Hidden Blood

Hashknife Hartley

by W.C. Tuttle

Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens, two cowboys in search of trouble to shoot, were riding along the border country when Hashknife's rheumatism started acting up. Luckily, the barkeep at the local watering hole told them about the therapeutic hot springs at Big Medicine Hawkworth's nearby ranch. For the rustlers and smugglers trying to swindle Big Medicine, the cowboy's visit proved anything but curative. . .

Genres: Westerns, Pulp

258 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1925

About the author

W. C. Tuttle (Wilbur Coleman Tuttle) was an American writer, almost all of which were westerns. His best known character was Hashknife Hartley, who along with his friend Sleepy Stevens, served as unofficial detectives solving crimes on the ranches where they worked as cowboys.

He was also a screenwriter hailing back to the silent era. He wrote the screenplays for 52 films between 1915 and 1945.

A semi-pro baseball player in his youth, Tuttle served as President of the Pacific Coast Baseball League 1935-1943.[1] Tuttle recommended to the Los Angeles Angels that the team should ask Gene Lillard to join them.

Reviews

[Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hashknife and Sleepy find themselves caught up in an adventure involving border drug smuggling. I was expecting more of a lightweight and comedic work, like a Robert E. Howard "Breckenridge Elkins" story, however the story and the characters are dense and complex, and the humor was understated and not particularly goofy at all. A very solid and enjoyable mystery with plenty of action and just the right amount of humor.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I don't read them often, I really like these old rough-and-tumble westerns!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have enjoyed this book as much as the other W C Tuttle books in this series if it hadn't been for one of the characters strange racial beliefs which I found screwed up and very sad.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hashknife and Sleepy are headed to Pinnacle where Hashknife hopes to cure his rheumatism in the hot springs. The stage they are riding(late at night because of he heat) ia held up, a box taken, and one passenger, a young fellow, is shot down while his hands are in the air.

The young man survives, Hashknife gets his treatment, and our cowboys/detectives find themselves ina plot I've never seen in a western before: illegal drugs.

How they work things out and get to the bottom of it is where the fun comes in.

Loved this one.