��Booklist Review of Allingham; The Long Journey Home

Allingham: The Long Journey Home. Horst, John C. (Author) May 2015. 238 p. Five Star, hardcover, $25.95. (9781432829605).   Clarence Allingham is a New York cop who has become a U.S. marshal in Arizona Territory. In this completion of a trilogy, the tough, always analytical marshal loses his will to live after his beautiful wife dies in childbirth. He sinks into a romantic state of self-pity in which he converses, charmingly, with his wife’s ghost. A range war breaks out, seemingly directed at Allingham’s friends in the powerful Hall family, but a phalanx of lawmen cannot say why. Allingham’s deductive powers are required, but not even his old friend, the Polish Pinkerton Stosh Gorski, can pull Allingham from his delusions. A new love at last brings Allingham onto the scene, though he plays a minor role, necessary only to crack a mystery that remains stubbornly murky. Meanwhile, Horst introduces the reader to a brilliant young artist, two calculating mistresses, a forger, several assassins, a likable old prospector, and a kid who can’t stop masturbating named Onan. Horst’s popularity is probably explained by his gift for these vividly rendered characters, who sometimes veer into the fantastic territory of Max Brand. — John Mort
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