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The Trouble Seeker
Set to marry his sweetheart Helen, trail driver Hank Lowery returns home with riches in his pocket.
But when he rides into town desperate to see his girl, a shock awaits him.
Helen has been seen riding out of town in the company of a brash young cavalry officer.
Now she is a thousand miles away, deep in the heart of the Indian Nation, with another man.
Most men would be angry, but Hank Lowery is not most men. He wants revenge.
With his heart broken and his pride is in tatters, nothing will stop him getting even.
What Hank does not foresee is the strange posse he'll accrue along the way.
The company begins with a slicked-up gambler named McGraw, who never lost and can almost taste the money in Hank’s pockets.
Then a mule-riding halfwit saves Hank’s life and cannot be shaken from the train. Finally, a celibate preacher and his wife, who loves everything except clothes, complete the group.
On or off the trail, Hank keeps his holster oiled and his gun loaded.
One way or the other, he'll get his woman back...
Praise for Richard Wormser
‘Realistically told… carefully controlled, fast paced’ – Kirkus Reviews
Richard Wormser (1908-1977) was an award-winning American author best known for pulp fiction, crime and Westerns. Originally from New York City, he moved to California to become a rancher in the 1930s, before eventually settling in Arizona with his wife. Wormser won two Spur Awards; for Ride a Northbound Horse in 1964 and The Black Mustanger in 1971.
But when he rides into town desperate to see his girl, a shock awaits him.
Helen has been seen riding out of town in the company of a brash young cavalry officer.
Now she is a thousand miles away, deep in the heart of the Indian Nation, with another man.
Most men would be angry, but Hank Lowery is not most men. He wants revenge.
With his heart broken and his pride is in tatters, nothing will stop him getting even.
What Hank does not foresee is the strange posse he'll accrue along the way.
The company begins with a slicked-up gambler named McGraw, who never lost and can almost taste the money in Hank’s pockets.
Then a mule-riding halfwit saves Hank’s life and cannot be shaken from the train. Finally, a celibate preacher and his wife, who loves everything except clothes, complete the group.
On or off the trail, Hank keeps his holster oiled and his gun loaded.
One way or the other, he'll get his woman back...
Praise for Richard Wormser
‘Realistically told… carefully controlled, fast paced’ – Kirkus Reviews
Richard Wormser (1908-1977) was an award-winning American author best known for pulp fiction, crime and Westerns. Originally from New York City, he moved to California to become a rancher in the 1930s, before eventually settling in Arizona with his wife. Wormser won two Spur Awards; for Ride a Northbound Horse in 1964 and The Black Mustanger in 1971.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 22, 2017
29 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Richard Wormser
45 books3 followersRichard Edward Wormser was an American writer of pulp fiction, detective fiction, screenplays, and Westerns, some of it written using the pseudonym of Ed Friend. He is estimated to have written 300 short stories, 200 novelettes, 12 books, many screenplays and stories turned into screenplays and a cookbook Southwest Cookery or At Home on the Range.
After graduating from Princeton University he became a prolific writer of pulp fiction under his own name, the pen name of Conrad Gerson, and wrote seventeen Nick Carter novels for Street & Smith.
Wormser's first crime fiction novel was The Man with the Wax Face in 1934. His first Western novel was The Lonesome Quarter in 1951.
During World War II he served as a forest ranger.
Wormser won Western Spur Awards for juvenile fiction for Ride a Northbound Horse in 1964, and for The Black Mustanger in 1971. He also won an Edgar award for best original paperback novel for The Invader in 1973.
After graduating from Princeton University he became a prolific writer of pulp fiction under his own name, the pen name of Conrad Gerson, and wrote seventeen Nick Carter novels for Street & Smith.
Wormser's first crime fiction novel was The Man with the Wax Face in 1934. His first Western novel was The Lonesome Quarter in 1951.
During World War II he served as a forest ranger.
Wormser won Western Spur Awards for juvenile fiction for Ride a Northbound Horse in 1964, and for The Black Mustanger in 1971. He also won an Edgar award for best original paperback novel for The Invader in 1973.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 10, 2022
I downloaded this book about a year ago, I think, and hadn't investigated it since then, just jumped into reading it while sorting through my e-books the other day, without looking into anything about it.
There was a point while I was reading that I stopped and said out loud "Was this written in the 70s?" and it turns out it was, and has been re-issued. Something about the conjunction of humour - which was at times a little bit funny - and the way in which the narrator thinks/speaks about women and about how women are depicted overall- essentially, mostly heartless and all sex-crazed - that just screamed "seventies pulp!" to me.
And I've learned that yes, Richard Wormser (1908-1977) was known as a pulp writer. He apparently won a Spur Award for juvenile westerns in 1964 and 1971, worked in Hollywood for awhile, wrote Nick Carter detective stories, and a cookbook, among other things.
One would like to think that the westerns for children did not feature "sex-starved" women taking their clothes off allatime and flinging themselves at any man that happened to walk past.
It is all non-explicit, but the lewdness and crudeness in this book does start to get wearying after awhile.
This is more a "road-trip" story of some adventures along the way to a poker game than a tale of revenge. A cowboy, a gambler, and a "village idiot" team up and wander through Kansas and what is now Oklahoma, ostentatiously looking for the girl who left our hero, but really looking for that poker game, the hero, we're told, is hoping to lose.
To complete the "content advisories" - Besides the (relatively) mild misogyny permeating this book, there is also a fair amount of casual racism, a few "comedic" homophobic remarks and misuse of a character who may or may not have a developmental disability, along with the occasional obscenity. This all came across as rather silly and in poor taste. There are some truly eye-rolling jokes that go on for far too long. Some of the humour would have stood up better if it hadn't been surrounded by so much silliness.
There is not a lot of violence in this book.
There were a few places where the reader is rather abruptly told a plot-point, and one place where I am 99% certain the wrong name is used for a secondary character.
There are also some nice details, such as a description of a frontier sidewalk, and an explanation of why prairie bars (maybe) lacked bat-wing swing doors (the wind is too strong) which may or may not be true, (I know the wind is strong, I don't know if bat-wing doors were a thing in Kansas or not.) There are some nice lines - "A derringer's got no more aim than a snowstorm from that distance" - "...and allowing all that - which was an allowance big enough to drive a herd of longhorns through..." and descriptions "Shirttail cattle brokers had become purse-gutted cattle buyers, card-parlor dealers had changed into bankers... and onetime madams now called themselves the widows of big-gun ranchers. Therefore the frame houses up on the hill...stained glass over the front door to make the hall floor look like someone had bled on it, and tea out of china pots just about the time the railroad hands and drover boys were buying their first shot of red-eye down on the flats."
And the pacing was good enough to keep me reading. And there is a lot of food in this book, some of it actually sounding appealing.
And it was nice that the book hints all along that the "idiot" character is actually smarter than our hero.
However, I was left with the impression that Mr. Wormser could have done better, and perhaps did do better in other books, leaving me unable to recommend this one. This one was ultimately disappointing.
There was a point while I was reading that I stopped and said out loud "Was this written in the 70s?" and it turns out it was, and has been re-issued. Something about the conjunction of humour - which was at times a little bit funny - and the way in which the narrator thinks/speaks about women and about how women are depicted overall- essentially, mostly heartless and all sex-crazed - that just screamed "seventies pulp!" to me.
And I've learned that yes, Richard Wormser (1908-1977) was known as a pulp writer. He apparently won a Spur Award for juvenile westerns in 1964 and 1971, worked in Hollywood for awhile, wrote Nick Carter detective stories, and a cookbook, among other things.
One would like to think that the westerns for children did not feature "sex-starved" women taking their clothes off allatime and flinging themselves at any man that happened to walk past.
It is all non-explicit, but the lewdness and crudeness in this book does start to get wearying after awhile.
This is more a "road-trip" story of some adventures along the way to a poker game than a tale of revenge. A cowboy, a gambler, and a "village idiot" team up and wander through Kansas and what is now Oklahoma, ostentatiously looking for the girl who left our hero, but really looking for that poker game, the hero, we're told, is hoping to lose.
To complete the "content advisories" - Besides the (relatively) mild misogyny permeating this book, there is also a fair amount of casual racism, a few "comedic" homophobic remarks and misuse of a character who may or may not have a developmental disability, along with the occasional obscenity. This all came across as rather silly and in poor taste. There are some truly eye-rolling jokes that go on for far too long. Some of the humour would have stood up better if it hadn't been surrounded by so much silliness.
There is not a lot of violence in this book.
There were a few places where the reader is rather abruptly told a plot-point, and one place where I am 99% certain the wrong name is used for a secondary character.
There are also some nice details, such as a description of a frontier sidewalk, and an explanation of why prairie bars (maybe) lacked bat-wing swing doors (the wind is too strong) which may or may not be true, (I know the wind is strong, I don't know if bat-wing doors were a thing in Kansas or not.) There are some nice lines - "A derringer's got no more aim than a snowstorm from that distance" - "...and allowing all that - which was an allowance big enough to drive a herd of longhorns through..." and descriptions "Shirttail cattle brokers had become purse-gutted cattle buyers, card-parlor dealers had changed into bankers... and onetime madams now called themselves the widows of big-gun ranchers. Therefore the frame houses up on the hill...stained glass over the front door to make the hall floor look like someone had bled on it, and tea out of china pots just about the time the railroad hands and drover boys were buying their first shot of red-eye down on the flats."
And the pacing was good enough to keep me reading. And there is a lot of food in this book, some of it actually sounding appealing.
And it was nice that the book hints all along that the "idiot" character is actually smarter than our hero.
However, I was left with the impression that Mr. Wormser could have done better, and perhaps did do better in other books, leaving me unable to recommend this one. This one was ultimately disappointing.
April 22, 2018
My guess is that life on the trail in the Old West was, for the most part, quite boring, with lengthy, monotonous treks on horseback and little genuine excitement. Of course, you wouldn’t know that from the vast majority of Western movies and books, which are chock full of stampedes, gunfights, and big showdowns. Richard Wormser’s The Trouble Seeker is far closer to the real West than the reel West, a book with little real action but, instead, some genuinely quirky characters. Those characters, however, along with some terrifically colorful language and period detail, make the novel consistently interesting, despite the lack of many really big moments.
Richard Wormser was a prolific pulp writer, active from the 1940’s through the 60’s, best known for his detective and acclaimed Western works. He wrote The Trouble Seeker, which was published as a paperback original under the title On the Prod, toward the end of his career in 1970. The book concerns the adventures (and I use that term rather loosely) of Hank Lowery, a successful trail boss, who begins the story fresh off a cattle drive with a full money belt and no real plan other than to enjoy himself for a while before going back to his ranch. He also hopes to reconnect with his ex-fiancée who stood him up for another man, and then found herself dumped as well by her new boyfriend. Hank teams up with a professional gambler, Dace McGraw, with the idea of playing in a big high-stakes poker game somewhere down south. They have a third traveling companion as well, a seemingly slow witted odd job hand named Pump Prop, who, like a loyal puppy, takes a liking to Hank and follows him on the trail.
And that’s pretty much it for the storyline of The Trouble Seeker. Hank and Dace encounter some women, both working girls, and a free-spirited preacher’s wife, some Indians and some really bad weather along the way, as well as a recurring nemesis, the man who stole Hank’s fiancée. While this may sound like a lot of action taking place in the book, most of these encounters resolve themselves rather quickly and painlessly, and there is almost no real suspense in The Trouble Seeker. Hank and Dace can usually talk their way out of a mess in a few pages, sometimes with an unlikely assist from Pump Prop.
Those looking for traditional Western thrills may be a bit disappointed in The Trouble Seeker, but those who like following colorful characters around will enjoy the book a great deal. Wormser does a good job of developing Hank and Dace’s characters, and there are some entertainingly offbeat (if not always very believable) characters that they meet along the way. Best of all is Pump Prop, who somehow manages to be in exactly the right place at the right time to get the others out of trouble. Although Hank and Dace describe him as dim witted, readers will get the feeling he’s got a lot more on the ball than he lets on. The character of Pump Prop may be a bit disconcerting for some readers because other characters in the book consistently refer to him by terms like “village idiot” and worse. There are also some descriptions of Indians that some might feel troubling, although the book is written in the vernacular of the 1880’s Old West.
Wormser does an excellent job of describing the setting of The Trouble Seeker, providing information about the West that I hadn’t come across before, such as the various ways in which different restaurants and boarding houses could make country fried steak, for better or worse, and the various grades (usually bad and made in the back of the saloon) of liquor available. Wormser also tells the story from Hank’s perspective, albeit in the third person, so it’s filled with some colorful turns of phrase, such as “There wasn’t any sense in getting a broken heart two ways at once, once from a girl, the second time from a slug of lead.” Later, Hank muses, “He was through with nice girls for life. It probably cost as much as a hundred dollars a month to keep a nice girl for a wife, and look what all that would buy at a place like Madam La Bouche’s.”
Readers who enjoy colorful observations like these and descriptions of aspects of Western life that seldom get mentioned in other works will find a lot to like in The Trouble Seeker. Some of the language may be a bit offensive to 21st century eyes and ears, and the action quotient is a bit low, but this is simply an amiable book that brings forth a new treat every few pages. If you’re seeking an enjoyable, character and atmosphere driven book, then you’ll find it in The Trouble Seeker.
Richard Wormser was a prolific pulp writer, active from the 1940’s through the 60’s, best known for his detective and acclaimed Western works. He wrote The Trouble Seeker, which was published as a paperback original under the title On the Prod, toward the end of his career in 1970. The book concerns the adventures (and I use that term rather loosely) of Hank Lowery, a successful trail boss, who begins the story fresh off a cattle drive with a full money belt and no real plan other than to enjoy himself for a while before going back to his ranch. He also hopes to reconnect with his ex-fiancée who stood him up for another man, and then found herself dumped as well by her new boyfriend. Hank teams up with a professional gambler, Dace McGraw, with the idea of playing in a big high-stakes poker game somewhere down south. They have a third traveling companion as well, a seemingly slow witted odd job hand named Pump Prop, who, like a loyal puppy, takes a liking to Hank and follows him on the trail.
And that’s pretty much it for the storyline of The Trouble Seeker. Hank and Dace encounter some women, both working girls, and a free-spirited preacher’s wife, some Indians and some really bad weather along the way, as well as a recurring nemesis, the man who stole Hank’s fiancée. While this may sound like a lot of action taking place in the book, most of these encounters resolve themselves rather quickly and painlessly, and there is almost no real suspense in The Trouble Seeker. Hank and Dace can usually talk their way out of a mess in a few pages, sometimes with an unlikely assist from Pump Prop.
Those looking for traditional Western thrills may be a bit disappointed in The Trouble Seeker, but those who like following colorful characters around will enjoy the book a great deal. Wormser does a good job of developing Hank and Dace’s characters, and there are some entertainingly offbeat (if not always very believable) characters that they meet along the way. Best of all is Pump Prop, who somehow manages to be in exactly the right place at the right time to get the others out of trouble. Although Hank and Dace describe him as dim witted, readers will get the feeling he’s got a lot more on the ball than he lets on. The character of Pump Prop may be a bit disconcerting for some readers because other characters in the book consistently refer to him by terms like “village idiot” and worse. There are also some descriptions of Indians that some might feel troubling, although the book is written in the vernacular of the 1880’s Old West.
Wormser does an excellent job of describing the setting of The Trouble Seeker, providing information about the West that I hadn’t come across before, such as the various ways in which different restaurants and boarding houses could make country fried steak, for better or worse, and the various grades (usually bad and made in the back of the saloon) of liquor available. Wormser also tells the story from Hank’s perspective, albeit in the third person, so it’s filled with some colorful turns of phrase, such as “There wasn’t any sense in getting a broken heart two ways at once, once from a girl, the second time from a slug of lead.” Later, Hank muses, “He was through with nice girls for life. It probably cost as much as a hundred dollars a month to keep a nice girl for a wife, and look what all that would buy at a place like Madam La Bouche’s.”
Readers who enjoy colorful observations like these and descriptions of aspects of Western life that seldom get mentioned in other works will find a lot to like in The Trouble Seeker. Some of the language may be a bit offensive to 21st century eyes and ears, and the action quotient is a bit low, but this is simply an amiable book that brings forth a new treat every few pages. If you’re seeking an enjoyable, character and atmosphere driven book, then you’ll find it in The Trouble Seeker.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews