The Bloody Spur

December 18, 2017
Spillane and Collins’s well-crafted third Caleb York western (after 2016’s The Big Showdown) finds the former Wells Fargo detective—now sheriff of Trinidad, N.Mex.—enjoying the peaceful benefits
of being believed dead, but he soon has trouble on his hands. Ranch owner George Cullen is under pressure to let the Santa Fe Railway lay tracks through his land to link Trinidad with other towns, enriching all. Despite Caleb’s advice, George stubbornly refuses to make any deal. Meanwhile, contract killer Alver Hollis (aka the Preacherman) shows up, ostensibly to play in a poker tournament—but, when George is found outside of town murdered, Caleb wonders whether it was the work of the Preacherman. And might he have another victim in his sights? Regardless, the appealing Caleb—level-headed, wry, and tough when he needs to be—intends to honor his promise to George’s lovely daughter, Willa, to avenge his old friend. This posthumous collaboration is great fun, but fans of the early Spillane won’t find much evidence of his trademark style.

November 1, 2017
The first Caleb York novel, 2015's The Legend of Caleb York, was adapted from an unproduced western screenplay written by Spillane. This sequel was also fleshed out by Collins from Spillane's notes and earlier drafts of the original screenplay. The Santa Fe Railroad wants to run a spur line through Trinidad, New Mexico. George Cullen, a local rancher, seems strangely adamant about keeping the railroad out of town. Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, Cullen's former partner comes back to town after spending two decades behind bars. And an infamous gunslinger has come to Trinidad to join a high-stakes poker gameor so he claims. York, a detective for the Wells Fargo company, figures his best chance to find out what's going on in Trinidad is to deal himself into the poker game, but it's a gamble that might turn out very badly. Prolific genre veteran Collins isn't known for westerns, but he does a fine job here of creating a realistic environment and some pretty darned interesting characters. Readers who've been following the Spillane-Collins collaborations won't want to miss this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)