Caleb Johnson Mountain Man

Snowbound

I’ve really been enjoying Charles Ray’s mountain man adventures involving Caleb Johnson. There’s a relaxed familiarity about them that you can immediately connect to. And the more familiar, the better, in my opinion. As in this particular adventure, which takes place in my favorite environment: The winter bound wonderland of blizzards and snow.

As the blurb highlights:

*****

In late November, Caleb goes off alone into the mountains to hunt meat for the winter, leaving Flora alone at their cabin with just Dog for company. While hunting mule deer in a box canyon, Caleb is caught in a freakish blizzard that dumps mounds of snow over the trail. As he makes his way out, fighting Mother Nature’s whimsy, he also has to deal with her hungry creatures who see him as a tasty winter meal.

Meanwhile, back in Bear Creek, when the snow starts to fall, Flora starts to worry about Caleb, and, after a few days of fretting decides to go find him, getting caught up in her own dangerous adventure.

A story of two people who are willing to sacrifice all for the other, the action is non-stop.

*****

What’s not to like? Man versus nature in the harshest of circumstances. Environment against intellect. And once again, Charles Ray delivers in a relaxed, easygoing nature that enfolds you in the weave of the story so that you end up wanting to read ‘just one more chapter’ before you put it down.

I enjoyed it very much. It has a ‘relatability’ that helps you connect to Caleb, to immerse yourself in his story and the predicaments he faces, and of course, the solutions he has to come up with in order to survive.

And as I’ve said before, what I like most is the ‘reality factor’ of these stories. Pioneers of the not so distant past faced real life obstacles like this every day. Some survived. Many didn’t. But all of them contributed to an ethos that has become the backbone of the American West and its culture. Self-reliance. Hard work. Courage and  resilience. 

And that’s what Charles Ray reminds us of.

Another great story you’re sure to enjoy.

Amazon Review

 Will YOU Answer the. . .

Call of Duty?

Call of Duty
A Pearl Brothers Western Adventure

The long-awaited day has arrived!

Yes, it’s been some time coming, what with all the trials and tribulations they’ve had to overcome. But at last, the day of the wedding is here, and Jacob and Astrid are finally going to tie the knot and settle down. . .

Or are they?

You see, that’s the thing about Kansas. It’s a vast and majestic country, filled with natural wonders and delights to satisfy the soul and take the breath away. Yet it’s also filled with dangers enough to catch the unwary and send them to an early grave.
And when one of those dangers insists on poking its nose into the Pearl brothers’ affairs, now, of all times?

Well, it’s time for someone to step up and answer the call of duty.

Call of Duty

                                                                     

 Call of Duty

Pew-pew!

pew-pew-pew!

No, not a Star Wars move. . . But the new cover for the latest Pearl Brothers Western Adventure: Call of Duty

(Coming Soon). From Dusty Saddle Publishing.

 

Caleb Johnson: Mountain Man:
Menace In The Mountain Mist

Caleb Johnson’s second adventure finds him settling into married life back in Bear Creek. But as we find out, this is no honeymoon, for events conspire to disrupt the idyllic tranquility that would make life perfect:

 

**********

Caleb’s new wife, Spring Flower, who now calls herself Flora in order to fit into Bear Creek society, finds a bear cub whose mother’s been killed by wolves. She takes it home and nurses it back to health, something that Caleb, uneasy about at first, comes to accept. They even give the cub the name Snuffy, and delight in how it becomes close with Dog.

Later, while shopping in Bear Creek, Flora is accosted by three ruffians, and Caleb gives them a drubbing. The incident is forgotten for months until one day, as the spring mist is enshrouding their peaceful mountain home, the past comes calling. Events combine in a bloody confrontation that will leave you breathless.

 

*****

Yes, a settled married routine is no guarantee of peace, especially when you live in the wilds, and there are no-good layabouts determined to create, and then settle none existent scores.

The thing is, a previous good deed by Caleb and Flora comes back to show, karma’s an absolute b***h if you’re on the wrong side of it!

Another great little story that rolls along at a comfortable pace; is a delight to read; and has a most satisfying ending. And better still, it’s presented in such a way that it’s entirely believable, allowing you to connect to the characters in a personal way.

Kudos to Charles Ray for that.

Amazon Review

 

Bloodshed In The San Juans:

A John Tailer Bishop Western Adventure 

 

Bloodshed In The San Juans: 

In Bloodshed in the San Juans, Wayne Winkle takes John Tailer Bishop story along an entirely different track. Bishop is vulnerable. He’s still recovering from an injury that almost took his life. You’d think he’d relax and take life easy, especially with the news his wife, Angelina, gives him.
Alas it seems that fate has other things in store for John Tailer Bishop. . .
As the blurb highlights:

*****
John Bishop has just about recovered from the severe wound suffered when he helped rescue Marcy Richmond, Senator Richmond’s daughter. Angelina tells him she is pregnant.

Ramon, Angelina’s cousin, has given a vigilante posse the slip, along with three of his men. They head to Colorado after visiting Bishop and Angelina in Santa Fe.

Days later, Bishop finds out Ramon is being hunted by a rich rancher’s hands in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Then the rancher comes to him and asks him to find Ramon so he can be put on trial. Knowing that wouldn’t happen, Bishop refuses.

Can Bishop and Cruz find Ramon and rescue him before the rancher’s men or the hired killer the rancher found?

Will the unthinkable happen to Bishop and Angelina?

*****
You’ll like this story. A lot!
We head in a slightly different direction than in previous stories, which is a wise move on C. Wayne Winkle’s part as it keeps John Bishop’s story fresh and inviting.
And you can’t get fresher than a killer man hunter on the loose in Colorado when the snow’s falling.
Man hunter? Oh yes. It seems a rancher with an ego the size of the state he lives in – and someone who is far too used to getting his own way – has a bone to pick with certain members of Bishop’s family. A family who are gradually entwined, and drawn ever deeper in into trouble the longer things are allowed to go on.
So, how does Bishop react? Remember, he’s far from his best. And even worse, there’s a snake in the grass just waiting to bite!

You’ll see what I mean as you saddle up and ride in. This is an adventure you won’t want to miss.

Amazon Review

 Do YOU Like To Mix It Up?

Cowboy Justice: A Western Adventure (Tales of Tom Mix Book 3)

Scott McCrea hits the nail on the head with this series. And of course it helps that Tom Mix was a real life AND movie character who inspired many a western adventure that set the bar for others to follow. And this latest outing doesn’t disappoint.

Here's the blurb:

*****

Tom Mix is working as marshal in Dewey, Oklahoma, when he comes across three bad men, murderous Jack Carlino and his two sons. Tom knows their reputation, but there is nothing to hold them on, and he reluctantly allows them to go free.

Soon, the train depot is held up with many casualties, including women and children. Tom Mix is savaged by an inquest looking for a scapegoat, leading Tom to go on a grim rampage of revenge.

*****

So, what did I think?

Awesome. That’s what. This story has a darker vibe than the previous ones. Tom Mix is a marshal now. He’s got people to look after. His duty to the law is important, and he thoroughly believes in what he’s doing and how he has to set an example in upholding that law.
The trouble is, the world isn’t as black and white as he would like. And when following the letter of the law leads to tragedy? Ah . . . he begins to realize that perhaps, there are those who are more deserving of rough – frontier-style-justice than he realized.

Unfortunately, by that time, other lives have been affected, and there’s a knock-on domino effect that ripples throughout the community and beyond which Tom Mix now has to counter.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s dark. It’s moody. The suspense is gripping and involves you from the outside. And most of all, it gets you rooting for the good guys.
A great story in a much larger series you really need to read. 

Amazon Review

 One Last Review?

(I don't think so)

One Last Hanging

 

In One Last Hanging, Jeff Crawford steers Noah’s journey toward a conclusion that you know will be a nigh-on certainty. However, that takes nothing away from the story, because it’s how he arrives there that matters.
As the blurb highlights:

*****

All the enemies of his past had been laid low, all the ends had been gathered and tied. Now was the time he was supposed to be enjoying his life, his work, his advancing years. But on a drunken afternoon, a man of no worth and no redeemable qualities made a grievous error in judgment. One that would completely upend Noah Weyland’s life. Upon hearing the news, Noah knew that there was One Last Hanging that he would have to carry out before his days were through. Elise Weyland was promised the vengeance that was owed to her, and Noah would bring it to her feet. It was the very least that he could do for his wife.

The man, still in a drunken haze, had been arrested immediately after causing the accident that cost Elise her life. A short time later, he was tried and sentenced to hang. Now all that remained for Noah’s long-time friend Rhoden, the local sheriff, was keeping Silas Jacoby alive long enough to be executed. Fearful of the destruction that Noah was sure to bring down upon the town just to get to the man Rhoden had in custody, Rhoden secrets his prisoner out of town until the time for the sentence to be carried out.

With Jilley, his ranch foreman, by his side, Noah scours southwest Texas for Rhoden and the man he is keeping hidden away. Not generational storms, not cages made of steel, not highway men with plans and motives of their own will keep Noah Weyland from doing what he promised his wife. With each rising of the sun, with each determined stride from his horse, the time of reckoning draws ever closer. But at journey’s end there is a choice to be made between what he should do and what he said that he would do. How much will Noah allow the past to influence the future? Will doing as he has been asked force him to break the promise that he made?

 

*****

Yes, Noah’s soul mate is dead. Killed by a fool in a drunken haze who now knows he’ll never live to see old age. And as I mentioned at the beginning, there’s an inevitability about this story that that takes nothing away from the narrative. Because it’s HOW Noah ensures he honors his wife’s name and memory that just so darn entertaining.

Yes, the man responsible has been sentenced to death. And yes, he’s going to hang for his crimes. But Noah’s sense of justice sees only one way to bring those events about in a way that will douse the flames of his ire . . . if only for a short while, at any rate.

And no one, not the judge; not Sherriff Rhoden; not his deputy, Lands; not even the reprobates who try to intervene will stand in Noah’s way.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It’s immersive. It’s personal. It calls to your darker side. Most of all, it’s profoundly satisfying, and will stay with you long after you’ve read the last word.

Amazon Review