The Fast Gun

To Gavin Gartree’s bunch of hardcases, “work” was a cussword, “innocent” was a come-on, and a young pilgrim girl was an invitation to a molestation. But nothing was quite as it seemed. For a start, the young pilgrim girl in question was accompanied by a small and seemingly inconsequential Texan by the name of Dusty Fog. But that was the thing about Dusty Fog. Though small in stature, he was a giant when it came to fighting, and he always made his first shot the last shot as well …

J.T. Edson was a former British Army dog-handler who wrote more than 130 Western novels, accounting for some 27 million sales in paperback. Edson’s works - produced on a word processor in an Edwardian semi at Melton Mowbray - contain clear, crisp action in the traditions of B-movies and Western television series. What they lack in psychological depth is made up for by at least twelve good fights per volume. Each portrays a vivid, idealized “West That Never Was”, at a pace that rarely slackens.