I have always dabbled in Westerns, lantern-jawed Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey as a kid, revisionist Elmore Leonard and Loren Estleman later, a smattering of whatever these days, Elmer Kelton and Cormac McCarthy and the new Robert Parker. I went to a big library book sale and found a stack of Ace Western Doubles, which I bought author and title unseen. I have always collected Ace Doubles when I can find them but had never found any of the Westerns, so I went away happy at a quarter a shot.
Later I saw one was by Ray Hogan. Hogan is one of those guys whose names I recognized, who I have not sought out but read and enjoyed from time to time. This one starts off nicely with our hero bringing a corpse back to the sheriff even though the dead man, who our hero recently filled with hot lead, was the only person who could get him out of a frame. The story then jumps back in time to tell how our hero ended up in this tight spot with only his shootin' irons and his trusty sidekick Cholo for help. Panhandle Pistolero hits all the right beats, but has some nice twists and more of the rethinking of those 60s-era Westerns. Hogan is a muscular, clear-eyed writer and this was a pleasant, easy, read.
I'm going to flip this one over and check out Nelson Nye's Marshall of Pioche next.
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