Review- The Last Stage to El Paso - 4 stars

In one of the Johnstone syndicate’s latest books concerning the two characters Muldoon and Ryan—a stage driver and a shotgun man respectively, the story becomes very interesting, like most of the Johnstone writings are. A haunted stage along with drugs, a beautiful woman and other stage performers all wrap into this story.

In the Last Stage to El Paso, there is a doomed stage (maybe haunted or cursed or just unlucky) and a long trip with interesting characters including Miss Erica a fan dancer heading eastward to perform her dance. The stage has a nickname of the Gray Ghost, and it is different. The stage crew is sure that evil follows it. Mainly because all of the previous three crews of driver and shotgun are dead in violence but no one can tell why!

Getting all the passengers to their destinations turns out to be more of an experience that either Buttons or Red bargained for but true to their owner and his company ideals, they push on. How many of the five passengers will survive and will the fou
rth driver and shotgun survive?  At times that is questionable that any will do so. Between outlaws, mafia, and Apache it seems like they may all die violently.

An enjoyable read. If you haven’t read a Red Ryan story before this one might be an adventuresome one to start with.