Last Train from Gun Hill/the Border Guidon

by Gordon D. Shirreffs

Two great action-packed Westerns—for one low price—from a Spur Award-winning author.
No one dares cross Craig Belden—until his son rapes and murders Matt Morgan's wife. And now Matt won't stop shooting until justice is done.

The Border Guidon: The last Union soldier left alive in the treacherous Arizona wastelands must ferret out ammunition stolen by the Confederates, even if he has to blow up the whole territory to do it.

156 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Gordon Donald Shirreffs was an American author of Western and young adult novels.

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read The Border Guidon more than 55 years ago and wanted to see if I still would enjoy reading it today. For the most part, it holds up for what it is, a male-adventure Western written in the classic mold. Shirreffs' writing strengths are his vivid writing and action scenes. His negative attitudes toward Native Americans are a product of his time. He handles the romance angle satisfactorily enough. His iron-assed protagonist gets run through the wringer and keeps on ticking. Amazing stuff. Anyway, I found it a diverting and entertaining read, which is all I require of the occasional Westen I check out.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two Shirreffs books again. The first is about a horrible crime that happens to a lawman's wife and the big time rancher protecting the perpetrator. Two stubborn, unyielding men who were once friends crashing into each other. The story is pretty by the numbers and familiar, but well handled.

The second is very grim and dark, a bit excessively so. We start in a cavalry (then called dragoon) fort where Typhus has broken out. The CO is a worthless drunk. They are running out of food and water. The local Apache have a strong leader and are killing off patrols. Pretty much everything that can possibly go wrong, has gone wrong, all at once. ONE MAN makes it out, and tries to carry out his orders.

From there it becomes a bit less misery porn and turns more into a normal western story but it left such a bad taste in my mouth I couldn't really enjoy the story.

Shireffs is a capable enough author but he spends way too much energy making things miserable and gritty and harsh, and making the characters bleak and everything awful like The Searchers was. This does not necessarily make for a pleasant, entertaining read.