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Calamity Jane #8
The Road to Ratchet Creek
A good town to die in ...
There are six passengers on the stagecoach from Promontory to Ratchet Creek -- among them a beautiful singer with bad intentions, a lawman dressed in deacon's garb ... and a red-headed hellion named Martha Jane Canary, who's hell with a whip and quicker on the draw than most male gun artists. But Calamity Jane has met her match in Marshal Solly Cole, which is just as well, since they're both rolling into more bad news than ever. Because Ratchet Creek's home to a lot more than the lowlife swindler that Cole's been trailing; it's a hotbed of mystery and death that abandoned the law long ago. And for Cole, Calamity, and a kid named John Browning -- who, if he lives, could become the greatest gunsmith there ever was -- this snake pit in the Utah Territories might be a hard place to get to ... and a whole lot harder to get out of.
There are six passengers on the stagecoach from Promontory to Ratchet Creek -- among them a beautiful singer with bad intentions, a lawman dressed in deacon's garb ... and a red-headed hellion named Martha Jane Canary, who's hell with a whip and quicker on the draw than most male gun artists. But Calamity Jane has met her match in Marshal Solly Cole, which is just as well, since they're both rolling into more bad news than ever. Because Ratchet Creek's home to a lot more than the lowlife swindler that Cole's been trailing; it's a hotbed of mystery and death that abandoned the law long ago. And for Cole, Calamity, and a kid named John Browning -- who, if he lives, could become the greatest gunsmith there ever was -- this snake pit in the Utah Territories might be a hard place to get to ... and a whole lot harder to get out of.
- GenresWesterns
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1968
About the author
J.T. Edson
183 books79 followersJohn Thomas Edson is an English writer of Westerns.
He was born in 1928.He was obsessed with Westerns from an early age and often "rewrote" cowboy movies that he had seen at the cinema. One thing that always intrigued him was the minutiae—how did the baddie's gun jam? What were the mechanics of cheating at cards? How did Westerners really dress and speak?
His writing was helped to develop by a schoolteacher who encouraged him. Now lives in Leicester, Leicestershire.[citation needed]
During his 20s and 30s, Edson served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. Cooped up in barracks for long periods, he devoured books by the great escapist writers (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye and Edgar Wallace). He also sat through hours of movies starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn and his all-time favourite, Audie Murphy.
His first appearance in print was "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti in 1947. Acquiring a typewriter in the early 1950s and putting it to good use while posted to Hong Kong, by the time of his discharge he had written 10 Westerns, an early version of Bunduki and the first of the short detective-type stories starring Waco.
Upon leaving HM forces, JT won second prize (with Trail Boss) in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them, becoming a major earner for the company.
He had the need for supplementary income from time-to-time and also served as a postman, and the proprietor of a fish 'n' chip shop. Furthermore, he branched out as a writer and wrote five series of short stories (Dan Hollick, Dog Handler) for the Victor boys papers, and wrote the "box captions" for comic strips, which instilled discipline and the ability to convey maximum information with minimum words.
His writing career forged ahead when he joined Corgi Books in the late '60s, which gave JT exposure through a major publishing house, as well as the opportunity to branch out from the core Westerns into the Rockabye County, the science-fiction hero Bunduki and other series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson
He was born in 1928.He was obsessed with Westerns from an early age and often "rewrote" cowboy movies that he had seen at the cinema. One thing that always intrigued him was the minutiae—how did the baddie's gun jam? What were the mechanics of cheating at cards? How did Westerners really dress and speak?
His writing was helped to develop by a schoolteacher who encouraged him. Now lives in Leicester, Leicestershire.[citation needed]
During his 20s and 30s, Edson served in His Majesty's Armed Forces for 12 years as a Dog Trainer. Cooped up in barracks for long periods, he devoured books by the great escapist writers (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert McCraig, Nelson C. Nye and Edgar Wallace). He also sat through hours of movies starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn and his all-time favourite, Audie Murphy.
His first appearance in print was "Hints On Self-Preservation when attacked by a War Dog" in the Osnabrück camp magazine Shufti in 1947. Acquiring a typewriter in the early 1950s and putting it to good use while posted to Hong Kong, by the time of his discharge he had written 10 Westerns, an early version of Bunduki and the first of the short detective-type stories starring Waco.
Upon leaving HM forces, JT won second prize (with Trail Boss) in the Western division of a Literary Competition run by Brown & Watson Ltd, which led to the publication of 46 novels with them, becoming a major earner for the company.
He had the need for supplementary income from time-to-time and also served as a postman, and the proprietor of a fish 'n' chip shop. Furthermore, he branched out as a writer and wrote five series of short stories (Dan Hollick, Dog Handler) for the Victor boys papers, and wrote the "box captions" for comic strips, which instilled discipline and the ability to convey maximum information with minimum words.
His writing career forged ahead when he joined Corgi Books in the late '60s, which gave JT exposure through a major publishing house, as well as the opportunity to branch out from the core Westerns into the Rockabye County, the science-fiction hero Bunduki and other series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Edson
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 2, 2021
Not very sophisticated. Apart from a couple veiled references to sex, this could be a book for middle school boys. Everything is over-explained, and there is little subtlety in the characters or the plot.
October 6, 2015
This book was ok, the story line has some big problems though. In a nut shell it is about calamity Jane and John browning who meet by chance and both travel together. During the travel they meet drunkn' Indians and have rough times trying to get to their destination, while this is happening calm is constantly stepping on johns feelings. Along the way people try to take advantage of the deacon ( John ), and someone gets hurt....
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews