Wayne D. Dundee's Blog, page 8

Noteworthy Reads: BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD by Bill Crider

This is the twentieth title in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, and if you haven’t been keeping up … well, why the heck not? These are some highly entertaining mysteries written by a highly skilled author.
BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD is no exception. Everything readers have come to expect from a Crider/Rhodes tale is here: A nicely rendered rural setting, a wide range of colorful characters, a nice dose of humor, snappy banter, and a solidly plotted mystery. The latter includes a couple of murders, drug trafficking, bull riding, a feral hog stampede, and maybe even some ghosts. Among other things.
Sheriff Rhodes is the anchor, the center post to all these goings-on and the one who will eventually get it all sorted out. Author Crider is the puppet-master who pulls all the strings on the events that keep Rhodes so busy. Together, as always, they make a formidable pair.
A fine series and a fine new addition to it.Strongly recommended.

Another Look: THE GLORY STOMPERS (1967)

Throughout the middle 1960s and into the ‘70s, most of my movie-going was at outdoor drive-in theaters. For these basic reasons: It was cheaper, you usually got a triple feature (more for your money), and if you were a roaring pile of teenaged hormones like I happened to be back then, there were always back seat activities with which to pass the time if (a) you were lucky enough to have a date equally inclined toward, er, romance; or (b) if the movie(s) stunk too bad. In the case of triple features there was generally a good chance that at least one of the films on tap was a stinker (which gave helpful incentive toward the back seat thing).
In the summer of 1967, when THE GLORY STOMPERS was first released (or escaped you could rightfully make the argument) Pam and I had been married less than a year and were both only nineteen. Married, though still not adverse to a bit of back seat frolicking.Which is the only way I can explain how I/we could have seen STOMPERS so many times yet come away remembering so little about it. (Okay, maybe it was some kind of intuitive self-protection thing --- you know, like when your brain shuts out a horrific experience so as not to forever traumatize you.) At any rate, we must have seen STOMPERS at least a half dozen times over the course of that summer and probably part of the next … always as a “fill in” to something else we had actually gone to see. It was awful the first time we saw it and only got worse with repeated viewings. But biker flicks (which Pam hated in general) were big back then so there were plenty of them available to help round out the bill as a “filler”.
Flash forward almost forty years to the other night when cable’s Turner Classic Movies ran a showing of THE GLORY STOMPERS. After I got past the shock of wondering how it could be included in anything under the heading of “Classic”, I couldn’t resist … I DVR-ed it to see how it held up. Not surprisingly, it was as bad as ever. In a sense, I guess you could say it held up good as far as matching my memory of it being so bad.Other than that, what struck me was how much I had totally forgotten about its content. There was Dennis Hopper chewing up scenery like nobody’s business (alternately in a drugged-out haze or frenzy, yet providing the only thing close to true acting found anywhere in the whole damn flick); there was terribly wooden Jody McCrea and sexless Chris Noel as the romantic “leads”; there was menacing Robert Tessier scaring the shit out of you just by being himself … and – even more shocking that STOMPERS being associated with anything termed “classic” - there was Jock Mahoney in an important supporting role! Jock Mahoney … The Range Rider, Yancy Derringer, Tarzan … one of Hollywood’s all-time greatest stuntmen, perhaps second only to Yakima Canutt … I’ve been a huge JM fan ever since I was a little kid, yet I had ABSOLUTELY NO RECOLLECTION of him being in this movie.

Yeesh! Pam and I must have steamed up those car windows far more aggressively than I remembered.But, ultimately, it didn’t really matter. THE GLORY STOMPERS was gloriously worth missing --- even with ol’ Jock in it.I might try it again in another forty years or so … But not any sooner.

ANYBODY ELSE REMEMBER A HORNY COWPOKE NAMED 'CHANCE'?

In the late 60s/early 70s, one of the “adult” paperback houses – Beacon I think, or maybe Midwood – published three or four books featuring an Old West protagonist called only “Chance”. These were not lighthearted parodies or anything like that. These were fairly traditional shoot-em-ups with lots of action and tough confrontations --- and plenty of graphic sex (although perhaps somewhat tame by today’s standards). They were, in fact, the precursors to the Slocums, Longarms, etc., that would eventually follow in a wave of what would come to be known as “adult Westerns”.
But, as far as packaging, the Western aspect of the Chance books was downplayed almost to the point of nonexistence. The titles were generic teasers that could have applied to almost any storyline and not even the cover blurbs, as I recall, gave much of a hint as to what was inside. It was only after you started reading that you realized you were in an Old West setting with a tough hombre named Chance whose guns --- the one riding in a holster on his hip as well as the one, er, located nearby --- were fast and always loaded for actin.
Various relocations over the years have resulted in the copies I had of these books being long lost. I don’t remember either the titles or the byline of the author. I just remember enjoying them … I was a lot younger then and still full of you-know-what and vinegar so I admittedly bought them, at least in the beginning, for the sex but also recognized that there was a pretty decent writer at work here spinning pretty good Western yarns around all the humping and bumping.
Somewhere, a while back … as a result of immersing my own writing and reading more and more into the Western genre, I guess … the memory of these books crawled out of a dusty corner of my brain and I’ve been thinking about them, on and off, ever since. I’d like to get my hands on a copy or two and see how they hold up after all this time. Maybe I’ll be disappointed, maybe I’ll still find them to be pretty good.
So I put it out to any all Western fans out there who happen to be reading this:Anybody else there remember these books? The titles? The writer (or writers) behind the byline? Any background, any light that can be shed I would greatly appreciate.

Available Now - SHERLOCK HOLMES: ZOMBIES OVER LONDON by Stephen Mertz

Sherlock Holmes faces perhaps the greatest challenge yet in his long-running war with his arch-enemy Professor Moriarty—the living dead walk, hungry for flesh and doing the bidding of the evil professor!

From a dirigible carrying a deadly cargo high in the sky over London to a sinister castle lurking in the beautiful English countryside, the Great Detective and his friend Dr. Watson battle to thwart Moriarty's latest scheme to wreak havoc and loot one of the world's great cities. Thousands of lives hang in the balance, and it will take all of Holmes' incredible deductive skills to figure out just what a young writer named H.G. Wells and the German teenager Albert Einstein have to do with Moriarty's plans!

Legendary thriller writer Stephen Mertz takes on some of the world's most iconic characters in this fast-paced tale that is part mystery novel, part horror yarn, and part steampunk inventiveness. It's a breathless adventure that's sure to entertain from first page to last! 

WD here: I had the pleasure of reading an ARC copy of this, and enjoyed the heck out of it. Having dabbled a bit in the mystery/detective genre with my own writing, it's probably near-sacrilege to admit, but I've never read many of the classic Holmes stories. I've read enough to know, however, that author Mertz does a fine job of capturing the character and speech patterns of the main characters along with the time period and locale. After establishing that, he quickly (and basically non-stop) stirs in the action, excitement, horrific menace, a handful of subplots, a bit of humor, and plenty of surprise twists. Strongly recommended!

Available Now: TRIPLE CROSS by John Hegenberger

It's 1988, and small-town P.I. Eliot Cross is searching for his long-lost father. Then, a CIA informant says that Dad has been in deep cover for over twenty years. Now, the informant's been murdered and Eliot is on the run. Scrambling to clear his name, Eliot journeys from Washington D.C. to Havana, Cuba, struggling against deadly drug-runners, syndicate hit-men and his own violent nature. But the worst is yet to come, as Eliot discovers his father is at the center of an international conspiracy, a nuclear threat and a double cross...or is that a triple cross? Veteran author John Hegenberger spins a yarn that is both an exciting thriller and a compelling piece of "noirstalgia", expertly recreating a sense of late-Eighties paranoia and double-dealing and painting a vivid picture of Washington and Cuba during that era, as well as saving a shocking twist for the very end. TRIPL3 CROSS is pure reading entertainment.
Above is the  "cover blurb" for TRIPL3 CROSS.Advance praise, based on ARCs provided by the publisher, was also provided by a couple fellows who have taken a lap or two around the PI track themselves. They had this to say:


"It’s 1988, and when p.i.  Eliot Cross finds out that his father didn’t die the way Cross had been told long ago, Cross decides to find out the truth.  He winds up in Cuba where nobody wants him to be, and he discovers not only the truth about his father but about secrets that others would rather have hidden.  It’s a fast-moving tale of mystery and espionage that will engage you right from the start.  Check it out." – Bill Crider  

“In TRIPL3 CROSS, John Hegenberger skillfully blends elements of the traditional PI genre with those of an espionage thriller and comes up with an exciting, entertaining tale sure to please a wide spectrum of readers. Eliot Cross is a tough Columbus, Ohio PI with depth and complexities beyond the norm. At the core of his hard exterior and too-quick temper is the emptiness he feels over a father long thought dead. What ensues after he learns that his father may actually still be alive, makes for a fast-paced thrill ride that propels Eliot relentlessly in search of the truth, all the while dodging the Syndicate, the CIA, and ultimately Castro’s thugs in the heart of 1988 Cuba. A great debut for a protagonist readers are sure to want to see more of!” - Wayne D. Dundee
You'll want to check this one out. You'll be glad you did.

Noteworthy Reads: THE LAST WAR CHIEF (Outlaw Ranger #4) by James Reasoner

I’ve often marveled at the mastery with which James Reasoner sets the “hook” for his stories --- it absolutely *compels* the reader to want to find out what happens next. And what comes next in anything from Reasoner, of course, is never a disappointment. THE LAST WAR CHIEF is yet another fine example of this – on both counts.
The opening passages introduce us to the central figure of this tale. He goes by many names: To the folks of Dinsmore, Texas, he is the pathetic town drunk they call Old Pete or, occasionally, by his translated Indian name of Three Horses. His true Indian name is Pahitti Puuku. But in his mind, liquor-addled though it may be, he is The Last War Chief of the Commanche.
It takes the arrival in Dinsmore of a ruthless gang of killers and bank robbers, led by vicious Clete Fenner, to reawaken the warrior chief who has been all but drowned by the booze Three Horses has been pouring into himself. After the gang robs the Dinsmore bank, kills the town lawmen, shoots up other innocents, and leaves Three Horses lying in the dirt, beaten and publicly humiliated, something angry and determined rises up in the old man. He vows The Last War Chief will ride and fight again.
When the Outlaw Ranger, G.W. Braddock, shows up on the trail of the Fenner gang, Three Horses is fiercely intent on riding with him after the robber/killers. Braddock refuses the offer of help as firmly but delicately as possible, yet Three Horses won’t take no for an answer. Circumstances out on the trail finally unite the pair in a way that Braddock can’t deny and they ultimately close in on the outlaws together.
The conclusion is stirring, bittersweet, and altogether satisfying.
A great Western yarn, with more complexities and emotions than the standard fare, though still delivering plenty of gritty action.
Strongly recommended.

Available Now – The Lawyer: THE RETRIBUTIONERS by Wayne D. Dundee

J.D. Miller, aka The Lawyer, continues to hunt the men that slaughtered his family. His next target is Jules Despare who’s been riding with the Selkirk gang robbing banks. When the town of Emmett, Texas, is marked by the hardcases and the local marshal murdered, The Lawyer is asked by the town’s influential residents to track down the reprehensible outfit. But he has little use for the narrow-minded bigots that won’t stand behind the remaining deputy—a black man named Ernest Tell. After Tell resigns, he suggests a partnership with The Lawyer who refuses. It’s obvious, though, these two avengers are gunning for the same men and will eventually work together to settle old scores in THE RETRIBUTIONERS.
Best-selling, Western hardboiled author Wayne D. Dundee (The Empty Badge, The Guns of Vedauwoo) pens his second Lawyer book that is based on characters created by Edward A. Grainger, author of the Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles series.
WD here: This is the second book I’ve done in ‘The Lawyer’ series based on characters created by David Cranmer (aka Edward A. Grainger). I liked writing about this character again, trying to dig a little deeper into his psyche beyond the obvious quest for revenge that drives him. How could a man so previously immersed in law and justice become such a lethal avenging angel? The answer, I suggest, is that --- other than the matter of a “legal ruling” --- there really isn’t a whole lot of difference between what we call ‘justice’ … or personal vengeance or retribution. They’re all geared toward making someone pay for a wrong committed. It’s just that, when it’s taken on as a personal matter, there is no room for “legal loopholes”.Which also brings us to the title – THE RETRIBUTIONERS. As I explained to David when I submitted the manuscript, I don’t even know if there is such a word. If there isn’t, there should be. Number One, it conveys clearly what I was aiming for in the story; Number Two, I have personally always loved tales of retribution in books and movies; Number Three, I couldn’t help thinking that it sounded like it might have been the title for an entry in one of my favorite series --- the Matt Helm books by Donald Hamilton. (Not meant to imply my writing is anywhere near the level of Mr. Hamilton’s.)
I hope you give THE RETRIBUTIONERS a try. I think you’ll like it.

Noteworthy Reads: DEVIL YOU KNOW by Richard Prosch

The Peregrine, John Coburn, is back in a pair of stories from Richard Prosch. Any way you cut it, that comes out as good news.
Prosch is one of my favorite authors and Coburn is one of my favorite series characters.

DEVIL YOU KNOW, the lead piece, is the longer (almost novella length) of the two and is a welcome return to the grimmer, tougher Peregrine readers first met in the earliest tales in the series. Prosch’s stylistic flair, an array of colorful characters, and some nice touches of humor are all in evidence but what I really liked was the toughness and the action. In particular, there was a prolonged brawl that was written about as exciting and well as that kind of thing can be done. Throw in a mystery element and some clever twists toward the end and you’ve got just about all you’d want from a story.

DEVIL’S BARGAIN, the secondary piece, is more lighthearted and features the return of Coburn’s sometimes sidekick Bandy Murphy, who has roped the Peregrine into a scheme that involves trying to sell a wagonload of fast-rotting eggs. It turns out the eggs aren’t the only thing smelling up the landscape when they run afoul (no pun intended) of some folks trying to work the old badger game on unsuspecting travelers. Good fun and, again, colorful characters with some clever twists and, as always, Prosch’s great writing.

Strongly recommended.

The Emptiness of JULY

Upon reflection I have come to realize that, for me, the month of July no longer holds the attraction of being a time filled with sunny days, carefree outdoor activities, and a sense of summer’s bright heart and the exuberance of youth that it used to call forth.I guess it started with the dimming of July’s brightest heart --- my late wife Pam, who was born on July 14 but has been gone now for over eight years. It’s awkward and hard to “celebrate” the birthday of someone who has passed, but every year at this time I tell myself that what I’m celebrating is the fact she *was* born and thereby was able to be at my side for 41-plus years, making my time with her the best part of my life … That’s what I tell myself. But the empty place beside me is always there to remind me that she nevertheless is gone.
This year, the awareness of the emptiness surrounding me has only widened and deepened. Others are gone … either permanently or in different ways.Bear, the little half-blind, partially crippled poodle that was the last of “Pam’s dogs” she left behind for me to care for finally got so weak and sick that in March I had to put him down. Pardon me if it seems silly to include the loss of a dog in this, but Pam’s “babies” were very precious to her (there were three of them – Buttercup and Peanut being the other two) and I took my obligation to care for them in her absence very seriously. Bear may have been her favorite, and losing him was like another part of her that I had to let go of.July 4th marked the first anniversary of C.J. Henderson’s passing.In January we lost John Duncklee.In May we all lost Ron Scheer.Just this past week we lost Tom Piccirilli and Randy Johnson (not the baseball pitcher).These last four men I never met in person but knew them only through their work and/or social media. Funny how strong a kinship you can come to feel for some folks you never laid eyes on. And while the emptiness of their passing my not be as profound as the loss of a close relative or loved one, it still adds up.
The real kicker to start off the month was when my only daughter Michelle, son-in-law, grandkids, and great granddaughter decided to pull stakes and move to the state of Washington. When Pam and I moved to Ogallala in 1998, we bought a house that was built like a two-family structure --- i.e. the basement had its own kitchen, bathroom, living room, and four bedrooms. Pam hated to hear it, but I always joked that it was our “fall back” position in case we fell on hard times in our old age and had to rent out either the upstairs or down … Little did I know that “hard times” would come in the form of losing her. After that, I invited Michelle and her family to move in up upstairs. It made a financial break for both of us and, although there were times we intruded on one another, it worked out pretty well. Now that is gone, too.Bill, my oldest grandson, is sticking with me like he’s done right along. This fall or winter, when it’s cooler, we may move upstairs. But there’ll be no renting out any part of the house. It’s a lot emptier, but we’ll keep it to ourselves.I can already tell that the holidays are going to be a lot different. The 4thof July, for example, with no family picnic and watching evening fireworks with nobody going “ooohh … ahhh” (something I used to tease Pam and Michelle mercilessly about) just didn’t cut it.
I’m not writing this for anybody to feel sorry for me.I’m a pretty tough old bird, I’ve made it this far and still have a few more miles to go. And I always know there are a hell of a lot of other people who are far worse off than me.I’m merely reflecting on the changes life brings as the years pass by, the things and people we are forced to leave behind.I can’t say strongly enough to be sure and hang on tight to the things you care about while you’ve still got ‘em. You never know …
As for me, somebody once said that the word Lonely was invented for the rest of the world; the word Solitude was invented for writers.I’ve always enjoyed – treasured, even – my solitude. Pam did, too. There were many evenings, after dinner, when I’d go to my office to do some writing and she’d kick back to watch TV in her easy chair, surrounded by her dogs, and we might only say a handful of words to one another for the rest of the evening. But we knew each other was there. A house *feels* different when there’s another presence in it, even if the other person is nowhere in sight.Now, with Bill, thankfully, it’s sort of the same thing. After he gets home from work and dinner is over, he generally goes to his room to get online with some video gamer friends and I, as usual, go to my office to do some writing or reading.Solitude. Not a bad thing.
But the creeping, deepening sense of emptiness can be a bitch …

Another Look: LAW AND ORDER (1953 Western starring Ronald Reagan)

I caught this flick on cable the other night and was pleasantly surprised by how tough, taut, and entertaining it was (apart from a wholly uninspired title). In the lead role, Ronald Reagan plays Frame Johnson, a “town tamer” type lawman who has already cleaned up several towns and, at the start of this film, has a tight grip on Tombstone. Too tight, some say. When Johnson brings in yet another fugitive and then has to face down yet another lynch mob, he decides he’s had enough. He hangs up his gun, takes off his badge, and heads for the town of Cottonwood where he’s bought a ranch out in the country where he aims to settle down life his life free from upholding the law and the violence that comes with it. Accompanying him are his two brothers, Lute and Jimmy; he leaves behind his lady love Jeannie, who has been refusing to marry him while he was packing a badge, but they agree she will come as soon as he has his new place ready.No surprise that, as soon as they hit Cottonwood, the Johnsons quickly find out it is a hellhole of trouble and corruption under the thumb of one of Frame’s old enemies, Kurt Durling, who has a crippled hand and a seething hatred for Frame thanks to their last encounter. Gunfights, murder, lynching, and rustling all seem to be commonplace in and around Cottonwood. But Frame --- despite the pleas of his own brothers and pressure from a group of town elders who want him to take up the badge again and clean up Cottonwood like he has so many places before --- vows to stay out of it and tend strictly to getting his ranch ready so he can send for Jeannie.
Needless to say, the trouble only escalates. Finally, after one of his brothers is shot when *he* puts on a badge to try and make things better, Frame straps on his gun once more, pins on the badge of his fallen brother, and sets out to square things.The results are violent and ultimately satisfying. The bad guys get theirs, the good guys are left to pursue happier trails.
In addition to some obvious (though very loose) parallels to the real life story of Wyatt Earp and his brothers, this movie is based on a well-regarded book entitled Saint Johnson, written by novelist and famed screen writer W.R. Burnett. A version of the book was previously filmed (and considered a “bigger” picture) in 1932, also under the LAW AND ORDER title, starring Harry Carey and Walter Huston, with a screenplay co-written by John Huston. I watched part of this one on You Tube and it seemed to be very different than the Reagan version. Likely it stuck closer to Burnett’s book. Still, if you have an hour and twenty minutes to spare, the 1953 version with Reagan and company ain’t a bad way to spend it