Review: The Gunsmith #491: Invitation to a Bank Robbery - J.R. Roberts (Robert J. Randisi)

I remember quite vividly picking up the first book in a new Western series called The Gunsmith at a newsstand on the west side of Fort Worth more than forty years ago. The book was called MACKLIN’S WOMEN, and the author was J.R. Roberts. However, I already knew that J.R. Roberts was really Robert J. Randisi because Bob and I were already friends through correspondence and the occasional phone call. He had sent me a copy of his first novel, the private eye yarn THE DISAPPEARANCE OF PENNY, and I enjoyed it so I was eager to read his first Western. MACKLIN’S WOMEN didn’t disappoint me. As always with Bob’s work, it was dialogue-driven and very fast-paced, and it was written in first person, a refreshing change from most other Western series. (Only the first dozen or so books are in first person. I read and enjoyed all of them as they came out.)

Well, most of you know what happened. The Gunsmith went on to become a huge success as one of the so-called Big Four Adult Western series (the others being Longarm, Slocum, and The Trailsman), running for more than forty years and four hundred novels. Unlike the others, The Gunsmith was a creator-owned series and didn’t belong to the publishing company, so when it was canceled at Penguin along with the others, Bob was able to take it elsewhere and continue writing new entries. The Gunsmith rolled along for several more years, a new book every month like clockwork, before health issues slowed down Bob’s production. But he continued writing Gunsmith novels.

Bob passed away last fall, after what appears will be the final Gunsmith novel, INVITATION TO A BANK ROBBERY, was published last summer. Since I read the first book all those years ago, I realized I ought to read the last one, as well, even though I’m nowhere close to reading the entire series.

As this book begins, Clint Adams, the gunfighter and adventurer known as The Gunsmith, arrives in the small town of Kennelworth, Utah, looking for what he always seeks: a little peace and quiet. You know, of course, that’s not going to happen, and before you know it, Clint has been invited to turn outlaw and join in a bank robbery being planned by a couple of would-be crooks. Things get a lot more complicated than that as the plot races along. There are shootouts and beautiful women and double-crosses and a very effective twist ending. It’s highly entertaining, as the Gunsmith books always are. This was one of my father’s favorite series, and as he told me once, “You know you’re always going to have a good time reading a Gunsmith book.”

It's clear that this wasn’t intended to be the final Gunsmith novel. The title of the next one planned for the series can be found at the end. However, without getting into spoiler territory, as this book draws to a close, Clint Adams is contemplating making a change in his life, and although this is complete speculation, I think Bob may have figured the next book would be the last one. As is, the series draws to a satisfactory conclusion, and reading it is certainly a bittersweet experience for me. Too many good friends and good writers have been lost to us too early, and Bob Randisi falls into both those categories. If you’re a fan of his work, I give INVITATION TO A BANK ROBBERY a high recommendation. It’s available on Amazon in e-book and paperback editions, as are most of the other books in the series, almost 500 of them!

The Gunsmith: The Jingle Bell Trail - J.R. Roberts (Robert J. Randisi)

In the past I've read Christmas-themed books from the Edge, Longarm, and Trailsman series, and this year it's the Gunsmith's turn. I've been reading Gunsmith novels almost as long as Bob Randisi has been writing them, since I bought the first one at a newsstand in Fort Worth as soon as it came out.

The Gunsmith, for those of you who don't know, is Clint Adams, a famous gunfighter who wanders the West getting into various adventures and often running into an assortment of historical characters, making friends and enemies among them. There are no historical characters in this Christmas tale, however, which finds Clint in North Dakota as the holiday approaches, far from his usual stomping grounds of the Southwest. He visits a town that decorates heavily for Christmas, and while he's there, the sheriff from a neighboring town--which celebrates the holiday even more than the one where Clint is--asks him to help out with the pursuit of three outlaws who robbed and murdered a ranching couple. The lawman wants to get back to his wife and their five-year-old son before Christmas, so against his better judgment, Clint agrees to help track down the outlaws.

The owlhoots wind up dead, not surprisingly, but so does the sheriff, which leaves Clint with the grim task of returning the body and breaking the bad news to the man's family. From that point, things take some unexpected turns and more trouble looms in the form of a vicious gang that strikes only on holidays.

As always in Randisi's novels, THE JINGLE BELL TRAIL is a fast-paced, dialogue-driven yarn. This one has a little more action than some, with a nice epic battle at the end. Clint is more introspective than most series Western protagonists, struggling with some moral issues and not always making the right choices, which makes him a very human, sympathetic hero. I've always liked him and still do.

THE JINGLE BELL TRAIL is a good addition to that group of Christmas-themed series Westerns. I don't think there was ever a Christmas Slocum or Lone Star or Raider and Doc novel, but if there was, somebody let me know and I'll read it for next year. Meanwhile, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas this year.

The Gunsmith #400: The Lincoln Ransom - J.R. Roberts (Robert J. Randisi)

About 33 years ago, I read a book entitled MACKLIN'S WOMEN, the first book in a new Adult Western series called The Gunsmith. The author was J.R. Roberts, who I knew even then was really Robert J. Randisi. In fact, Bob may have sent me that copy of the first Gunsmith novel; I can't recall about that.

But I'm relatively sure it didn't occur to me as I read and enjoyed the first adventure of Clint Adams that Bob would still be writing them and I'd still be reading them more than three decades later.

That's the case, however. I just read THE GUNSMITH #400: THE LINCOLN RANSOM. This is a milestone in more ways than one. Not only the 400^th book, making The Gunsmith one of the longest-running Western series ever, but the first book from the series' new homes, Piccadilly Publishing for the e-book editions and Western Trailblazer for the trade paperbacks.

In this one Clint is working for the government, as he does from time to time, on a top-secret mission: someone has stolen the coffin containing the body of Abraham Lincoln from its tomb in Springfield, Illinois, and is demanding $100,000 ransom for its return. The ransom is supposed to be paid in a small town in Colorado. Clint gets the job of delivering the money and recovering the former President's body, but of course things don't turn out to be quite that simple as he also uncovers the conspiracy behind the theft, with some help from his old friend, private detective Talbot Roper (who has starred in some Randisi novels of his own and may well again one of these days).

As usual with Gunsmith novels, THE LINCOLN RANSOM is driven mostly by dialogue and action and is very fast-paced. Bob's writing has a distinctive voice that's always enjoyable. If you've been a Gunsmith fan in the past, there's no need to stop now. I think the series is going to be around for a long time yet.

(Guest Post) Our Man Clint: The Gunsmith Continues - Robert J. Randisi

OUR MAN CLINT
The Gunsmith Continues
By Robert J. Randisi, aka J.R. Roberts

It was a bloodbath, probably fitting, given how long adult westerns and mens adventure paperbacks have been spilling blood within their pages.  But in one fell swoop publishers, with seeming disregard for the readers—or the readers that were left, anyway—cancelled all the Adult Western series—notably the long running Longarm and Gunsmith series—and mens adventure series—most notably, the Mack Bolan series.  This move, as of April of 2015, will not only rob loyal readers of the adventures of Custis Longarm and Mack Bolan, but will also put entire stables of writers out of work. Both series, along with many others, were written by multiple writers, having supplied work for many working writers for a good 40 years.  In fact, the Adult Western genre not only invigorated the western genre and kept it alive,but provided income for dozens of writers over the years. And now it’s the end of an era for all of them . . .

. . . except The Gunsmith.

Why?

Very simple answer. For the most part, the Gunsmith was created and written by one man. When Charter Books contacted me in 1981 and asked me if I could create an Adult Western series for them, I jumped at the chance.  I created a bible and, when it was approved, signed a two book contract.  Then a contract for a third.  And then they called me and said they wanted to go into the genre whole-heartedly, and could I write a book a month.  I was 30 years old, had no idea if I could write a book a month, but I said “Yes!”

I started writing under the pseudonym J.R. Roberts.  When I attended my first Western convention I discovered what anomaly the Gunsmith and I were. There were several other monthly adult westerns running at the time, and they were being written by three or four writers under a single house name. A “house name” is a name used by many authors on one series.  My “J.R. Roberts” nom de-plume was a pseudonym used by one person, not a house name. (It was only after Berkley Books purchased Charter Books and wanted to keep the Gunsmith going that they asked if they could hire two more writers, just to build up an inventory. The writers were to be approved by me, and I was to own even those books which I did not write, and receive a royalty. It made me even more of an anomaly in the genre. Once we had built up a one year inventory, I went back to writing all the books.)

And I have done so since then, for over 32 years.  Gunsmith #1: Macklin’s Women came out in January of 1982, and there has been a Gunsmith every month since then.  Berkley Books decided to end the run in April of 2015 with #399, and I was given enough warning so that I was able to place the series elsewhere and assure that Gunsmith #400 would appear in May of 2015, with no break in the action.  They will appear with a new cover design in ebook for from Piccadilly Publishing, and in paperback from Western Trailblazers.  And Our Man Clint will go on appearing in a book a month for as long as my flying fingers can flex.

So to those loyal Gunsmith readers who pick up up each and every month, you may continue to do so, with heartfelt thanks from me, and from Our Man Clint Adams.

I should also thank Charter Books, where it all started, and then Berkley Books, which has kept the series going all these years, as we all move on to the next bend in the road.