3

BRODY WEATHERFORD

REVIEWED BY

TIM DEFOREST

I am continuing to love this series. Gunsmoke and Ice is the third in the series about a secret organization in the Old West that takes on missions given to it by (presumably) the government. 

In this case, the mission seems straightforward. A bank robbery in New Mexico leaves a politically-important man dead, so the Alistair Legende is tasked with bringing the killer to justice. He assigns beautiful gambler Emily O'Connor to the job. Emily's ex-husband--whiskey peddler Frank Landry-is also in the area. 

At first, though, he's not an official part of the mission. Instead, he's trying to buy a piece of the local moonshine action. The result is a story that is--at first--a little less structured than the earlier novels in the series. That's not a criticism, though. The storytelling style is appropriate to the plot, as both Emily and Frank are tossed in and out of danger.

Gradually, the action narrows to where the two are helping transport a wagon load of ice from Taos to Tombstone. For reasons that Frank and Emily do not at first understand, the one survivor of of the original bank robbers is relentlessly pursing that ice shipment. The plot allows for a lot of great action--with bullets flying fast and thick-- and we meet a number of very memorable supporting characters along the way.

WESTERN NOVELS—DEATH WAITS AT YELLOWSTONE

WESTERN NOVELS

DEATH WAITS AT YELLOWSTONE

GUNS OF LEGENDE #2

BRODY WEATHERFORD

REVIEWED BY

TIM DEFOREST

Another excellent entry in the Guns of Legende series...This one starts with two separate story lines. In one of these, two agents of Alistair Legende are assigned to find a party of VIPs who are apparently lost in the Yellowstone area (which has only recently been made a park by the federal government). 

I don't want to give too much away, because the mystery behind this unfolds in a very satisfying manner, but the reason for the party's disappearance has to do with a haven for outlaws hidden in a remote section of the park. 

Another agent looks into a group of apparent bad guys (called the Scarlet Rogues because they wear red shirts) that has taken an interest in Legende's supposedly secret Society of Buckhorn and Bison. Both story lines include a solid mystery to solve, great action and strong characterizations. 

Eventually, the two story lines join together, unexpected alliances are formed, and the book is brought to a violent and exciting conclusion. The entire story is expertly constructed, with the several plot threads and the actions of the various characters all getting tied together in the climax. 

The two main protagonists, Frank Landry and Emily O'Conner, worked separately in the first novel. In this one, they work together. Because they were once married, but now claim to dislike one another, this allows for some fun interactions between them. 

Some of my favorite highlights from the book include: an encounter in a back alley in Denver that unfolds in an unexpected and very entertaining manner; a truly exciting gun fight in the streets of a small town; a scene in which two sets of protagonists simultaneously outsmart one of the villains in two different ways; and a brutal hand-to-hand fight between Frank Landry and a very dangerous opponent. 

I also learned about the Gardner Machine Gun--a real-life weapon developed in the 1870s that plays an imporant role in the novel. It's always fun when a bit of obscure history gets included in a Western. Like Front Range Rebellion, Death Waits at Yellowstone is a wonderful example of expert storytelling. The Guns of Legende series is two-for-two so far.

WESTERN NOVELS—FRONT RANGE REBELLION

WESTERN NOVELS

FRONT RANGE REBELLION

THE GUNS OF LEGENDE #1

BRODY WEATHERFORD

REVIEWED BY

TIM DEFOREST

The first in a series that has a sort-of Old West "Mission: Impossible" vibe, "Front Range Rebellion" is set in 1876 and involves a secret organization run by a man named Allister Legende. Legende receives assignments from the Federal government, then assigns agents to fulfill those assignments.

In this case, an insane soldier named Carlton Clark has raised an army of outlaws, robbed a train carrying gold to fund operations, and plans on making Colorado an independent nation before it joins the Union as a new state.

To foil this, Legende recruits a fast-talking whiskey salesman named Frank Landry. Frank is also very, very handy with the .36 Navy revolver he carries. Also recruited is the beautiful Emily O'Conner, who is a highly skilled and very observant gambler. Legende doesn't learn until after he recruits the two that they had once been married.

The book is an enormously fun read. The plot is expertly constructed. We get short but informative introductory chapters that bring Clark, Landry and Emily into the story quickly and effectively.

The very first chapter, for instance, recounts the train robbery carried out by Clark and his men. It's action-packed, while also teaching us that Clark is a skilled sniper, a ruthless man willing to slaughter anyone who gets in his way, and probably quite insane. That chapter tells us that Clark is a dangerous man and presents a serious threat.

When Frank and Emily are put on the case, the story jumps back and forth between them, but does so smoothly so that we can always follow the overall plot. Frank infiltrates Clark's army and Emily works to uncover a traitor on the territorial governor's staff. Both story arcs gives us plenty of action and present us with intelligent heroes who often have to think very fast on their feet to keep themselves alive and get the job done. Several great plot twist are dropped in as the story races along.

The book ends with a superb battle scene, with the situation changing rapidly, leading to a tense sniper duel...The book really is enormous fun. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

SIX-GUN JUSTICE PODCAST EPISODE #195—THE GUNS OF LEGENDE

SIX-GUN JUSTICE PODCAST

EPISODE #195

THE GUNS OF LEGENDE

Circle the wagons and put the coffee pot over the campfire, it's time for a new episode of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast. Today, Paul is joined by Richard Prosch, who returns to the ranch and brings wordslinger Mel Odom with him to discuss their new traditional Western series, The Guns of Legende, which debuts this month on the virtual spinner racks as well as in paperback and large print editions...

Available now on all major podcast streaming platforms or by clicking on the player below...