Seven Hours till Dawn -- 5 stars    

This is a classic good versus evil story.  The good guy is Jim Heston and the bad one is Cord Bannen.  The story begins with a man who is moving from Texas to California along with his family to have a better life.  It is in the aftermath of the Civil War and there are lots of hurt feelings in the country.  But another golden nugget is found in California, and it just happens to be found by Jim and his father-in-law in a valley where they settled-called Donovan's Valley.

Bannen is a crafty criminal and good with a gun.  He wants gold but doesn't want to work for it other than taking it form someone who has worked hard to get it.  This criminal enterprise proves to be pretty lucrative, but the man is amoral and thinks nothing of killing whoever gets in his way.  He just wants what he wants and that is gold –stolen preferably! 

Enter the good guy, Heston, and you have the makings of an intricate dance of good and evil.  Wives, children, oldsters, retired military folks, criminals on the run, etc...you get the idea.  There is intricate storylines being woven and they all help make for a delightful Western story in the image of the Westerns of the 50s and 60s.  If this is what delights you then you will find this book excellent; I did!!

You will learn whether hard work and determination can defeat a thief and equal determination.  Not everyone will survive but who will be the last one standing?  Enjoy the read and find out.

 Dry Road to Nowhere -- 4 stars

Of all the Western stories that the Johnstone syndicate has done, the ones set in Wyoming and related to "King" Hagen are my least favorite. With that said, this one dealing with two ornery mule skinners turned stagecoach drivers is one of the better in this category. Butch Keeler and Tucker Cobb are a crew and are two men to ride the range with.  They have been friends and partners for a while now and each of them is pretty tough.

This story seems to mostly focus on Hagen and his attempts to prevent them from operating the Frontier Overland Company.  But there is a twist of a Madam Pinochet and her hired man who runs an opium den along with a beautiful lady who happens to be friend with Cobb.  They are determined to help the "King" ruin the lives of the coach drivers.

A few other examples of running through rampaging Native Americans to get to a besieged fort enter into the story as well as struggling to survive and taking on almost any job to do so.  This includes transporting some good, dark bock beer made by a German immigrant.  So, there are twists and turns.

Culminating in a trial concerning a death which some think is a murder and others think is self-defense.  Climax has some different endings than you might expect.  Not a bad overall story but still not a huge fan of this book.

 The Angry Land and Angry Avengers! [Rated 5 stars]

Following Smoke Jensen and his exploits is always fun.  In this particular episode called The Angry Land by the Johnstone syndicate, Smoke convinces his fellow ranchers to band together and ship their cattle rather than driving them to Abilene.  This will be less expensive, faster, and safer. Plus it will earn the ranchers more per head of cattle.

What the ranchers do not count on is a
bunch of train robbers who decide to waylay the train and steal the cattle and then drive them to the Dakota Black Hills where there is a very high demand for beeves...plus the wherewithal to pay for it! As it turns out this is not the first time this has occurred and some of the Cattlemen's Association in Texas are on the case.

The men that Smoke and the other ranchers sent to be their spokesmen/negotiators come under fire as the train rustlers take over the combined  herds. Two of the men are killed and the third is badly wounded.  Smoke is not about to allow this to go unanswered.

So off he goes to Abilene and here begins the adventures of him, railroad superintendent Red Winters, and the Cattlemen's Association detectives versus the outlaws and maybe an inside person supplying the information for the rustlers!  High adventures happen and not everything goes according to plan.

Questions abound: Will Smoke and crew prevail without further loss of life or cattle?  Will they be able to avenge the dead men?  How will they deal with the large band of rustlers and how will they uncover the inside agent?  All of these are good questions and if you are interested you will have to read this very entertaining and fast-paced story.  I definitely recommend it.

 Beans, Bourbon, and Blood  Been a while since I posted but this is a good story...

"Beans, Bourbon, and Blood" seemed like an interesting title but I've got to say that it did not seem to have a lot to do with the story. Even with that little bit of criticism, I found the story of Luke Jensen, bounty hunter, and his adventure with bringing a captured swindler to a little out-of-the-way town of Hannagan's Hill to await further instructions amount him fascinating and fun to read.

Jensen is a relative of the more famous Smoke Jensen and the Jensen men, all of them, seem to have a penchant for getting into trouble.  Luke is no different.  He befriends "Mac" McKenzie owner and operator of a delightful café, who has some interesting past history in New Orleans.  Add in a crusading newspaper couple, a crooked sheriff, a bought-off judge, and overbearing strongman named Hannigan, after which the town was named, and you have a heck of a story.

Story starts with Luke and his prisoner coming up on a gallows outside of town where a man was hanged and left for many days to actually rot and be picked apart by the birds.  Enter stage left the sheriff and his deputies with another prisoner bound for the noose.  The young man professes his innocence but there is little that Luke can do other than be on his way to town; although he feels bad about doing it. He proclaims that the only reason he is here is that Hannigan wants his ranch land and he was unwilling to relinquish it. 

The story evolves from there with Luke getting involved with a saloon owner, the café owner, another bounty hunter, the newspaper publisher, and others to attempt to right the wrong that is happening in Hannigan's Hill.  The denouement comes to a blazing conclusion with the various factions arrayed against each other.  There will be blood in the streets and the opportunity to turn a new leaf for many people.  The question is who will take the opportunity?  "Gotta" read the book to find out but if you like western stories, this is a very good one and one that will hold your attention. I definitely recommend reading this Johnstone book.