Thu 24 Oct 2019
A PI Mystery Review by Barry Gardner: W. L. RIPLEY – Storme Front.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
W. L. RIPLEY – Storme Front. Wyatt Storme #2. Henry Holt, hardcover, 1995. Brash Books, paperback, 2005.
As I recall, my comment on the first of this series was “pretty good for what it is” — and what it was, was a typical Spenser/Hawk, Cole/Pike, etc., cowboy story. I seem to like the breed a little less each year, but I’ll still read ’em if they’re decently written, so —
Wyatt Storme, ex-Dallas Cowboy, Viet Nam vet, and semi-recluse, comes down off his Colorado mountain when an old college acquaintance inveigles him into acting as bodyguard on an illegal weapons deal by hinting at some danger to another old friend of Storme’s.
The deal goes bad and people are killed, but that’s just the start. Wyatt and his badass friend Chick Easton start looking for answers and find some that threaten not only them but Storme’s relaionship with his lover.
Well, Ripley still writes cowboy stories, and he still writes them well enough, and there’s not much more to say. He’s quite good on banter and one-liners, but that’s not really enough to carry a whole book. The wisecracking. brooding, semi-tragic hero and his lethal sidekick tak eon the bad guys, kick some righteous ass, kill a few people, and leave the world a better place for us all while the law watches admiringly and from a respectful distance.
It’s the masculine-machoequivalent of a good cozy, decently done, basically silly, utterly forgettable.
The Wyatt Storme series —
Dreamsicle (1993) Reprinted as Hail Storme (2015)
Storme Front (1994)
Electric Country Roulette (1996) Reprinted as Eye of the Storme (2016)
Storme Warning (2015)
October 24th, 2019 at 10:32 am
Not only have I missed all four of Ripley’s Storme books, but he’s also written four books about another charater, described online as “Cole Springer, smart-mouthed, piano-playing Aspen saloonkeeper and wily former Secret Service agent.”
I didn’t know anything about Springer either. until just now.
October 25th, 2019 at 9:01 pm
Barry echoes something that happened with me in the period. The Spenser clones wore out their welcome pretty fast. I think the only one I stuck with for any time other than the original was Fiddler.
October 25th, 2019 at 9:34 pm
It took me a while to remember who Fiddler was. If he’s the one you’re referring to, he paired up with his ex-wife (I think) Fiona in eight novels by A. E. Maxwell in the 1980s and early 90s. I started one while visiting Jon in California earlier this year, but I messed up and left it there when I came home. I’ll have to hunt up another copy!
October 26th, 2019 at 8:19 pm
That’s the one. For some reason or other that series managed to distinguish itself enough from Parker and Spenser to hold my attention even when I moved on from Spenser and company.