A Rough Edges Rerun Review: The Bottom of Every Bottle - Robert J. Randisi

Jake Gilmartin is a veteran New York City cop who finds himself in trouble when evidence of corruption surfaces against him. He’s suspended from the force, and things get even worse when an intruder shows up at his apartment one night and tries to kill him. Jake fights back and the would-be assassin winds up dead. That’s when Jake discovers that the man lying dead on his kitchen floor is another cop, a man Jake had considered a friend.

And this is just the prologue.

Most of the book is narrated by Jake’s son Rob, a gunnery instructor in the army who was also an investigator in the Military Police for a while. With no one left to trust, Jake calls on Rob for help finding out who framed him and wants him dead, even though Rob hates his father for cheating on Rob’s mother and breaking up their marriage years earlier. Reluctantly, Rob comes to New York to help Jake and finds himself mixed up in a complex and dangerous tangle involving organized crime, cops who may or may not be trustworthy, a beautiful female cab driver, and a number of colorful denizens of New York City. The scope of the plot eventually expands to cover decades of time and thousands of miles as Rob and Jake wind up facing almost overwhelming odds.

As always with a book by Bob Randisi, the pace really rockets along in this one with plenty of good dialogue and action. There’s a little humor, some very nice character bits, and an intriguing back-story that’s ripe for further exploration in a sequel, although this novel stands alone just fine. Although it’s thoroughly contemporary, I got a sense of some Gold Medal influence in the book, including the great title. It’s no secret that Bob and I have been friends for thirty years, but I try very hard not to let that influence my opinion when it comes to books by my friends. You can take my word for it: THE BOTTOM OF EVERY BOTTLE is a very good, tough cop thriller, and I recommend it highly.

(This post originally appeared in a somewhat different form on February 27, 2010. In the comments on that post, Bob confirmed that this novel was indeed influenced by the Gold Medals he'd read. It appears to be out of print now, but used copies can be found for reasonable prices.)

Review: The Gunsmith #491: Invitation to a Bank Robbery - J.R. Roberts (Robert J. Randisi)

I remember quite vividly picking up the first book in a new Western series called The Gunsmith at a newsstand on the west side of Fort Worth more than forty years ago. The book was called MACKLIN’S WOMEN, and the author was J.R. Roberts. However, I already knew that J.R. Roberts was really Robert J. Randisi because Bob and I were already friends through correspondence and the occasional phone call. He had sent me a copy of his first novel, the private eye yarn THE DISAPPEARANCE OF PENNY, and I enjoyed it so I was eager to read his first Western. MACKLIN’S WOMEN didn’t disappoint me. As always with Bob’s work, it was dialogue-driven and very fast-paced, and it was written in first person, a refreshing change from most other Western series. (Only the first dozen or so books are in first person. I read and enjoyed all of them as they came out.)

Well, most of you know what happened. The Gunsmith went on to become a huge success as one of the so-called Big Four Adult Western series (the others being Longarm, Slocum, and The Trailsman), running for more than forty years and four hundred novels. Unlike the others, The Gunsmith was a creator-owned series and didn’t belong to the publishing company, so when it was canceled at Penguin along with the others, Bob was able to take it elsewhere and continue writing new entries. The Gunsmith rolled along for several more years, a new book every month like clockwork, before health issues slowed down Bob’s production. But he continued writing Gunsmith novels.

Bob passed away last fall, after what appears will be the final Gunsmith novel, INVITATION TO A BANK ROBBERY, was published last summer. Since I read the first book all those years ago, I realized I ought to read the last one, as well, even though I’m nowhere close to reading the entire series.

As this book begins, Clint Adams, the gunfighter and adventurer known as The Gunsmith, arrives in the small town of Kennelworth, Utah, looking for what he always seeks: a little peace and quiet. You know, of course, that’s not going to happen, and before you know it, Clint has been invited to turn outlaw and join in a bank robbery being planned by a couple of would-be crooks. Things get a lot more complicated than that as the plot races along. There are shootouts and beautiful women and double-crosses and a very effective twist ending. It’s highly entertaining, as the Gunsmith books always are. This was one of my father’s favorite series, and as he told me once, “You know you’re always going to have a good time reading a Gunsmith book.”

It's clear that this wasn’t intended to be the final Gunsmith novel. The title of the next one planned for the series can be found at the end. However, without getting into spoiler territory, as this book draws to a close, Clint Adams is contemplating making a change in his life, and although this is complete speculation, I think Bob may have figured the next book would be the last one. As is, the series draws to a satisfactory conclusion, and reading it is certainly a bittersweet experience for me. Too many good friends and good writers have been lost to us too early, and Bob Randisi falls into both those categories. If you’re a fan of his work, I give INVITATION TO A BANK ROBBERY a high recommendation. It’s available on Amazon in e-book and paperback editions, as are most of the other books in the series, almost 500 of them!

The Gunsmith: The Jingle Bell Trail - J.R. Roberts (Robert J. Randisi)

In the past I've read Christmas-themed books from the Edge, Longarm, and Trailsman series, and this year it's the Gunsmith's turn. I've been reading Gunsmith novels almost as long as Bob Randisi has been writing them, since I bought the first one at a newsstand in Fort Worth as soon as it came out.

The Gunsmith, for those of you who don't know, is Clint Adams, a famous gunfighter who wanders the West getting into various adventures and often running into an assortment of historical characters, making friends and enemies among them. There are no historical characters in this Christmas tale, however, which finds Clint in North Dakota as the holiday approaches, far from his usual stomping grounds of the Southwest. He visits a town that decorates heavily for Christmas, and while he's there, the sheriff from a neighboring town--which celebrates the holiday even more than the one where Clint is--asks him to help out with the pursuit of three outlaws who robbed and murdered a ranching couple. The lawman wants to get back to his wife and their five-year-old son before Christmas, so against his better judgment, Clint agrees to help track down the outlaws.

The owlhoots wind up dead, not surprisingly, but so does the sheriff, which leaves Clint with the grim task of returning the body and breaking the bad news to the man's family. From that point, things take some unexpected turns and more trouble looms in the form of a vicious gang that strikes only on holidays.

As always in Randisi's novels, THE JINGLE BELL TRAIL is a fast-paced, dialogue-driven yarn. This one has a little more action than some, with a nice epic battle at the end. Clint is more introspective than most series Western protagonists, struggling with some moral issues and not always making the right choices, which makes him a very human, sympathetic hero. I've always liked him and still do.

THE JINGLE BELL TRAIL is a good addition to that group of Christmas-themed series Westerns. I don't think there was ever a Christmas Slocum or Lone Star or Raider and Doc novel, but if there was, somebody let me know and I'll read it for next year. Meanwhile, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas this year.

Classic Westerns: Tracker #1 The Winning Hand - Robert J. Randisi

I've read at least some entries in just about every Western series Bob Randisi has written over the past forty years--and there have been a lot of them. But I realized I never read any of his Tracker novels, a seven-book series that he wrote for Avon in the Eighties under the pseudonym Tom Cutter. Since these are available now in e-book editions under Randisi's name, I picked up the first one, THE WINNING HAND, read it, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tracker (we never find out any other name for him) is a man with several other mysteries about him, such as his background and profession. As this book, and the series, opens, he wins a San Francisco hotel in a poker game and sets out with his con-man friend Duke to find out what he's won. Tracker himself lies low and lets Duke pretend to be the hotel's new owner, since Tracker hasn't decided whether or not he wants to be in the hotel business.

One factor that may influence his decision is that if he stays, he'll have a partner: the beautiful blond daughter of one of the former owners. As if that's not enough of a complication, Tracker also runs afoul of one of the local big shots and gets involved in a boxing match where one of the combatants is the big shot's son--and he'll stop at nothing to win, including murder.

Randisi spins this yarn in his usual fast-paced, dialogue-heavy style, and it's a whole lot of fun. There's plenty of action, Tracker is a likable protagonist, and by the time the book is over, things have been set up for an excellent series. It's hard for me to believe that this book came out 37 years ago. That really makes me feel old. But at the same time, it's an early gem in Randisi's legendary career, and I'm glad I finally got around to this series. Highly recommended.

That Old Dead Magic - Robert J. Randisi

Bob Randisi’s series of mystery novels featuring the Rat Pack is one of the very best mystery series of recent years, and it continues in very strong fashion with the 12^th entry, THAT OLD DEAD MAGIC, set mostly in 1965. This time around, Eddie Gianelli, the narrator/protagonist who works as a fixer at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, is tasked with helping out Jerry Lewis, who is appearing at the Sands with Sammy Davis Jr. in an attempt to recapture some of the same sort of magic Lewis had with Dean Martin. As it turns out, Lewis is being blackmailed, and Eddie G. has to find out what’s behind it and put a stop to it.

At the same time, Eddie’s private eye friend Danny Bardini is involved in a different case that a beautiful young waitress/aspiring showgirl who’s also a friend of Eddie’s. Another friend, Big Jerry Epstein, a shady character from Brooklyn, is mixed up in that one, too. Then a murder takes place in each case, with the odd connection that the bodies are found in dumpsters. Could the cases possibly be connected? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out, but as usual with these well-plotted mysteries, don’t be so sure you have everything figured out until Randisi gets to the end of the tale he’s spinning.

Driven primarily by dialogue and action, THAT OLD DEAD MAGIC moves very fast and has humor, likable characters (and some suitably despicable ones), and little bits of detail that capture the setting and the time period perfectly. I remember the mid-Sixties quite well—better than I remember yesterday, I think sometimes—and Randisi does a great job of taking the reader back to that time. He’s also very skillful at working historical figures and incidents into his fictional narrative. I had a really fine time reading this novel and give it a high recommendation.

The Headstone Detective Agency - Robert J. Randisi

Not many authors are as devoted to the private eye genre as Bob Randisi. Not only did he found the Private Eye Writers of America many years ago, he's also written many excellent novels in the genre himself.

The latest of them is THE HEADSTONE DETECTIVE AGENCY, which is set in New York City and narrated by John Headston, once the youngest detective in the NYPD and then later the owner of a large, flourishing private agency with many operatives working for him. But as this book opens, those glory days are in the past, and Headston himself is the only one left in the agency. Most of the time he's little more than a glorified process server, but along comes a case more like what he handled in the old days. A highly successful Wall Street stockbroker has disappeared, and the man's beautiful wife hires Headston to find him.

He actually accomplishes that task in pretty short order, but his troubles are just beginning. There's a murder, and while Headston himself isn't suspected of being the killer, he still feels driven to solve the case even though it might put him in danger of losing his license, something that's happened to him in the past.

As always with a Randisi novel, THE HEADSTONE DETECTIVE AGENCY is fast-paced and dialogue-driven. The plot is suitably twisty, the solution is satisfying, and John Headston is a world-weary, occasionally wisecracking PI in the classic mold. I just had a great time reading this book. It reminded me of the private eye novels I grew up reading, while at the same time having a contemporary edge to it. There are more John Headston books coming, and I'm looking forward to them.

The Honky Tonk Big Hoss Boogie - Robert J. Randisi

A new mystery novel by Bob Randisi is always good news, and it's even better when it's the first book in what promises to be a fine series. The protagonist and narrator of THE HONKY TONK BIG HOSS BOOGIE is Auggie Velez, a session musician and part-time private eye in Nashville. Auggie is hired by a couple of record company executives to deliver a mysterious briefcase to an equally mysterious stranger in a nighttime meeting at the end of a bridge over the Cumberland River.

Well, you don't have to have read many private eye novels to suspect that not everything is going to go as planned, and sure enough, the mysterious stranger winds up dead, the briefcase goes missing, and Auggie finds himself up to his guitar in trouble with the cops and with whoever is masterminding this twisty scheme. At the same time he has to deal with the life-threatening illness of an older private detective who is his best friend and mentor, which gives the novel a poignant added dimension.

As usual with a Randisi novel, this one features a lightning-fast pace and a dialogue-driven plot. The Macguffin turns out to be a particularly good one, too. Randisi also provides a vivid portrait of Nashville, not only the town but also the music scene there.

I'm glad this is the first book in a series, because I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next case for Auggie Velez. Meanwhile, if you're a fan of private eye fiction you need to check out THE HONKY TONK BIG HOSS BOOGIE. It's available in both trade paperback and e-book editions.

(This post originally appeared in somewhat different form on September 4, 2013. THE HONKY TONK BIG HOSS BOOGIE has been reprinted in new paperback and e-book editions from a different publisher and deserves your support if you missed it the first time around. It's one of my favorite books by Bob Randisi and I'm very happy to hear that the series is going to continue.)

I Only Have Lies For You - Robert J. Randisi

Bob Randisi’s Rat Pack books are some of the most entertaining mystery novels currently being published. The latest one, I ONLY HAVE LIES FOR YOU, is out from Pro Se Productions, and it continues the excellence of this very strong series.

The narrator/protagonist of these books is Eddie Gianelli, better known as Eddie G., a former pit boss at the Sands casino in Las Vegas who has evolved into kind of a fixer and troubleshooter for the celebrities and high rollers who frequent the casino. In this novel, Eddie travels to Miami Beach with Frank Sinatra to meet Jackie Gleason. At first this seems like an innocent trip, little more than a vacation, but then June Taylor (of the June Taylor Dancers, featured on Gleason’s TV show) asks Eddie to look into the problem of someone who’s stalking her sister Marilyn, also a dancer on the show and maybe not so coincidentally, Jackie Gleason’s long-time mistress.

Eddie has barely gotten started on this favor when a dead body shows up, and there’ll be more murders later on, including that of a police detective, as the action bounces back and forth between Las Vegas, Miami Beach, and other locations in Florida. Eddie gets help from Jerry Epstein, a very likable character despite his connections to the Mob, and Vegas PI Danny Bardini. Randisi confronts them with plot twist after plot twist, but in the end the complicated affair all makes sense . . . but not until Eddie has risked his life to expose a killer.

As always with a Randisi book, I ONLY HAVE LIES FOR YOU is fast-paced and driven by fine dialogue. An added element in the Rat Pack series is his excellent depiction of the era, which I also remember quite well. (Bob and I are about the same age.) I recall watching and enjoying Jackie Gleason’s variety show on Saturday night. My dad always enjoyed the bits featuring Gleason as Joe the Bartender and Frank Fontaine as Crazy Guggenheim, and I did, too. In a period mystery, getting the details right is a tricky business, and so is not overdoing such details. Randisi nails both of those things in this series. I really enjoyed I ONLY HAVE LIES FOR YOU. If you’ve never read any of the Rat Pack books, it would work fine as an introduction, and if you have, you’ll definitely want to read this one, too.

Now Available: Blaze! Boxed Set

If you haven't tried the Blaze! series yet, you'll never get a better chance than this special ebook boxed set edition of the first six novels.

J.D. and Kate Blaze are two of the deadliest gunfighters the Old West has ever seen. They also happen to be husband and wife, as passionate in their love for each other as they are in their quest for justice on the violent frontier!

BLAZE! is the first novel in a thrill-packed, all-new Adult Western series created by bestselling action/adventure author Stephen Mertz. J.D. and Kate find themselves facing a deadly ambush by Apaches, then they're hired to track down a gang of ruthless outlaws led by the beautiful, savage bandit queen Rosa Diablo. It's gun-swift excitement all the way in this gritty tale from Stephen Mertz.

Legendary Western author Robert J. Randisi, creator of The Gunsmith, joins the Blaze! team with this fast-action novel of treachery, revenge, passion, and blistering gunplay. From the finest hotels in Denver to a savage showdown in a ghost town, THE DEADLY GUNS is adventure all the way!

Wayne D. Dundee, one of today's bestselling and most acclaimed Western authors, spins a lightning-fast, action-packed yarn in BITTER VALLEY, the third book in the all-new BLAZE! series. Trouble always seems to follow J.D. and Kate Blaze, and they answer with hot lead!

The only thing J.D. and Kate Blaze planned to do in the settlement of Wilderness, Wyoming, was attend the wedding of one of Kate's friends. Instead outlaws launch a bloody raid on the church in the middle of the ceremony and kidnap the groom. Acclaimed Western author Jackson Lowry (THE SONORA NOOSE and WEST OF THE BIG RIVER: THE ARTIST) spins a colorful, action-packed yarn in SIX-GUN WEDDING, the fourth book in the bestselling Adult Western series BLAZE!

It was one of the most brutal crimes Nevada had ever seen—a stagecoach and everyone in it chopped to pieces by a hail of bullets from a Gatling gun. Award-winning Western writer Michael Newton joins the BLAZE! team with an action-packed novel rooted in the bloody history of the Old West. One of the most popular and acclaimed authors of Western, crime, and adventure novels for the past 30 years, Newton spins a compelling tale of violence and deadly secrets in AMBUSHED!

ZOMBIES OVER YONDER is the wildest BLAZE! adventure yet, as J.D. and Kate investigate the mysterious death of a mine owner and find themselves facing a danger unlike any they've ever encountered. From bloodthirsty outlaws to cold-blooded killers to marauding Indians, they thought they had seen it all—but the looming castle atop a ridge near the settlement of Yonder, Arizona, holds something new and deadly. It's the Old West's only team of husband-and-wife gunfighters versus a sinister count and his walking dead minions—and hot lead may not be enough to stop them!

If you like gritty, fast-paced Western novels seasoned with sexy romps, don't miss this amazing deal.

Forgotten Books: The Ham Reporter - Robert J. Randisi

Robert J. Randisi has long had a fondness for using historical characters in his fiction. Many of them appear in his Westerns, especially the Gunsmith series. But one of the best examples is THE HAM REPORTER, which has one of the most intriguing concepts I've come across: Bat Masterson, who has long since retired from being a lawman and has become a reporter and newspaper columnist in New York City, and his friend and fellow columnist Damon Runyon team up to solve the disappearance and ultimately the murder of another newspaperman. This brings them into conflict with a number of dangerous men who rule various factions of the city's criminal underworld.

Randisi has always known how to spin a fast-moving yarn with plenty of action and dialogue, and he's at the top of his game in THE HAM REPORTER. Masterson and Runyon may not be great detectives, but they're fine protagonists. Randisi does a fine job of working in all the history involved with the plot, explaining in an afterword the parts that really happened and the parts that are fiction. I read this book when it first came out and liked it, but I recently read it again and was even more impressed.

THE HAM REPORTER is available in a brand-new e-book edition as part of an impressive boxed set from Western Fictioneers called LEGENDS OF THE GUN. I don't know if it's Bob Randisi's best book because I haven't read all of them, but it's certainly near the top. If you enjoy historical mysteries, you definitely should check it out. Highly recommended.

Now Available for Pre-Order: Legends of the Gun Boxed Set from Western Fictioneers

The good old shoot-'em-up westerns are still around, and this collection has six by the masters of the genre.

West of the Big River: The Avenging Angel by Michael Newton – Orrin Porter Rockwell is more than just a deputy United States marshal and a deadly gunfighter. He's a member of the Mormon Danites, the group of enforcers known as the Avenging Angels, and he's the personal troubleshooter for Governor Brigham Young. And when Young sends Rockwell to the rough-and-tumble mining town of Tartarus, there'll be plenty of trouble for him to shoot. Award-winning author Michael Newton spins an action-packed, historically accurate yarn in THE AVENGING ANGEL.

The classic, Spur Award-winning novel by Frank Roderus, POTTER'S FIELDS is the story of Joe Potter, a man haunted by the past who deals with the harsh realities of the frontier by becoming harsh and violent himself. A former lawman no longer able to find work carrying a badge because of his corruption and brutality, Potter becomes a cowboy and spends the winter in an isolated line shack, where the arrival of a stranger forces him to confront himself and his past. Rich with poignant emotion and vividly detailed ranch life, POTTER'S FIELDS is a novel that will stay with the reader long after the story is over.

Jake Scudder is just a drifting, peace-loving cowboy. So why does he find himself in jail, convicted of the murder of an old-timer he had befriended and sentenced to hang for that crime he didn't commit? Jake gets a chance to clear his name when the train taking him to the gallows crashes, but was that wreck an accident? Who's the real ringleader of the gang of vicious outlaws known as the Marauders? Jake Scudder has to dodge not only the law but also a cunning murderer as he attempts to save his own life and that of a beautiful young woman. A ROPE FOR SCUDDER is another classic, action-packed Western from bestselling author Clay More.

A fortune in gold dust, two beautiful women, a pair of deadly bushwhackers gunning for him, a dangerous blizzard, an avalanche, and an unknown plotter masterminding murder and robbery . . . These are just some of the things Clay Brand has to deal with when he signs on to guard gold shipments coming down from the mining country in California's San Bernardino Mountains. But before Clay can get to the bottom of the violence plaguing the mountains, he'll have to shoot straight and fast and escape the unexpected menace of a lynch mob! GUN FOR HIRE is the first Western ever written by acclaimed author Jory Sherman. Includes a new introduction by the author written especially for this volume in the Western Fictioneers Library.

In THE HAM REPORTER by Robert J. Randisi, Bat Masterson is no longer a sheriff in the Old West. He’s moved East to New York City where he gets a job as a sports writer for The Morning Telegraph. But when his friend and fellow-newsman, Inkspot Jones, disappears, Masterson’s wife Emma asks if he could look into it as a favor to the man’s wife. It doesn’t look hopeful—Inkspot had something on somebody, and that somebody may have decided to play rough. Pretty soon they’re up to their eyeballs in crooked politicians, hired thugs and a woman of mystery. And before it’s done, Bat may have to strap on his Colt again for some old fashioned Western justice.

Lawyer Billy Cambridge, a retired Texas Ranger, and his best friend, vaquero and ranch foreman Nacho Graves, set out by stagecoach from Pecos, Texas, to deliver $20,000 in cash to a client in Fort Smith, Arkansas. When the stagecoach is held up and Cambridge and Nacho lose the twenty grand, they set out on a dangerous quest to recover the money and bring the outlaws to justice…a quest that leads them to beautiful women, cold-blooded killers, the last Comanchero, and more surprises than they're ready to face. RED RIVER RUSE is a fast-moving Western novel packed with action, emotion, and danger, from award-winning, bestselling authors James Reasoner and L.J. Washburn.

Now Available: When Somebody Kills You (Rat Pack #10) - Robert J. Randisi

Eddie G. must discover why someone wants to kill him. His friends Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland are concerned for him, too.

After Dean Martin saves Eddie G. from being hit by a car, Eddie’s torpedo buddy Jerry arrives from Brooklyn with the news: somebody’s put an open contract out on him. As anybody can cash it in, pros and amateurs alike are coming out of the woodwork to have a shot. So when Eddie is asked by Frank Sinatra to go to LA to help his friend, Judy Garland, with a problem she’s having, Eddie and Jerry seize the opportunity to leave Vegas.

Unfortunately the contract follows Eddie there. While doing his best to stay alive long enough to find out who hates him so much they want him dead, Eddie must also solve Judy Garland’s problem of a possible stalker and blackmailer.

The Gunsmith #400: The Lincoln Ransom - J.R. Roberts (Robert J. Randisi)

About 33 years ago, I read a book entitled MACKLIN'S WOMEN, the first book in a new Adult Western series called The Gunsmith. The author was J.R. Roberts, who I knew even then was really Robert J. Randisi. In fact, Bob may have sent me that copy of the first Gunsmith novel; I can't recall about that.

But I'm relatively sure it didn't occur to me as I read and enjoyed the first adventure of Clint Adams that Bob would still be writing them and I'd still be reading them more than three decades later.

That's the case, however. I just read THE GUNSMITH #400: THE LINCOLN RANSOM. This is a milestone in more ways than one. Not only the 400^th book, making The Gunsmith one of the longest-running Western series ever, but the first book from the series' new homes, Piccadilly Publishing for the e-book editions and Western Trailblazer for the trade paperbacks.

In this one Clint is working for the government, as he does from time to time, on a top-secret mission: someone has stolen the coffin containing the body of Abraham Lincoln from its tomb in Springfield, Illinois, and is demanding $100,000 ransom for its return. The ransom is supposed to be paid in a small town in Colorado. Clint gets the job of delivering the money and recovering the former President's body, but of course things don't turn out to be quite that simple as he also uncovers the conspiracy behind the theft, with some help from his old friend, private detective Talbot Roper (who has starred in some Randisi novels of his own and may well again one of these days).

As usual with Gunsmith novels, THE LINCOLN RANSOM is driven mostly by dialogue and action and is very fast-paced. Bob's writing has a distinctive voice that's always enjoyable. If you've been a Gunsmith fan in the past, there's no need to stop now. I think the series is going to be around for a long time yet.

(Guest Post) Our Man Clint: The Gunsmith Continues - Robert J. Randisi

OUR MAN CLINT
The Gunsmith Continues
By Robert J. Randisi, aka J.R. Roberts

It was a bloodbath, probably fitting, given how long adult westerns and mens adventure paperbacks have been spilling blood within their pages.  But in one fell swoop publishers, with seeming disregard for the readers—or the readers that were left, anyway—cancelled all the Adult Western series—notably the long running Longarm and Gunsmith series—and mens adventure series—most notably, the Mack Bolan series.  This move, as of April of 2015, will not only rob loyal readers of the adventures of Custis Longarm and Mack Bolan, but will also put entire stables of writers out of work. Both series, along with many others, were written by multiple writers, having supplied work for many working writers for a good 40 years.  In fact, the Adult Western genre not only invigorated the western genre and kept it alive,but provided income for dozens of writers over the years. And now it’s the end of an era for all of them . . .

. . . except The Gunsmith.

Why?

Very simple answer. For the most part, the Gunsmith was created and written by one man. When Charter Books contacted me in 1981 and asked me if I could create an Adult Western series for them, I jumped at the chance.  I created a bible and, when it was approved, signed a two book contract.  Then a contract for a third.  And then they called me and said they wanted to go into the genre whole-heartedly, and could I write a book a month.  I was 30 years old, had no idea if I could write a book a month, but I said “Yes!”

I started writing under the pseudonym J.R. Roberts.  When I attended my first Western convention I discovered what anomaly the Gunsmith and I were. There were several other monthly adult westerns running at the time, and they were being written by three or four writers under a single house name. A “house name” is a name used by many authors on one series.  My “J.R. Roberts” nom de-plume was a pseudonym used by one person, not a house name. (It was only after Berkley Books purchased Charter Books and wanted to keep the Gunsmith going that they asked if they could hire two more writers, just to build up an inventory. The writers were to be approved by me, and I was to own even those books which I did not write, and receive a royalty. It made me even more of an anomaly in the genre. Once we had built up a one year inventory, I went back to writing all the books.)

And I have done so since then, for over 32 years.  Gunsmith #1: Macklin’s Women came out in January of 1982, and there has been a Gunsmith every month since then.  Berkley Books decided to end the run in April of 2015 with #399, and I was given enough warning so that I was able to place the series elsewhere and assure that Gunsmith #400 would appear in May of 2015, with no break in the action.  They will appear with a new cover design in ebook for from Piccadilly Publishing, and in paperback from Western Trailblazers.  And Our Man Clint will go on appearing in a book a month for as long as my flying fingers can flex.

So to those loyal Gunsmith readers who pick up up each and every month, you may continue to do so, with heartfelt thanks from me, and from Our Man Clint Adams.

I should also thank Charter Books, where it all started, and then Berkley Books, which has kept the series going all these years, as we all move on to the next bend in the road. 

Now Available: Souls of the Dead - Robert J. Randisi

When ex-sheriff Ken Burke is attacked and winds up in an unusual coma, the former hitman Sangster finds himself pulled into the world of Voodoo in order to save his friend. 

Sangster discovers he has stepped into a hornet’s nest as the search leads him through a myriad of French Quarter Voodoo businesses, a Catholic church, a mysterious Voodoo priest in the bayou while avoiding the next would-be hitman wanting to take Sangster out. 

“Leave it to master-storyteller Robert Randisi to come up with a soulful new spin on the hitman genre. Sangster is a unique addition to the ranks of killers for hire.” 
—Max Allan Collins, creator of QUARRY 

“As many excellent hitman novels as there have been over the years…you wouldn’t think there would be much left to do with the sub-genre. But you’d be wrong, as Robert J. Randisi…proves quite handily. 
—James Reasoner, author of Texas Wind 

“…an ambitious, fast-paced thriller that plunges readers headlong into the world of professional hitmen…author Randisi promptly throws some fresh twists into his tale that amp up the excitement and suspense all the more.” 
—Wayne D. Dundee, author of the Joe Hannibal PI series 

About SOULS OF THE DEAD author Gary Phillips had this to say: 
“Taut, clever and gritty, under the sure hand of Robert Randisi, The Souls of the Dead is an unputdownable crime story with a rough-hewn charm.  Bring me more Sangster.”
     -- Gary Phillips, author of Treacherous: Ruffians, Grifters and Killers

Print Editions of the Blaze! Novels

The trade paperback editions of the first three BLAZE! novels from Stephen Mertz, Robert J. Randisi, and Wayne D. Dundee are now available from Amazon.

 

Now Available: The First Three Blaze! Novels

E-book editions of the first three books in the new Adult Western series BLAZE! are now available. Print editions should be live soon. If you're a fan of Longarm, The Gunsmith, Slocum, and the Trailsman, you need to check out these books. They're excellent novels by some of the best writers in the business, and I look forward to the series having a long, successful run.

Coming Soon: Blaze! (A New Adult Western Series)

J.D. and Kate Blaze are two of the deadliest gunfighters the Old West has ever seen. They also happen to be husband and wife, as passionate in their love for each other as they are in their quest for justice on the violent frontier!

BLAZE! is the first novel in a thrill-packed, all-new Adult Western series created by bestselling action/adventure author Stephen Mertz. J.D. and Kate find themselves facing a deadly ambush by Apaches, then they're hired to track down a gang of ruthless outlaws led by the beautiful, savage bandit queen Rosa Diablo. It's gun-swift excitement all the way in this gritty tale from Stephen Mertz.

Husband and wife gunfighters Kate and J.D. Blaze are hired to track down a gang of rustlers, but what they don't know is that they're going to find themselves in the middle of a three-cornered war, playing each side against the others. If they're lucky they'll collect three payoffs instead of one...but will those payoffs be in gold—or hot lead?! 

Legendary Western author Robert J. Randisi, creator of The Gunsmith, joins the Blaze! team with this fast-action novel of treachery, revenge, passion, and blistering gunplay. From the finest hotels in Denver to a savage showdown in a ghost town, The Deadly Guns is adventure all the way!

J.D. and Kate Blaze, the Old West's only pair of husband-and-wife gunfighters, just want to enjoy their vacation in a beautiful Colorado valley, calling it the honeymoon they never had. But a runaway buggy draws them into a deadly vendetta that threatens the life of one of J.D.'s old friends. Belle Braeden, once a San Francisco soiled dove, is now the wife of one of Colorado's richest ranchers, a fact that the man's spoiled children don't appreciate. When murder strikes, Kate and J.D. have to track down a killer and fight for their own lives against a gang of deadly bushwhackers! 

Wayne D. Dundee, one of today's bestselling and most acclaimed Western authors, spins a lightning-fast, action-packed yarn in BITTER VALLEY, the third book in the all-new BLAZE! series. Trouble always seems to follow J.D. and Kate Blaze, and they answer with hot lead!

(I'm editing and publishing these books, and I can tell you, if you're a fan of The Gunsmith, Longarm, The Trailsman, and Slocum, you're going to want to read these! The first three books will be available as e-books on January 5, but you can pre-order them now. Trade paperback editions should be available about the same time. After that there'll be a new BLAZE! novel every two months, written by some of the top names in the business. If you like plenty of action, be sure to check out BLAZE!)

McKenna's House - Robert J. Randisi

Robert J. Randisi says that as far as he can figure, his new mystery novel McKENNA'S HOUSE is his 620^th novel. I know what he means by that. I've written a little more than half that many, and I'm not a hundred per cent certain that my total is correct. It may be off by one or two. But regardless of how many books Bob has written, I know that I haven't read anywhere close to all of them. Maybe a fourth of them, or a third, at the outside. But I am certain of one thing, and this is my long-winded way of getting around to saying it.

McKENNA'S HOUSE is the best Randisi novel I've read so far.

Lazarus "Mac" McKenna is a freelance investigator who used to work for an insurance company. He's come back to his childhood home in Omaha to care for his dying father, and after his dad passes away, he stays there, living alone in the house where he grew up. He does the same sort of work he used to do for the insurance company, mostly background checks, working from home on his computer. But every now and then, to break the monotony, he takes on more of a private eye sort of case, such as trying to find out whether or not the CEO of a local company is cheating on his wife. That's what McKenna is doing when he comes across a young woman and a little boy in a bus station. They're broke, hungry, and have nowhere to go...so McKenna surprises both himself and them by taking them home with him.

It's not long after that the case he's working on turns deadly with a brutal murder, and he soon learns that his house guests have a secret that could prove dangerous as well.

Randisi expertly manipulates both strands of this plot, and his writing has never been smoother or faster-paced. Mac McKenna is a great character, neither a wise-cracking supersleuth nor a bitter, angst-ridden loser despite his loneliness and the health issues he's battling. He's just a decent guy trying to do the right thing, and because of that it's easy for the reader to root for him. I don't know if Bob plans to bring McKenna back in another novel, but if he does, I'll definitely read it. For now, McKENNA'S HOUSE is one of the best books I've read this year, and it gets a high recommendation from me.

Now Available: McKenna's House - Robert J. Randisi

After the death of his estranged father, middle-aged insurance investigator Lazarus McKenna leaves Chicago and moves into his father's house—the house he grew up in—and establishes his business in Omaha, NE. Eventually, his lonely life is invaded by a young woman and a small boy who may or may not be on the run. Finding them in a bus station, he takes them into his care—and home—on a cold winter night, hoping to discover what their trouble is so he can help them with it. At the same time he is hired by a woman to discover whether or not her murdered husband was cheating on her at the time of his death. McKenna's once boring, quiet life is shattered as both cases turn deadly. This Randisi novel—his 620th—displays a whole new level of depth and heart.

(I'm really looking forward to reading this one, which I'll be doing very soon.)