Tue 4 Apr 2023
Western Fiction Review by Dan Stumpf: HAL G. EVARTS – The Long Rope.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western Fiction[7] Comments
HAL G. EVARTS – The Long Rope. Dell First Edition A172, paperback original, 1958. Pocket, paperback, 1973.
Long Rope starts with the brutal massacre of a squatter family and the near-fatal wounding of luckless drifter Will Landry by persons unknown — but not for long. The scene quickly shifts to the modest cow town of Antelope, run by acting sheriff Roy Kell, who is holding Landry, with the narrative that he got shot while murdering the squatters and will be tried and quickly hanged as soon as he recovers.
Enter Dan Croft, an old trail buddy of Landry’s, keeping his cards close to his vest, playing it cool and cagey while he surveys the situation, figures out who he can trust, who really killed the squatters and why Kell is so anxious for Landry not to stand trial—even to the point of hiring Croft to kill him!
This first part of the book is confined to the town of Antelope, and I use the word “confined†advisedly because it reads more like a film noir than a western, as Croft walks mean streets knee-deep in double-crosses, trying to out-bluff adversaries who hold all the cards, and spring his buddy from Jail.
At which point (and I’m not giving away anything that ain’t on the back cover) the tale moves out into open country, and The Long Rope becomes a tale of pursuit and survival in the wilderness as the fugitives cross forests, snow-capped mountains, and dusty plains to escape a lawman bent on murder.
Evarts writes this just as vividly as he did the first part, with a keen appreciation of the rigors of the terrain and the vagaries of the chase, with Kell closing in, falling behind, and finally…
Well I’ll just say that The Long Rope comes to a terse and satisfying conclusion, and I’ll be looking for more by Evarts!
April 4th, 2023 at 1:59 pm
You have plenty to choose from, Dan:
Novels
The Cross Pull (1920)
The Passing of the Old West (1921)
The Yellow Horde (1921)
Fur Sign (1922)
The Settling of the Sage (1922)
Spanish Acres (1923)
aka Bullet Brand
Tumbleweeds (1923)
The Painted Stallion (1926)
The Moccasin Telegraph (1927)
Fur Brigade (1928)
Tomahawk Rights (1929)
Jerbo the Jumper (1930)
Kobi Of The Sea (1930)
Phantom (1930)
The Shaggy Legion (1930)
Swift the Kit Fox (1930)
Short Grass (1932)
Wolf Dog (1935)
Renegade of the Rainbow Basin (1953)
Highgrader (1954)
Apache Agent (1955)
Fugitive’s Canyon (1955)
Ambush Rider (1956)
The Night Raiders (1956)
Man Without a Gun (1957)
Jedediah Smith (1958)
The Long Rope (1958)
The Blazing Land (1960)
The Turn Coat (1960)
Massacre Creek (1962)
The Silver Concubine (1962)
Colorado Crossing (1963)
The Sundown Kid (1964)
Treasure River (1964)
The Branded Man (1965)
The Talking Mountains (1966)
Smugglers’ Road (1968)
Mission To Tibet (1970)
The Man from Yuma (1972)
The Pegleg Mystery (1972)
Bigfoot (1973)
The Purple Eagle Mystery (1976)
Jay-jay and the Peking Monster (1978)
A western writer of some prolificity but little name value. I have many of his books, all in paperback, but I’ve never read one. Shame on me!
April 4th, 2023 at 2:54 pm
Steve, it looks like you’ve conflated the bibliographies of father Hal G. Evarts (1887-1934) and son Hal G. Evarts Jr. (1915-1989), the dividing line being the gap in titles between 1935 and 1953.
Also note that Junior wrote a biography of his father, Skunk Ranch to Hollywood: The West of Author Hal Evarts (1989).
April 4th, 2023 at 4:35 pm
Dan,
Sounds great! If the prose is clipped close enough I’ll have to check it out. Since I figured out that noirboiled includes a good amount of gunfighter westerns it’s really opened up new vistas for my bibliomania….
April 4th, 2023 at 5:29 pm
There were two Hal G. Evarts, father and son. The novels starting with RENEGADE OF THE RAINBOW BASIN are by Evarts Jr. Both were consistently good writers.
April 4th, 2023 at 5:41 pm
Thanks to both of you for the correction re the two Evarts, father and son. I found the list on the Fantastic Fiction website, but I was puzzled by two things: first the sheer length of “his” writing career, and then the 18 -year gap in the middle of it. Now it makes sense!
April 4th, 2023 at 6:50 pm
I’ve read books by both Evarts and not regretted it. This one sounds particularly good.
April 5th, 2023 at 8:34 am
I used to have most of the Saturday Evening Posts, 1900-1970 and I remember reading three serials by Hal Evarts, Sr in the 1920’s. They were outstanding and I then managed to buy the hardcover versions to reread later. The Sat Eve Post illustrations for the serials were excellent.