Great western in the classic tradition. Max Allan Collins has done a phenomenal job of bringing Mickey Spillane's characters to life. If you love good westerns, or just good books then I highly recommend this book.

THE BLOODY SPUR is the third book in the “Caleb York” series, and finds legendary gunman Caleb York settling into his position of lawmaker having replaced the former corrupt sheriff and his “deputies” or gang that had attempted to add the ranch belonging to George Cullen and daughter Willa to his amassed land taken by force. Willa, whom Caleb previously had a relationship with in the wake of his saving the ranch, but now finds himself on her bad side after killing her latest love interest.

George Cullen is once again in danger as a result of his opposing the proposal to provide land and his blessing to creating a station for the railroad that would add much needed income for the community (and Caleb), but possibly causing changes to the town and his ranch that he does not welcome.

Burt O’Malley is a co-founder of the ranch with George who recently has returned after reportedly having been released from prison after leaving years before, and ends up at the ranch again.

Willa is torn between supporting or opposing the station, wanting to be supportive of her father, but seeing the possibilities it could provide for everyone makes this a difficult decision.

Caleb is on high alert when a known gambler/assassin shows up making it clear someone in town is a target, but who is the question that he must learn to protect from a murder disguised as self defense.

Enjoyable book that was originally started by the late Mickey Spillane and seen to completion by Max Allan Collins, and while I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first book in the series, this could be largely due to the fact I haven’t as yet read the second book in the series, something that I’ll do in the future.

4 stars.

THE BLOODY SPUR: A Caleb York Western
Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins
Kensington Books
ISBN 978-1617735981
Hardcover
Western

I am at times amazed that more mystery readers don’t turn to traditional (or contemporary) westerns for entertainment. The majority of westerns have a mystery or two at their kernel, and as a result the two genres mesh well at worst and perfectly at best. Who can argue with authors who worked in both genres, including but not limited to Elmore Leonard, Loren Estleman, Robert B. Parker (and his successor, Robert Knott), and, that hardest of the hard-boiled authors, Mickey Spillane, with Max Allan Collins, his posthumous collaborator? With regard to the latter team, Collins has over the past few years taken a movie script which Spillane wrote for a western featuring John Wayne and expanded upon the characters and situation. The result has been the creation by Collins of a new
traditional western series of which THE BLOODY SPUR is the third installment.

Sheriff Caleb York of the small but growing cattle town of Trinidad, New Mexico is the obvious star of this excellent series, which balances lots of action with a bit of romance and some historical background. York has an on-again, off-again relationship with a very capable and fetching young woman named Willa Cullen, who with her father George runs the largest ranch in the area. THE BLOODY SPUR opens with Cullen Senior being put under considerable pressure to permit the Santa Fe Railroad to build a spur through part of his land in order to link Trinidad with points west for the cattle trade. The progress is inevitable, and would in many ways be good for the Cullens, but George, who has lived in Trinidad since its inception, is quick to note the problems that uninhibited growth could bring to the town. Cullen’s former partner in the ranch, fresh from a stint in prison for killing a man, has also arrived in town, and while his presence doesn’t exactly complicate matters it does add another moving part to the situation. Meanwhile, a notorious gun and enigmatic gun for hire shows up with with two associates, ostensibly to play in a high stakes poker game but with something else obviously in mind. York handles these matters, and more, with a quiet confidence and a cool competence. Things heat up a bit, however, when an unexpected death occurs. It appears to be the result of an accident but York, after utilizing a bit of Old West detective work, quickly determines that its murder. York methodically interrogates a sizable list of suspects before identifying the culprit, even as he has to keep eyes in the back of his head in order to ensure that he doesn’t experience an all-too-deadly accident himself. It’s an open question as to whether York will make it to the of THE BLOODY SPUR, but if he doesn’t he’ll be in good company, considering that not everyone introduced at the beginning of the book --- or the series --- makes it to the end of this installment.

Collins, as with the first two installments in the Caleb York canon, makes an easy transition from the mystery genre to the western. The result is that THE BLOODY SPUR is a quick, highly engrossing read which truly puts the reader in the time and place in which it is set. If you think you don’t like tradition westerns, try THE BLOODY SPUR and be surprised. Recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2018, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Bloody Spur is a western tale expanded from a screenplay and notes in the estate of Mickey Spillane, and completed in novel form at Spillane's request by Max Allan Collins. There is a forward about the friendship between Spillane and John Wayne that is very interesting as well as a note from Max Allan Collins that explains his process.

Bloody Spur is a tight story, classic in scope. This is stand alone but a continuation of The Legend of Caleb York and The Big Showdown, and features Caleb York as the peacekeeper and good guy.

Rumors spread far and wide for the last six months that Caleb York, Wells Fargo Detective, is dead. This is working out well for Caleb as he has gotten side-tracked cleaning up the small town of Trinidad, New Mexico, out drawing and taking over for their corrupt sheriff Harry Gauge. He is in the midst of trying to refocus his life now that he's in his mid-thirties and appreciates the chance to avoid the men - often boys - who wish to build a reputation by outdrawing Caleb York. But Trinidad is cleaned up and York is thinking of heading out. He has had a job offer from the Pinkerton's in San Diego. Before he gets his plans in place, the notorious Preacher and his sidekicks hit town waiting on the big poker game coming up, or so they say. Then the railroad decides to put up a spur that would include Trinidad and the citizenry, both pro and anti railroad, run amuck. Most of the store owners would love the convenience of rail coming all the way to Trinidad. But if the rail is to come, they will have to have an easement through the Cullen's Bar O ranch. Old blind rancher George Cullen along with other ranchers oppose the rail coming into Trinidad. Though the majority of the work involved in the running the Bar O falls to his daughter Willa, George is still a formidable figure in the town. Then people begin to die. And George is the first to go down.

Max Allan Collins has a genius for slipping into the mind frame, the language, the pace of classic writers. He is the perfect choice to complete novels or novel outlines of those distinctive authors we have lost. Nobody does it better. Thank you, sir, for these fine tributes to our lost writers, for keeping their characters alive.

I received a free electronic copy of this western historical novel from Netgalley, the heirs of Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins, and Kensington in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

The Caleb York character was originally conceived by Mickey Spillane as a vehicle for a John Wayne movie. After Spillane's death, Writer Max Allan Collins took up Spillane's notes and outlines and fashioned three top-notch Western novels. As Collins tells us, you could read this picturing John Wane as Sheriff York. This is the third novel in the series and it stands tall on its own with reading the first two not being a prerequisite. It's a Western that takes place in a small New Mexico town, but holds quite a lot of appeal for those of us who never really delved into reading Westerns.

It's got all the normal fixings of a book of this genre from the sharp shooting no-nonsense sheriff, the rough gunslingers from out of town, the gorgeous tough as nails frontier woman, The cantankerous old rancher, the town Madam, the council of shopkeepers, he poker tournament, and the goofy deputy. It's filled with duels, bar fights, ranchers, corruption, and powerful railroads. At its heart is a whoDone-it mystery.

It is a solid, un-put-down able story that is just lots of fun to read.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.