Molly & the Gambler

by Stephen Overholser

Used book

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Rejean Proulx · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a junky western, but I could not stop reading it,.

[Jamie Jonas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I latched onto this book long ago--50 cents at a thrift store. I used to read westerns consistently, but dropped them for a time, and I am now circling back around. This one is unusual--it's one of the few from days of yore (if the 80's can be called 'yore') to feature a female protagonist. And I'm not surprised I chose it, since I've long been tired of the male exclusivity of certain genres. The cover art can be viewed as exploitative. My research establishes that it was done by one Joao Penalva, who belongs to a stable of artists responsible the lurid art required for the bygone 'men's adventure' magazines. And, as you might expect from such an artist, we have a well-rendered but ridiculous female figure standing in a saloon with her shirt open, literally to her navel if it weren't for her belt buckle. Sheesh.

To my surprise, then, this story is a fairly good adventure concerning 'lady detective' Molly Owens, who gets into all kinds of trouble while on assignment in Creede, Colorado, a boomtown/mining camp. Overall, the action is straightforward, and though Overholser does tend to dwell on his heroine's above-average looks and well-rounded figure the exploitation is kept to a minimum. All in all, certainly a much better western than I might have expected from the cover. One more point bothers me, though. The well-known western figure Calamity Jane features heavily in the story, and I've always found writer's choices to bring in real-life 'characters,' without sufficient justification, to be just a desperate bid for attention.