Kirk Hamilton

 Dead Man's Dollars

by

Kirk Hamilton

(Keith Hetherington)

Wade Coburn was down on his luck, so when he happened across a chance to make money, he took it. His luck changed, all right—but it got worse.

Thrown into a Mexican jail, beaten to within an inch of his life, threatened with execution by firing squad, Wade realized he'd made a bad mistake. So when he was given a second chance, he snatched at it—and was plunged headlong into a tale of cross and double-cross.

But still Wade wouldn't allow himself to be beaten. He strapped on his Colt and made a fight of it—to prove himself a man, and to help two beautiful women against a kill-happy tyrant!

When something looks too good to be true, it usually is, and Wade Coburn learns that the hard way in a Mexican jail. After a savage beating and a date with a firing squad, he’s thrown one last lifeline: haul a wagon and a corpse back across the border, and don't come back. 

Coburn takes the deal, but the whole setup smells wrong. When he discovers the body is just a cover for something far more valuable, another door opens, and he walks straight into hell.

A solid yarn, this one. Plenty of action delivered in classic Hetherington style: fast‑paced, hard‑edged, and packed tight despite the short length. These may be quick reads, but there’s a lot crammed into every page.

You can get this on Amazon or from Piccadilly Publishing. 4/5. 

Darcy Tindale

 The Fall Between

by

Darcy Tindale

In a small town full of secrets, the past never stays buried.

When twelve-year-old Kayleen Ellis vanishes from her home in the rural town of Muswellbrook, Detective Rebecca Giles is called to investigate. Within hours, she's hailed a hero – the case is closed, the missing girl is found and a string of local burglaries have been solved.

But the celebration doesn't last long. The next morning, the body of a young farmhand is discovered floating in a cattle trough. Giles must uncover answers to this brutal death, and she soon starts to suspect a connection between the disappearance, the murder and her mother's mysterious drowning thirty years ago.

Now, in a community where loyalties run deep and grudges last generations, Giles must face the ghosts of her past before the killer strikes again.

Jewellery theft and a body dumped in a water trough mark only the opening salvo for Detective Rebecca Giles.  

She’s assaulted at the murder scene, nearly drowned, and the attacker escapes. Shaken and injured, Giles pins the blame on the wrong man. Then there’s Sticky Pete, forever hovering at the edges of the investigation, desperate for her attention. When a young girl turns up dead, the question becomes unavoidable: is a serial predator moving through their rural patch?

Tindale delivers a tight, well‑paced story, and Giles herself is a compelling mix of grit, trauma, and stubborn resolve. The plot keeps twisting right up to the final chapters, making full use of the Australian rural‑crime resurgence.

It wasn’t my top pick in the genre, but it was solid, engaging, and absolutely worth the read. 4/5.

Kirk Hamilton

 Luck of the Drifter

by

Kirk Hamilton

(Keith Hetherington)

Purchase here!

Drifter Ben Gannon was out of work and a long way from Texas. The best he could manage was tending a high country line camp for Hank Pettus’ Broken Spur ranch. It meant being snowed in for the winter, living off poor rations and constantly battling the Montana cold, but Ben reckoned he could manage it.

But as soon as he hit the mountains, a man he’d never seen before tried to kill him. Fortunately Ben Gannon knew how to handle himself in a tight spot … but those tight spots, they just kept on coming. The high country held more than its share of desperadoes … and it seemed that each and every one of them wanted the man from Texas dead.

Every now and then you get a western that stands out from the rest. This is one of those.

Ben Gannon hits the Broken Spur ranch looking for work, not knowing he’s already crossed paths with the owner’s son , Trace Pettus , in a brutal dust‑up back in town. All Gannon wants now is distance and a quiet line camp, a roof over his head, and a chance to stay clear of Trace and his hard‑riding friends.

The line camp gives him no such peace. A rustler beats him there, and Gannon is forced to gun the man down. Before he can catch his breath, Trace and his friends show up, take the dead rustler for the reward, and leave Gannon to die in the blizzard. They should’ve known better. Gannon is a hard man to kill.

While this takes place, rustlers strike Broken Spur and drive off prime beef. When the truth finally shakes loose, Gannon is handed the job of running the thieves to ground and bringing them in. But there’s a joker in the deck — the dead rustler’s brother. He’s out for blood, and when he murders Trace Pettus and Gannon is blamed, the drifter is left with two choices: a bullet or a rope.

Gannon figures a bullet is quicker.

A standout Western set against snow‑choked country, packed with action and painted in broad, icy strokes that make you feel the cold right through your coat. I tore through it in one sitting. If I ever read it back when Cleveland first published it, I sure don’t remember it. Which probably means I never came across it.

It can now be purchased in eBook form from Piccadilly Publishing. 5/5  

Robert Vaughan

 The Town that Wouldn't Die

(The Crocketts #4)

by

Robert Vaughan

Will Crockett never expected to win a saloon in Sulphur Springs on the turn of a poker card. He tried to hand it back, but the previous owner wouldn’t take it. Only when Will rode into town did he learn the reason.

Sulphur Springs was under the iron grip of Sheriff Sidney Greenwall and his hand‑picked deputies. They bled every storekeeper and business owner for half their earnings, calling it a tax. And if anyone refused, Greenwall—who also served as judge—made sure the trial was quick and the hanging even quicker.

With the arrival of Will and his brother Gid, the townsfolk finally saw a glimmer of hope. Maybe the Crockett brothers were the answer to their prayers. When Will was shot down, that hope flickered, but the Crocketts were tough men, and it would take more than hot lead to stop them from breaking Greenwall’s hold on the town.

I really enjoyed this story by Robert Vaughan. Most of his westerns I’ve read over the years have been top‑notch—tight writing, strong characters, and the kind of action western readers devour. I’ve read a couple books from this series, and it’s easy to see why it’s one of his most popular. Definitely add it to your to‑be‑read list. It’s just a shame Robert isn’t around anymore to keep these fantastic stories coming. 5/5

You can get it here! Or from the Wolfpack Publishing store. 

William M. James

Border Killing

(Apache #22)

by

William M. James 

Cuchillo Oro, the powerful Apache who calls no man master, takes a wife—a white woman. Immediately the life of the two newly-weds becomes a bloodbath. A relentless gang of killer outlaws with a bitter grudge from way back, dogs their trail, trigger-fingers itching for murder and vengeance.

And Cuchillo has nowhere to run. In ultimate betrayal, his own people turn against him in violence as Apache clashes with Apache to the death.

As deadly forces closes in, Cuchillo is alone, fighting for a marriage doomed to breed on blood and destruction.

Blood on his wedding day, and more blood spilled after. This Apache should never have taken a bride, but the woman he married was tougher than rawhide. She went hand‑to‑hand with an Apache warrior and beat him, and later stood her ground against vicious killers who thought she’d be easy prey.

I didn’t find this entry quite as strong as others in the series, but it was still a solid read. The prose was crisp, the pace never faltered, and there was plenty of action to keep the pages turning.

You can get this book from Amazon or Piccadilly Publishing. 4/5 

Norman A. Fox

 The Thundering Trail

by

Norman A. Fox

He rode home to bury a father and inherit a war.

When Chan Loring finds his foster father dying from an outlaw's bullet, he inherits two impossible tasks: drive four thousand longhorns across a thousand miles of hostile trail to a promised Montana basin, and recover a small black metal box from the man who pulled the trigger.

That man is Caesar Rondeen—saloon kingpin, master schemer, and the engine behind a twenty-year feud with the Lorings. Rondeen is already one step ahead, his spies sown every mile from Texas to Whispering Basin, and a revelation ready to stop Chan cold: Chan is no orphan foundling at all, but a Rondeen by blood—son of the very outlaw King Loring shot down years ago.

But Caesar Rondeen has held his last ace too long. As Chan pushes the herd through waterless wasteland, Comanche country, granger law, and outlaw ambush—with a bristling foster-brother at his side and the half-Spanish, half-Scots daughter of his rival riding every mile alongside him—the truth unraveling around him may be the one thing that sets him free. The trail decides everything. The only question is whether Chan will survive long enough to let it.

Chan Loring reached home just in time to watch his father die, and to hear the old man’s final command. Drive four thousand longhorns north. Steal a black box from Caesar Rondeen. Two tasks that sounded hard enough, but proved far tougher than Chan ever imagined.

This is a story built on secrets and riddled with lies. As Chan pushes the herd toward the northern line, Rondeen throws everything he has into stopping him. Yet even reaching the settlement called Whispering doesn’t end the trouble. Another man is already there, and he intends to fight tooth and nail to keep what he claims is his.

It’s not the strongest Fox tale I’ve read recently, but it’s still a solid yarn, packed with action, treachery, and enough twists to keep the reader guessing until the dust finally settles. Well written as usual and sure to have western readers enjoying the ride. 4.5/5

This book will be available from Wolfpack Publishing on the 11th of August. 

Get it here!

J.E. MacDonnell

 The Pawn

(A Peter Bentley Story)

by

J.E. Macdonnell

Captain Peter Bentley and the destroyer HMS Wind Rode are chosen for a mission so perilous that success depends upon remaining invisible. 

Deep inside enemy waters, Bentley must hide his ship off the Japanese coast, waiting for the moment a secret new super-battleship leaves harbour. One brief radio signal will summon the Allied fleet but if his destroyer is detected, the operation is doomed and every man aboard faces almost certain destruction. 

Bentley knew he was the pawn in this lethal game of naval chess and that his ship’s survival depended on several factors. Outnumbered, hunted by enemy warships and submarines, and forced to navigate treacherous waters under cover of darkness, Bentley and his crew must rely on courage, skill and unwavering discipline to survive.

The tale of how Peter Bentley earned his VC is a fast‑moving naval adventure that keeps the pages turning. Bentley and Wind Rode are sent north on a simple mission: wait for a Japanese battleship to emerge and signal the rest of the fleet. Once warned, the fleet will close in and destroy the enemy ship.

But the plan unravels quickly, and Bentley soon finds himself locked in a life‑or‑death fight against a behemoth of the sea.

This was one of my favourite MacDonnell novels years ago, and it still is — well written, action‑packed, and an all‑round enjoyable read about the Australian navy in World War II.

This story will soon be available from Piccadilly Publishing. 5/5