Following the second world war, Pemberton’s (of Manchester) Ltd. contracted various Canadian publishers to send them digest-paperbacks and comics, etc. The final product in many cases equated to a complete mess. Often the text was wrong, words spelled in error, text upside down, text missing, etc.
Thomas P. Kelley was called upon to supply several gun-slinging western yarns by Pastime Publications (Toronto). I’ve already blogged others, and I’ve unearthed yet another. And compared to some of his other efforts, it is fantastic.
Gun Smoke on the Plains was published in 1948 and exported to England. They were issued as part of the Action Novels series, with the red circle empty. This is where the cover price should be. It’s unclear why Pemberton’s sent them the Action Novels sticker to place on the final product and chose to have no cover price featured.
The inside front cover features a commentary via Stag Book Review, advertising the very same book we are discussing. The rear cover advertises Riders of the Badlands by T. Monahan, which I’ve already blogged. At that time, I did not own a copy of Gun Smoke on the Plains, noting that as such. The inside rear cover advertises Jesse James, The Outlaw by Thomas P. Monahon, however, this title has never been sighted, and as previously noted, it is possible that it was reworked and released in 1950 by Canada’s own Export Publishing simply as Jesse James by Thomas P. Kelley.
Like Riders of the Badlands, this short novel is also a decent read. In fact, it might be the best yet! The plot, characters, and web-work are good enough, but it’s the conclusion that truly stands out.
The 128-page (pages 7, 9-130) novel opens on page 7 with a preface. Page 9 begins the first chapter and immediately introduces us to vigilante Luke Vinson and his side-kick, Marty Larsen. The pair have just arrived in Lait City. Word is Big Jim has been for years murdering and stealing land. The “city” is at his mercy. The townspeople are freaked out that Death has rode into their seemingly peaceful environment. One person runs to old Sheriff Steve Cookson, who seems disinterested in Vinson’s arrival. He suggests that he will lay down the law, and goes to introduce himself.
It’s not long before blood is shed on the streets and word travels to Big Jim that the infamous Luke Vinson is in town and prepared to hand him an early gift: a tombstone. Only one problem: both men are cagey. Vinson decides to not go visit Big Jim and blow out his brains. Rather, he decides to play detective! He suspects that a deeper evil exists within Lait City. And Big Jim doesn’t ride out to kill Vinson. Instead, he orders everyone to steer clear and leave the man alone.
Only one problem. His men fail to follow his orders, and soon learn that Big Jim isn’t the big man in Lait City. Someone else is running the show. Vinson, riding out to investigate rustling activity with Larsen, are accompanied by the sheriff. Lead flies and they find themselves caught in a hailstorm of zinging bullets. The trio ride hard and escape. Vinson instructs the sheriff to ride on to the city, while the pair of vigilantes split away. On doing so, they come across another pair of Big Jim’s wayward men.
Vinson discovers the rustling and fracas a fake. They were using blanks! But why? It’s not long before he realizes the rustlers and those they shot upon are the same group. Big Jim owns both ranches! The entire charade was put on for his benefit to lure him in and kill him. This means the sheriff must certainly have known. Ergo, he is involved. Clearly the rustlers weren’t going to fire upon the vigilantes while the sheriff was in their midst. They were firing blanks at each other.
Enter the beautiful young lady. She is spotted in the distance by Vinson on a ride. He never makes time for women. They spell trouble every time. But this one entrances him…and then she is gone.
Larsen is captured, and rescued by Vinson, after he witnesses through the cabin window Big Jim’s men apply a hot poker to his feet.
Later, he receives a note to meet with the woman. She presents him with thousands of dollars to cease his actions and depart Lait City. Then she attempts to seduce him, but while making out with Vinson, prepares to run a sharp knife through his back. Vinson snatches the blade but turns out she lacked the ability to commit the crime. Vinson retains the money, much to her surprise.
The whole town soon learns that she visited him in his rented room. Next day, he’s informed that she is Big Jim’s wife! As the plot thickens it’s discerned she is also the sheriff’s daughter.
Vinson and Larsen are eventually both captured and Big Jim tries to coerce from Vinson the whereabouts of a certain registered receipt proving he does not own a particular land. Refusing to cough up the receipt, Big Jim proceeds to kick in Vinson’s partner’s face to a bloody pulp. Poor Larsen certainly is taking a brutal beating first to his feet earlier in the novel, and now his face is ripe for a kickboxer.
Tied to chairs and senseless, Vinson and Larsen are left alone, guarded by one man. In slips Big Jim’s wife, ordering the man to leave. He’s wary of this order but informs the man that her husband wants her alone with Vinson to seduce him. He chuckles and leaves. She cuts the cords, and the pair carry the unconscious Larsen out. They board horses and ride hard. Guns blaze behind them and soon pursuit is heard. Bizarrely, the pursuit ceases.
Vinson realizes that Big Jim is now desperate, after bigger game. He must now destroy Lait City and the honest inhabitants. He hasn’t a chance of catching Vinson, so he returns home and rounds up all his men from every land for a massive raid on the city.
Meanwhile, in Lait City, they get the doctor to mend Larsen. The sheriff is discovered to be missing, and the local newspaper building is set afire. The editor is found on the ground, alive. He confesses the whole skullduggery before passing out. The town is restless and tired of the bloodshed, so Vinson acts quick. He escapes, then sets the sheriff’s building on fire. This draws the entire crowd, whereby he proceeds to inform them of the undercurrent of evil seething within Lait City.
To bring it all together, the receipt belonged to an odd man who refused to sell. He found gold on his land. Big Jim shot him dead. The sheriff’s daughter was a witness. She reports the crime to her father. He’s angered, much to her surprise (she’s a teenager at this point). The murder goes to trial and Big Jim is found innocent. Plus, her father forces her to marry Big Jim. Legally, a wife can not go to court against her own husband. Only, one problem… She wasn’t legally married. Also, the person that signed that receipt? The sheriff, long ago, when he was a mere clerk. Turns out he used the fraudulent forms he had signed over the years for Big Jim to insert himself in Lait City as sheriff. In a respected position, he earned the trust of the people, and, that put him in power over Big Jim.
Now the town is truly enraged. Barricades are set, and Big Jim and his men ride to town to meet a fusillade of burning and ripping hell, slaying many men. They retreat, which leads the townspeople to celebrate their first victory. Vinson assures them that under cover of darkness it best to take a good chunk of men and ride out to bring the fight directly to Big Jim. They do and slay nearly everyone.
Big Jim and Luke Vinson square off, with Big Jim drawing first and firing repeatedly while Luke Vinson calmly keeps walking forward, then finally draws and plus Big Jim dead.
The sheriff sees everything coming to end, boards his horse and beats a hasty retreat. He succeeds in escaping.
Next day, the town is celebrating and Big Jim’s wife (falsely married wife, so actually now a free woman) makes a play for Luke Vinson. Remarkably, in atypical western-romance fashion, he turns her down flat, informing that his life is of one on the trail, blazing a path of vengeance. She wishes to ride with the pair, but he still turns her down!
While partying in the saloon, Sheriff Cookson returns to Lait City. He’s lost everything. Pride. Respect. A job. His daughter. Humiliated, he realizes he must now seek vengeance and murder the man responsible. Only, he fails, when Marty Larsen spots him in the alley. Leaping aside, they avoid certain death, but death finds the sheriff with a well-placed bullet from Vinson’s six-shooting cannon.