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The Sharpshooter
When the powerful and blood-hungry Jeremiah Belden seeks revenge against Evelyn, the woman he blames for his son's death, it is up to legendary sharpshooter Mitch Coldwell to stop him. Original.
182 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 4, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 18, 2011
Mitch Coldwell, the sharpshooter of the title, was not the man he used to be. A trick-shot artist, he'd accidentally killed his twelve year old son performing when the boy moved his head at the last second.
That started his drinking, his wife left him, and he'd slowly sunk into a shell of what he had been. He lost his wild west show to drinking and gambling, a businessman named Jeremiah Belden, and now worked as a performer in his old business.
He was also known as a rummy around town, generally laughed at, and a pretty young nurse named Evelyn Saunders was the only one who was nice to him, seemed concerned about his well-being.
So when the business with Steve Belden, Jeremiah's son, caused bad feelings between her and the old man, Mitch decided to get involved.
You see, Steve was a spoiled young man with a temper. An argument with a man over Evelyn escalated and when the man walked away, young Belden shot him three times in the back. No one figured he would ever spend a minute in jail. They hadn't reckoned on an honest sheriff and an even more uncorruptible judge. Young Belden was going to hang.
And old Jeremiah blamed Evelyn.
The night before the hanging, a jailbreak was attempted. Someone had slipped Steve a gun and a key, a fight broke out, resulting in two deputies, and Steve, killed.
Jeremiah Belden was even more incensed, swearing revenge on Evelyn.
So when she disappears a day or two later, Mitch starts asking questions. Her father claims she left town. The train conductor swears he saw her get on the train. The sheriff seems strangely uncooperative.
Mitch keeps snooping around. He realizes he's onto something when a gunshot from an alley, the bullet hitting him in the shoulder, rings out one night.
He knows Jeremiah has done something with Evelyn and he seems to be the only one who cares.
Ed Gorman is a master at everything he writes. A fine western, there was one twist at the end that completely surprised me.
That started his drinking, his wife left him, and he'd slowly sunk into a shell of what he had been. He lost his wild west show to drinking and gambling, a businessman named Jeremiah Belden, and now worked as a performer in his old business.
He was also known as a rummy around town, generally laughed at, and a pretty young nurse named Evelyn Saunders was the only one who was nice to him, seemed concerned about his well-being.
So when the business with Steve Belden, Jeremiah's son, caused bad feelings between her and the old man, Mitch decided to get involved.
You see, Steve was a spoiled young man with a temper. An argument with a man over Evelyn escalated and when the man walked away, young Belden shot him three times in the back. No one figured he would ever spend a minute in jail. They hadn't reckoned on an honest sheriff and an even more uncorruptible judge. Young Belden was going to hang.
And old Jeremiah blamed Evelyn.
The night before the hanging, a jailbreak was attempted. Someone had slipped Steve a gun and a key, a fight broke out, resulting in two deputies, and Steve, killed.
Jeremiah Belden was even more incensed, swearing revenge on Evelyn.
So when she disappears a day or two later, Mitch starts asking questions. Her father claims she left town. The train conductor swears he saw her get on the train. The sheriff seems strangely uncooperative.
Mitch keeps snooping around. He realizes he's onto something when a gunshot from an alley, the bullet hitting him in the shoulder, rings out one night.
He knows Jeremiah has done something with Evelyn and he seems to be the only one who cares.
Ed Gorman is a master at everything he writes. A fine western, there was one twist at the end that completely surprised me.
October 15, 2018
The main character of this story is a very flawed, yet good man named Mitch Coldwell. It is in the last decade of the nineteenth century and Mitch is a pistol sharpshooter in a wild west show. One of his acts was to shoot a cigarette out of the mouth of his son. For reasons that are not explained, something goes wrong and he shoots his son in the head, killing him. As a consequence, his wife leaves him, and he crawls into a bottle of alcohol.
Mitch lives in a town owned and controlled by Jeremiah Belden, and his son Steve is scheduled to be hanged for murder. There is a jailbreak where two deputies and Steve are killed. Steve killed a man over a woman named Evelyn and Jeremiah blames her for his son’s death. Mitch is now friendly with Evelyn, so he is rapidly interjected between Evelyn and Jeremiah.
Despite his issues with alcohol and deep grief over the death of his son, Mitch takes up Evelyn’s cause when she supposedly flees town. From this point of so-far largely routine business, the plot takes a rapid and unexpected turn at the end. Very little is what it seems to be and it was nearly the death of Mitch, who is shot and beaten several times.
An interesting sidelight is the description of an insane asylum of the time period and how bad it was for the people that ended up as patients there. While Mitch cannot free them from their chains and cages, he deals very effectively with a brutal, sadistic guard.
The story is well written and unlike many other western novels, bullets are not flying all the time. There is a lot of thought and consideration of the tragic circumstances of Mitch’s life and how he tries to live now.
Mitch lives in a town owned and controlled by Jeremiah Belden, and his son Steve is scheduled to be hanged for murder. There is a jailbreak where two deputies and Steve are killed. Steve killed a man over a woman named Evelyn and Jeremiah blames her for his son’s death. Mitch is now friendly with Evelyn, so he is rapidly interjected between Evelyn and Jeremiah.
Despite his issues with alcohol and deep grief over the death of his son, Mitch takes up Evelyn’s cause when she supposedly flees town. From this point of so-far largely routine business, the plot takes a rapid and unexpected turn at the end. Very little is what it seems to be and it was nearly the death of Mitch, who is shot and beaten several times.
An interesting sidelight is the description of an insane asylum of the time period and how bad it was for the people that ended up as patients there. While Mitch cannot free them from their chains and cages, he deals very effectively with a brutal, sadistic guard.
The story is well written and unlike many other western novels, bullets are not flying all the time. There is a lot of thought and consideration of the tragic circumstances of Mitch’s life and how he tries to live now.
February 8, 2024
Spur award winning author Ed Gorman had an incredible imagination. He wrote some of the best westerns ever done, in my opinion. He also had some intriguing mysteries and some frightening horror novels. This western is one of his more unique. It is at once a tale of love, revenge, redemption, alcoholism, and loss. It is a short, very unique western that is worth the read and may stick with you for longer than you think.
July 28, 2010
A good one. Gorman really does westerns well.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews