Wed 16 Feb 2011
Archived Western Review: HARRY WHITTINGTON – Drygulch Town.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western Fiction[3] Comments
HARRY WHITTINGTON – Drygulch Town. Ace Double F-196; paperback original, 1963. Published dos-Ã -dos with Prairie Raiders, also by Harry Whittington.
No, it’s not a mystery. But perhaps you recall my predilection for the lawyer with the underdog client. You can’t beat this one for underdoggedness.
Garrison is a lawyer in Wyoming territory, and his client has killed the only son of Bryce Carmack, who not so strangely runs the oil town of Carmack Settlement. The plea is self-defense, but only a strong-willed sheriff has already prevented an immediate hanging.
In the opening scene Garrison is shot at from a hotel window as he rides into town. He’s offered a bribe, beaten by a mob, ambushed in an alley, his only witness dies in his arms, and — justice triumphs. The wrapup is a mite too quick, but Whittington pulls out all the stops before then.
I was ready to plunge in with fists flying myself.
February 16th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
Whittington was a master at piling on the troubles. I remember this one as being a lot of fun.
February 16th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Yep, this one had everything. Even if it was only 120 pages long, you got your money’s worth.
And then you could flip it over and read another one. All for 40 cents.
February 16th, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Lester Dent and Frank Gruber both had formulas for writing, and Gruber once summed his up as you got the hero in trouble in the first line of the first paragraph and increased the problems until they seemed insurmountable until you got him out of trouble as close to the last line of the last page as possible.
The good action writers like Whittington seemed to know this instinctively.