Forgotten Books: Longarm and the Coldest Town in Hell - Tabor Evans (Peter Brandvold)

I was looking for a Western set around Christmas time when I came across this entry in the long-running series featuring Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long. LONGARM AND THE COLDEST TOWN IN HELL finds ol' Custis knocked out and thrown off a train traveling across the snowy landscape of Dakota Territory on Christmas Eve. He narrowly survives without freezing to death because he's rescued by a Russian homesteader and the man's beautiful daughter. He was heading for a small town to investigate the murders of several lawmen, and when he finally reaches his destination after that almost-deadly delay, he finds that a gang of outlaws has treed the town. And of course, to make things even more difficult, there's a blizzard going on . . .

A number of different authors wrote as "Tabor Evans", the house-name under which all the Longarm novels were published. (Heck, I wrote nearly 50 of 'em myself.) The author of this book is none other than the Scourge of the North Country, Mean Pete Brandvold his own self.

You know what to expect when you read a Brandvold novel: interesting characters, a vividly described setting, and lots and lots of great action. LONGARM AND THE COLDEST TOWN IN HELL delivers all of that and more. I don't think anybody is better than Brandvold at depicting extreme winter weather and making it a vital part of a book. The fact that it's Christmas doesn't play a large part in the plot, but it's definitely there.

The biggest thing this book has going for it is Longarm himself. He's a great character, tough and smart and funny and able to carry a series for several decades and more than 400 books. I always enjoyed writing about him, and before that, I enjoyed reading about him. (I was a fan of the series from its beginning in the late Seventies.) I had a great time reading this one, too.

Longarm and the Bloody Relic Review

Steve Myall has nice things to say about LONGARM AND THE BLOODY RELIC over on the excellent Western Fiction Review:


"Right from the opening chapter this book piles action upon action. There’s gunfights, chases, and a little bed-room fun, and mystery, as Longarm attempts to find the Star of Father Cristobal and discover why it was taken, and by whom. If that’s not enough then there’s the kidnapping to add further intrigue. And then there’s Longarm’s desire for revenge – his need to kill a couple of bad-guys for murdering an innocent girl."


The rest of the review is here.  Thanks, Steve!

Longarm and the Bloody Relic

This book should be available now in all the usual places.  I was very pleased with the way it turned out.  In fact, it's one of my top two or three favorites of all the Longarm novels I've written.  It has plenty of action, some exotic settings, and one of the most obscure pulp references you're liable to find anywhere.  Sad to say, it's also my final Longarm novel, at least for the foreseeable future.  With all my other commitments, I've just run out of time for them.  I'll certainly miss ol' Custis.  I've been writing about him since 1992, almost twenty years, and have written more words of Longarm yarns than any other series in my career, nearly three million.  But if this does turn out to be the last one I ever write, I can't think of a better tale to go out with.

Longarm and the Panamint Panic

This entry in the long-running series will be available soon in finer bookstores everywhere, if it's not already.  My thanks to fellow Owlhoot buckaroo A.P. McQuiddy for his valuable suggestions regarding this one.

Longarm and the Railroad War

This year's Longarm Giant Edition is a sequel of sorts to the story arc that ran through the previous four Giant Editions, but it can be read as a stand-alone as well.  Jessie Starbuck and Ki from the old Lone Star series make another appearance and team up with Longarm again, for those of you who enjoy those crossovers.

Longarm and the Deadly Flood

This one just came out, and if you're interested in how writers' minds work and where ideas come from . . . LONGARM AND THE SAND PIRATES had a lot of sand in it.  A very dry book, at least as far as the setting goes.  LONGARM AND THE DEADLY FLOOD . . . well, you can do the math.

Book Giveaway

I'm going to give away a couple of copies each of my latest Longarm and Trailsman novels. Two winners, and each will get a copy of LONGARM AND THE SAND PIRATES and TEXAS TRACKDOWN. You can send me an email (the link is in my profile, for those of you who don't have the address) or mention in the comments that you want to enter. Simple random number drawing. Deadline for entries is midnight my time next Saturday, so that gives you a week and a few hours if you're interested.

Disclaimer: These are Adult Westerns. They have sex scenes in them, although there's nothing kinky (that I recall) and the total pages in those scenes add up to less than five per cent of the text. But bear in mind that those scenes are there and don't enter thinking that you'll give the books to your eighty-year-old grandmother (although she might enjoy them, who knows; I'll bet your grandfather would) or your eight-year-old son or daughter.

There'll probably be more of these in the future.

Longarm and the Sand Pirates

This one is out now, and I'm rather fond of it. My copies arrived today.

Longarm and the Lone Star Trackdown

I got my copies of this one yesterday and I've seen it in Wal-Mart, too, so I know it's out there. It's the wrap-up of a storyline that's been running in the past three Longarm Giant Editions: LONGARM AND THE OUTLAW EMPRESS, LONGARM AND THE GOLDEN EAGLE SHOOTOUT, and LONGARM AND THE VALLEY OF SKULLS. While these books can be read as stand-alones, I think they're more effective if they're read in order. Jessica Starbuck and Ki from the old LONE STAR series play major roles in this one, and a character from another old Western series shows up before the book is over, too. I think these books are a lot of fun, and I hope the readers feel the same way.

Longarm: Hell Up North -- Tabor Evans (Peter Brandvold)

LONGARM: HELL UP NORTH is the 365th entry in the long-running Longarm series, and it’s a good one. This yarn finds Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long in the far northern reaches of Dakota Territory, trying to bring in a fugitive from justice before winter closes in. When he’s wounded in the line of duty, he seeks help in a small, eerie town called Helldorado that’s been taken over by a gang of outlaws. The owlhoots are waiting there for a reason, although Longarm doesn’t know what it is, and not only does he have to conceal his identity as a lawman and try to stay alive, he also has to solve the mystery of what has brought the outlaws to Helldorado.

The author behind the Tabor Evans house-name this time around is Peter Brandvold, who knows the country he’s writing about quite well. That shows in the book, too, as he paints a vivid picture of the bleak Dakota Territory landscape with an ominous winter closing in. As always in a Brandvold novel, there’s plenty of well-written action, great dialogue, and numerous touches of humor. He remains one of the best in the business at picking out just the right details to make a scene come to life.

This is one of the most entertaining Longarms I’ve read in a while, and if you’re a fan of the series or just enjoy a good, gritty Western yarn, I recommend you pick up a copy.

Longarm and the Valley of Skulls

I was in a bookstore yesterday and noticed that the new Longarm Giant is out. Like the past two Giant editions, this one features guest appearances by characters from other Western series -- in this case, the men of Easy Company, a cavalry series published by Jove back in the Eighties, and John Fury, the hero of a short-lived series from the Nineties.

Longarm Covers

It occurs to me that with everything that's been going on this year, it's been a while since I posted any Longarm covers. Here are a couple of recent books in the series that I can highly recommend. The outline for LONGARM AND THE HANGTREE VENGEANCE was written in longhand on hotel stationery at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin a couple of years ago. The title for LONGARM AND THE PINE BOX PAYOFF was given to me by my daughter Shayna, and since the plot grew directly from that, she deserves some of the credit (or blame, as the case may be). Anyway, I think they're both pretty darn good books.

Longarm and the Dwarf's Darling -- Tabor Evans

LONGARM AND THE DWARF’S DARLING is another good entry in the Longarm series by Peter Brandvold, writing as Tabor Evans. In this one, Longarm is sent to Wyoming to track down a missing witness in a murder case. The defendant is the dwarf of the title, the villainous Titus Turley, whose hired guns have just about taken over the town of Chugwater and murdered the mayor. The courageous sheriff of the town has the dwarf locked up in jail, but if Longarm can’t locate the missing witness (who happens to be a beautiful woman, of course) by the time the circuit court judge arrives, the sheriff will have to release Turley to continue his reign of terror. Naturally, the dwarf’s gunmen are on the witness’s trail, too, with orders to kill her before Longarm can find her and bring her back.

With a set-up like this, you know there’ll be plenty of action in the book, and as usual on that score, Brandvold doesn’t disappoint. He writes some of the best shoot-outs in the business, and his eye for detail, his tongue-in-cheek humor, and his knack for dialogue make this novel a fast, very entertaining read. After not reading any Longarms for a while, I’m having a great time getting back into the series these days.

Longarm and the Hangtree Vengeance -- Tabor Evans

I got my copies of this one today. It's a January '08 book, but it ought to start showing up in stores during the week between Christmas and New Year's. I thought it turned out pretty well, and I'm also fond of it because the outline for it was written in longhand on hotel stationery during the World Fantasy Convention in Austin last year -- one of many outlines I've scribbled in hotel rooms over the years. I don't travel often, but I like to keep working when I do.

Longarm and the Holy Smokes Gang -- Tabor Evans

A while back when I read Peter Brandvold’s second Longarm novel under the Tabor Evans house-name, LONGARM AND THE WOLF WOMEN, I enjoyed it enough that I had to backtrack and find his first one, LONGARM AND THE HOLY SMOKES GANG. I’m happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed it, too.

In this one, Longarm (who is actually Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long, of course) is assigned to find the hide-out of a gang of would-be revolutionaries who have been looting gold shipments to finance their planned rebellion against the U.S. government. Once Longarm has located the outlaw stronghold, he’s supposed to contact the army and let them handle the job of breaking up the gang. Well, if you’ve ever read very many Longarm novels, you won’t be surprised that things don’t turn out exactly that way. Brandvold throws in a few nice twists and turns in the plot to go with his usual blend of dryly humorous dialogue and fast-paced action. As a character, Longarm is a lot of fun to write (and I can still say that after fifteen years on the series myself), and Brandvold does a fine job of capturing that quality. You can tell he’s enjoying himself, and it follows that the reader will, too. This is another one I’m glad to recommend for fans of series Westerns.

Longarm and the Wolf Women -- Tabor Evans

One thing about writing for a house-name series, unless there’s some continuity involved that you have to keep up with, you tend to be less interested in reading other authors’ entries in that series. At least, that’s the case with me. And I certainly don’t read somebody else’s book in a series while I’m trying to write a book in the same series. That just leads to overload.

For that reason, I don’t read many Longarm novels anymore. However, I get in the mood for one now and then, since I was a Longarm fan for years before I began writing them. So recently I picked up LONGARM AND THE WOLF WOMEN, #341 in the long-running series. Longarm (who is actually Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long, for those of you who don’t know) is assigned to track down a crazed mountain man and the mountain man’s two beautiful but equally vicious daughters who have been murdering prospectors in Colorado. It’s a simple plot, but the author who’s behind the Tabor Evans house-name this time around makes the most of it by throwing in some other off-beat characters and a lot of very well-written action scenes and humorous dialogue. This novel reminded me somewhat of the movie BANDIDAS, for those of you who liked that, and I happen to know it’s one of the actual author’s favorite films.

I also know who wrote this book, but I’m not sure if he wants to be publicly identified or not, so I’ll err on the side of discretion. I’ll certainly be looking for more of his Longarm novels, and if you’re in the mood for a good series Western (besides the ones I write, of course), I recommend LONGARM AND THE WOLF WOMEN.

Longarm and the Golden Eagle Shoot-Out -- Tabor Evans

This book is either already out or will be any day now. Although the cover copy doesn't make any mention of it, Raider and Doc from the old J.D. Hardin series co-star with Longarm in this novel . . . for those of you who care about such things as old Adult Western series.

Longarm and the Hell Riders -- Tabor Evans

This is the August release in the series, and it features an outlaw gang with blazing skulls where their heads should be. I'm just guessing, of course, but I'd say that the author of this one must have been heavily influenced by Western pulps, Three Mesquiteers movies, comic books, and things like that.

Longarm and the Bayou Treasure -- Tabor Evans

Those of you who enjoy swamp novels might like this one.