The Name's Buchanan

The Name's Buchanan by Jonas Ward
Published by Gold Medal 1956

William Ard, creator of hardboiled protagonists Timothy Dane and Lou Largo, wrote his best known character under the pseudonym Jonas Ward. The Name’s Buchanan is the first book in the titular character’s series. Unlike Ard’s detectives Buchanan is far from hardboiled. He’s an open, honest and friendly guy. He’s slow to rile, but extremely deadly with guns or fists if pushed.

The story involves Buchanan returning from Mexico where he’s been working as a hired gun. Unfortunately for him, his first stop upon returning to the states is Agrytown, a corrupt little burg owned and operated by Simon Agry. Buchanan’s arrival in town coincides with that of Juan del Cuervo, the son of a wealthy Mexican family from just across the border. He has come to Agrytown seeking revenge for the rape of his sister by Agry’s good-for-nothing son. Things get complicated from there, and nothing goes exactly as expected, either for the reader or the characters.

 The story, full of double and triple crosses among the villains, plays out more like a crime story than a traditional western, with Buchanan stumbling into the middle of an already tense situation and escalating it simply by being present. The book comes in at a slim 152 pages, but it’s packed with characters, each with their own agenda, and never feels rushed. In fact, the multiple characters are so richly rendered that at times Buchanan risks becoming a guest star in his own book. Ultimately this only feels like a flaw because Buchanan so interesting the reader wants more. But Ard is in full control of his narrative, and the multiple plot threads come together in a surprising but satisfying way.  

The Hook #1- The Gilded Canary

The Hook #1 - The Gilded Canary by Brad Latham
Published by Warner Books 1981

The Hook was one of a handful of series from Warner Books short-lived Men of Action line. Most only ran for a few volumes, with their Dirty Harry series being the longest at 12 books. The Hook lasted for five, and if the other four are as good as this one I look forward to tracking them down.

Set in 1938, this series chronicles the adventures of William Lockwood a.k.a. The Hook, so nicknamed because of his boxing skills. He is a WWI veteran and now an insurance investigator assigned to high-dollar claims. In this installment he’s after an expensive necklace stolen from a popular singer at a New York nightclub frequented by both movie stars and gangsters. While a stolen necklace may not sound all that exciting, it isn’t long before bodies start to pile up. Since the Hook is an ex-boxer, the writer also finds lots of excuses for him to knock the crap out of folks. And have sex. The Hook really likes to fuck.

There seems to be some mystery as to the identity of the writer behind the Brad Latham house name. It was briefly thought that David J. Schow was the mystery man, but he says not. 

Most online reviews for this book are brutal. It’s called boring, dumb, and many complain about the graphic nature of the sex scenes, although I didn’t find them to be any more plentiful or graphic than the average men’s adventures series. I also thought the setting was well-realized. The pop-culture references and the dialogue sold the period well, and were fun to read. The whole thing put me in the mind of old movies series like The Falcon, or The Saint, but with way more boning. Maybe the series will go off the rails in future books, but it gets off to a great start.