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Waxahachie Smith #3
Cure the Texas Fever
There's big trouble for Texas cattle ranchers. A mysterious disease called "Texas Fever" seems to follow their herds to market. Now their steers may be banned from Kansas and the railroad--a measure that will spell ruin for them all. The governor's ready to do anything to find a cure, even pardon a man with a price on his head, Waxahachie Smith.
The scheme is all Captain Dusty Fog's idea. He knows Wax dreams of coming home to Texas, where he's a wanted man. Now Wax can return if he takes over the protection of a brilliant young vet who may be close to a breakthrough cure. But unscrupulous men will gain if the Texas cattlemen go under. And with flying bullets and hired killers getting ever closer, Wax needs to use his famous slip gun to even the odds--to draw fast, shoot straight, and fight to the death to clear his name.
The scheme is all Captain Dusty Fog's idea. He knows Wax dreams of coming home to Texas, where he's a wanted man. Now Wax can return if he takes over the protection of a brilliant young vet who may be close to a breakthrough cure. But unscrupulous men will gain if the Texas cattlemen go under. And with flying bullets and hired killers getting ever closer, Wax needs to use his famous slip gun to even the odds--to draw fast, shoot straight, and fight to the death to clear his name.
- GenresWesterns
201 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 2, 1996
About the author
J.T. Edson
184 books81 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 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 12, 2015
This was just phoned in. Seriously all of the investigation happens off-screen while the "story" is basically Waxahachie Smith being hunted by bounty hunters, and being a distraction while off-screen the heroes find out what is causing cows to become sick, which I don't recall seeing how it was sorted, the book ended with what felt like a lot of handwaving. It was written in 1996 and his rantage about liberalism gets tired after a while.
This is like a backdoor pilot, all the Floating Outfit characters appear, several with their wives, complaining about how they're feeling older and you meet several of the next generation. It's weak, wasn't as much fun as I remember but possibly the suck fairy visited.
For tropes found in J T Edson novels see http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php... this one featured
This is like a backdoor pilot, all the Floating Outfit characters appear, several with their wives, complaining about how they're feeling older and you meet several of the next generation. It's weak, wasn't as much fun as I remember but possibly the suck fairy visited.
For tropes found in J T Edson novels see http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php... this one featured
April 12, 2018
Outstanding!
This is a very exciting and enjoyable book which is well written and edited. The characters portrayed a genuine facsimile of what it must have been like!
This is a very exciting and enjoyable book which is well written and edited. The characters portrayed a genuine facsimile of what it must have been like!
August 9, 2014
Certain parties do not wish to see a cure for the Texas fever found. Dusty Fog and others do. They see the opportunity to achieve a pardon for Wax Smith and find the cure. Many attempts are made to stop the cure being found, but Dusty and his friends are being given information about their enemies plans.
January 25, 2015
Not quite as entertaining as some of the books in "The Floating Outfit" series. The author spends a lot of the time explaining. Still it was kind of fun that people from his other books was getting older.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews