Top Gun

by

Gordon D. Shirreffs

Get a copy here from Wolfpack Publishing!

Dade Averill was fed up with being a gunslick. Before getting locked into the path he’d been on for years, he’d wanted more out of life than the clothes on his back and the pair of silver-inlaid Colts on his hips.

When an old friend pleaded for his help to fight off a bunch of killers, he wanted no part of it but couldn’t simply turn his back. He knew what he had to do, simply because he was the best. There was no rest for the weary, and no resting place for a top gun—except the final one.

I really enjoyed this book. It has a strong element of mystery, starting with Dade Averill being asked to help a friend while trying to leave his gunhand ways behind. Add another fast gun named Guthrie and an old flame named Mae, and things get intriguing right from the start. Then he meets the sheriff and his daughter, and everything shifts. The sheriff is murdered, and Chris Guthrie, the prime suspect, is locked up. But Averill suspects he’s not the killer, so he sets out to uncover the truth while staying alive. Eventually, everything unravels, leading to a final bloody showdown. 

Shirreffs is at his storytelling best here, crafting a broad range of characters, any of whom could be the killer. I read the paperback pictured below—the cover art is excellent, and the pages have that wonderful old book smell. Originally published in 1957, the edition I read dates back to the mid-to-late 1970s.