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Big Jim #1
The Night McLennan Died
Piccadilly Publishing, the Home of Great Western Fiction, celebrates Christmas 2016 by issuing no less than SIX new western series to its line-up ... all available at a special low price for the first seven days of publication!
LARRY AND STRETCH 1: DRIFT!
BIG JIM 1: THE NIGHT McLENNAN DIED
DRIFTER 1: SAVAGE
McALLISTER 1: McALLISTER ON THE COMANCHE CROSSING
BANNERMAN THE ENFORCER 1: THE ENFORCER
CLAY NASH 1: UNDERCOVER GUN
THE NIGHT McLENNAN DIED
The bullet that killed Chris Rand sounded the death-knell to one career and started another for the tall, tough and relentless Jim Rand -- the man they called Big Jim.
To strife-torn Libertad, a trouble-town on the Arizona-Mexico border, came Big Jim, hunting his brother's killer. It was inevitable that he should become involved in the struggle for power in Libertad, the conflict between Sheriff Luke Hillary, who had lost the use of his gun-arm, and the Block B outfit, the ten trigger-happy hellions led by the fearsome Old Man Burdette.
And never far behind Big Jim -- always lurking somewhere close -- was that pocket-picking, ugly little Mexican, Beninto Espina. The Mex sided Big Jim in the final hectic shown, and a strange alliance was born.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Few writers are ever fortunate enough to number their books in the hundreds, but legendary Australian writer Leonard F Meares was one of them. When he died in 1993, Len could lay claim to more than 700 published novels -- 746, to be precise -- the overwhelming majority of which were westerns.
Leonard Frank Meares was best known to western fans the world over as "Marshall Grover", creator of Texas trouble-shooters Larry and Stretch. He was born in Sydney, Australia, on 13 February 1921. The aspiring author bought his first typewriter in the mid-1950s with the intention of writing for radio and the cinema, but when this proved to be easier said than done, he decided to try his hand at popular fiction instead. Since a great many paperback westerns were being published locally, he set about writing one of his own. The result, Trouble Town, was published by the Cleveland Publishing Company in 1955.
His tenth yarn, Drift!, (1956), introduced his fiddle-footed knights-errant, Larry Valentine and Stretch Emerson, the characters for which he would eventually become so beloved. And nowhere was the author's quirky sense of humor more apparent than in these action-packed and always painstakingly plotted yarns.
Len never needed more than 24 hours to devise a new plot. "Irving Berlin once said that there are so many notes on a keyboard from which to create a new melody, and it's the same with writing on a treadmill basis."
At his most prolific, he could turn out around thirty books a year. These included stand-alone westerns and western series such as Bleak Creek, Rick and Hattie and Rampart County. He also wrote a number of crime novels and romances.
LARRY AND STRETCH 1: DRIFT!
BIG JIM 1: THE NIGHT McLENNAN DIED
DRIFTER 1: SAVAGE
McALLISTER 1: McALLISTER ON THE COMANCHE CROSSING
BANNERMAN THE ENFORCER 1: THE ENFORCER
CLAY NASH 1: UNDERCOVER GUN
THE NIGHT McLENNAN DIED
The bullet that killed Chris Rand sounded the death-knell to one career and started another for the tall, tough and relentless Jim Rand -- the man they called Big Jim.
To strife-torn Libertad, a trouble-town on the Arizona-Mexico border, came Big Jim, hunting his brother's killer. It was inevitable that he should become involved in the struggle for power in Libertad, the conflict between Sheriff Luke Hillary, who had lost the use of his gun-arm, and the Block B outfit, the ten trigger-happy hellions led by the fearsome Old Man Burdette.
And never far behind Big Jim -- always lurking somewhere close -- was that pocket-picking, ugly little Mexican, Beninto Espina. The Mex sided Big Jim in the final hectic shown, and a strange alliance was born.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Few writers are ever fortunate enough to number their books in the hundreds, but legendary Australian writer Leonard F Meares was one of them. When he died in 1993, Len could lay claim to more than 700 published novels -- 746, to be precise -- the overwhelming majority of which were westerns.
Leonard Frank Meares was best known to western fans the world over as "Marshall Grover", creator of Texas trouble-shooters Larry and Stretch. He was born in Sydney, Australia, on 13 February 1921. The aspiring author bought his first typewriter in the mid-1950s with the intention of writing for radio and the cinema, but when this proved to be easier said than done, he decided to try his hand at popular fiction instead. Since a great many paperback westerns were being published locally, he set about writing one of his own. The result, Trouble Town, was published by the Cleveland Publishing Company in 1955.
His tenth yarn, Drift!, (1956), introduced his fiddle-footed knights-errant, Larry Valentine and Stretch Emerson, the characters for which he would eventually become so beloved. And nowhere was the author's quirky sense of humor more apparent than in these action-packed and always painstakingly plotted yarns.
Len never needed more than 24 hours to devise a new plot. "Irving Berlin once said that there are so many notes on a keyboard from which to create a new melody, and it's the same with writing on a treadmill basis."
At his most prolific, he could turn out around thirty books a year. These included stand-alone westerns and western series such as Bleak Creek, Rick and Hattie and Rampart County. He also wrote a number of crime novels and romances.
118 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2016
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About the author
Marshall Grover
679 books11 followersLeonard Frank Meares (13 February 1921 – 4 February 1993) was an Australian writer of western fiction. He wrote over 700 Westerns for the Australian paperback publishers Cleveland and Horwitz using the pseudonym "Marshall McCoy", "Marshall Grover", "Ward Brennan" and "Glenn Murrell".
Among his most famous characters were "Larry & Stretch", Larry Valentine and Stretch Emerson. In the United States (Bantam Books) they they were known as "Larry & Streak" (Larry Vance & Streak Everett)" and the in the Nordic countries they were known as "Bill & Ben".
-Wikipedia
Among his most famous characters were "Larry & Stretch", Larry Valentine and Stretch Emerson. In the United States (Bantam Books) they they were known as "Larry & Streak" (Larry Vance & Streak Everett)" and the in the Nordic countries they were known as "Bill & Ben".
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 6, 2017
Not bad
I like Marshall Grover's Larry and Stretch books better but Big Jim is not bad. Benito Espina cracks me up.
I like Marshall Grover's Larry and Stretch books better but Big Jim is not bad. Benito Espina cracks me up.
May 31, 2021
The night McLennan died all hell came to old man Burdette. This was a fun, simple and well written western adventure with great characters dip in an overall lighthearted tone. I really like that type of short reads and - lucky me - Marshall Grover as being very prolific with them: something like 70 Big Jim adventures (and 100 of Larry & Stretch). This first adventure of Big Jim introduces Big Jim himself and his "sidekick" Benito and there banter/interaction represent very well the fun and lighthearted tone of the story/series.
February 14, 2023
Oh what a hoot! My feller chose this series for nighttime read-alouds because simple and campy is just the thing for winding down at bedtime. (And because we have a vintage Marshall Grover stuffed animal that we adore, and how funny to find an author with the same name!) The racism and other isms are SO cringe in 2023, but also not at all surprising to find in a pulp-fiction western written in 1966.
July 11, 2019
I’ve been looking for a series like this for a long time. It’s a western with a pulpy, Saturday-matinee feel to it. Short, tightly paced, and more fun than you can shake a stick at!
One aspect that may offend some readers is the politically incorrect treatment of the Mexican character. I almost knocked the book down a star because of this, but decided against it; I think it’s a product of the time in which the book was written more than anything else, and since the character is so much fun and proves to have much more about him than surface appearance would suggest, I’ll forgive the somewhat racist treatment. I certainly prefer that to a sanitized, censored version.
One aspect that may offend some readers is the politically incorrect treatment of the Mexican character. I almost knocked the book down a star because of this, but decided against it; I think it’s a product of the time in which the book was written more than anything else, and since the character is so much fun and proves to have much more about him than surface appearance would suggest, I’ll forgive the somewhat racist treatment. I certainly prefer that to a sanitized, censored version.
December 19, 2016
Big Jim
What a great read. I have really enjoyed this book on Big Jim. I sure hope there are more books on him. I will sure read them . This book is a keeper.
What a great read. I have really enjoyed this book on Big Jim. I sure hope there are more books on him. I will sure read them . This book is a keeper.
April 6, 2017
First in the Big Jim (Nevada Jim in a 15 book series in the 60's in the U.S with pseudonym Marshall MCoy) series. Nice start, similar to the Nevada Jim series where his brother is killed by a man called Jenner. This is the beginning of a story arc as mentioned on the front of the kindle books. In the 60's the arc was 5 books.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews