The Wolf Pack - Frank Wynne (Brian Garfield)

I bought this Ace Double Western for the Lee Hoffman novel on the other side, but since I read a book by her recently, I decided to go ahead and read the other half first, which is THE WOLF PACK by Frank Wynne, who was really Brian Garfield. Which was no secret even in 1966, by the way. The blurb on the inside of the book freely admits the author’s real identity.

Garfield started writing and selling Western novels at a young age and produced them at a steady clip during the Sixties. The protagonist of this one is Dave Cord, formerly a town-taming lawman until an accidental tragedy drove him to hang up his gun and retire. However, he’s dragged back into gun work when an old flame writes to him and asks for his help with some unspecified trouble. He can’t refuse, so he heads for the Arizona settlement near her ranch. Before he gets there, he runs into an old acquaintance who’s gunned down right in front of Cord. Clearly, he’s headed into trouble, but he doesn’t let that stop him.

Not surprisingly, Cord’s old flame, now a beautiful widow, has rustler problems and a foreman who can’t be trusted. Throw in some ambushes, fistfights, a crooked lawman, a dandified hired gunfighter, some outlaws who may or may not be as bad as they’re made out to be, and an adulterous affair (one thing that sets this novel off from the mostly very traditional Western it is). The plot isn’t overly complicated and culminates in a long chase and battle scene that takes up most of the second half of the book. Garfield’s writing is excellent, though, very vivid in its descriptions and with deeper characterization than some in the genre.

That said, I’ve never been enough of a fan of Garfield’s work to read a bunch of books. The ones I’ve read have been bleak and thoroughly humorless. All the characters are emotionally tortured and go around acting like they have a bad taste in their mouth. This is okay now and then but not something I want a steady diet of. Don’t get me wrong, I raced right through THE WOLF PACK and enjoyed it, and I’m sure I’ll read more Brian Garfield Westerns in the future. Just not anytime soon.

Forgotten Books: Mr. Sixgun - Brian Garfield

Jeremy Six is the marshal of Spanish Flat, Arizona, a small town that serves as the supply center for not only numerous ranches but also some mining operations in the nearby mountains. Six is assisted by his deputy Manny Gutierrez and has numerous friends among the town’s citizens. He’s romantically attracted to the beautiful owner of one of the local saloons. MR. SIXGUN is the first novel in a series by Brian Garfield featuring Jeremy Six, and at first glance, it seems to be solidly in the GUNSMOKE mold.

There are some important differences, though, that become apparent as the story goes along. Jeremy Six is no Matt Dillon. He broods more and is uncertain of his own abilities. His budding romance with Clarissa is no Matt and Kitty. Characters you start out thinking are certain to survive, don’t. Some things do seem influenced by GUNSMOKE, though, such as the tension that grips the town when famous gunman Ben Sarasen shows up and waits around for something, nobody knows what. Then there’s the outlaw gang with a grudge against the town resulting from Six’s arrest of one of their members. All of it comes together in a number of scenes of shocking violence after Garfield skillfully ratchets up the tension.

I’ve heard many good things about the Marshal Jeremy Six series and have been meaning to read it for years. The recent passing of Brian Garfield finally prompted me to do so. MR. SIXGUN is a very well written novel. I wasn’t sure at first if I liked the character of Jeremy Six, but he’d grown on me by the time I finished the book. I enjoyed this quite a bit and certainly will read at least the next book in the series, probably more. Recommended.

(MR. SIXGUN was published originally by Ace Books in 1964 under Garfield’s pseudonym Brian Wynne. It’s available now in an e-book edition from Piccadilly Press, and that’s the one I read.)

Donald Westlake Tribute Video

Tomorrow would have been Donald Westlake's 79th birthday. He's certainly missed. This video features Otto Penzler, Lawrence Block, Brian Garfield, and William Link talking about Westlake and his work.

Forgotten Books: Gangway! - Donald E. Westlake and Brian Garfield

I don't pretend to be an expert on the work of Donald E. Westlake, but I thought I'd at least heard of most of his books. I've even read and for a number of years owned a copy of the elusive COMFORT STATION by "J. Morgan Cunningham", a copy for which I paid an entire dime. Literally, ten cents.

Anyway, not long ago I came across a mention of a novel called GANGWAY!, which was referred to as Westlake's only Western. Of course, I knew right away that I had to read it. Further investigation uncovered the fact that the book was written in collaboration with Brian Garfield, another good reason to read it. So now I have.

First of all, it's not really a Western. The dust jacket copy describes it as "the world's first comedy romance suspense pirate western adventure novel". That's not a bad description, but actually GANGWAY! is a historical caper novel, the sort of thing you'd expect if Dortmunder somehow wound up in 1874 San Francisco and decided to rob the United States Mint located there.

Instead of Dortmunder, the mastermind of this heist is Gabe Beauchamps, a likable crook from New York who has been banished from that metropolis by his former boss. Even before Gabe reaches San Francisco, he makes the acquaintance of the beautiful pickpocket Evangeline "Vangie" Kemp, and she's the first one he recruits into his scheme. Others who become involved include Francis Calhoun, a former friend of Gabe's from New York who works in the theater in San Francisco (Westlake and Garfield never come right out and say that Francis is gay, but it's pretty obvious); Ittzy Herz, a young man with seemingly supernatural luck that enables him to emerge unscathed from all sorts of disasters; Captain Flagway, an alcoholic ship's captain; and Roscoe Arafoot, a thug who specializes in shanghaiing unwary visitors to San Francisco.

Naturally, Gabe comes up with a workable but incredibly complicated plan to rob the Mint, so when the gang actually attempts the heist there are plenty of things to go wrong and numerous obstacles to overcome, along with a great deal of hilarity and slapstick, of course. The last fourth of the book, which covers the actual robbery, just races by and is highly entertaining. So is the whole novel. It's well-written, as you'd expect from Westlake and Garfield, and the characters are very appealing. I'm not sure why it's not more well known, unless it's because the historical setting is so different from the rest of Westlake's output. If you're a fan of his work, especially the caper novels, you really ought to read it.

And now that I have, I find myself wishing that he'd written a book about a Parker-like character in the Old West to go along with this period variation on Dortmunder. It would have been good, I'll bet.

(This is the author photo from the back of the book. Westlake on the left, Garfield on the right.)