Five Star First Edition Westerns - The Phantom Bandit: Western Stories

by Frank Bonham Edited by Bill Prozini, Bill Pronzini (Editor)

Frank Bonham's talent for combining picturesque historical and geographical settings with swiftly paced narratives makes him one of the premier Western writers of all time. Now, for the first time in book form, here is a collection of Frank Bonham's finest Western stories, selected and edited by Bill Pronzini. "A River Man Goes to War" is set at the beginning of the War Between the States. In "Wanted!" a former captain of the Army, Swain Barker, has been convicted of embezzling. In "Hell in Dakota" rancher Sam Randall, like everyone else on the range, has his back against the wall. In "Death Valley Silver" Jim Bayliss knows Death Valley well from his time as a cartographer with the Army. Frank Bonham achieved excellence as a noted author for his contributions to western fiction. Bill Pronzini lives with his wife, author Marcia Muller, in Petaluma, California.

250 pages, Hardcover

Published March 21, 2005

Reviews

[Joe Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pleasant, entertaining collection of westerns. Bonham’s writing is descriptive and the dialogue and behavior of the characters, particularly the heroes in each of the stories, is believable. While there is gunplay in some of the stories, it is not excessively done. With most of the stories, you have an idea how they will end. The fun in reading them is how the plots get to the end.

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Collection of Short Stories

A collection of stories rewritten by a very prolific western writer that wrote in the shadows of so many other writers. However, his writing also lead to numerous screen plays, which were based on his books. I read this set of short stories in 1948. Many authors and years ago. This is an excellent read for the genre.....ER