The Secret of Devil's Canyon in Large Print

I've just received my copies of the Large Print version of The Secret of Devil's Canyon. This is my 16th Linford Western and I'm delighted with it.

I used to be mildly irritated that Ulverscroft chose generic western imagery for their covers with little or no attempt to match cover to story. Outdoor stories would get a saloon picture while town stories would get scenery, man alone stories would get lots of folk and large outlaw gangs would get a solitary man etc. But recently that appears to have changed. Last year's Railroad to Redemption got a picture of rail tracks and now a story about a lynch mob gets, well, a lynching. Even the typeface is a bit wobbly conjuring up the feeling that it's a tale involving a mystery.

Long may whoever is in charge of picking the covers keep up the good work!

ISBN: 9781444812763
Large Print (Soft Cover) - 240 Pages
Published - 01-10-2012
Genre - Western
Price - £ 8.99

When Mayor Maxwell and his daughter are brutally murdered, feelings in Bear Creek run high. And when the killer is caught and sentenced to life in prison, the townsfolk demand a lynching. So Sheriff Bryce calls in Nathaniel McBain to spirit the killer away through Devil's Canyon to Beaver Ridge jail. Nathaniel, just one step ahead of the pursuing mob, loses ground, then realizes that he's facing an even bigger problem: his prisoner may be innocent after all...

Fergal O'Brien now available on Kindle

After AmazonEncore took over Avalon's western backlist, it would appear that my Fergal O'Brien series is now starting to become available on Kindle, and they've started with the sixth book in the series The Miracle of Santa Maria.

Thankfully knowledge of the earlier books in the series isn't essential and this book contains the usual mixture of light-hearted fun and adventure, with the added benefit this time round of plenty of sarsaparilla, shakespeare and sword-fighting. The book is now available for £2.55 from the uk site and $4.11 from the us site.

The Mission Santa Maria catered to Sundown's needs until bandits murdered their nuns. The young Maria is the only survivor, yet the massacre she witnessed sends her into an endless sleep. For two years she lies unconscious in the mission, gradually becoming weaker, before Bishop Finnegan notices. Unsympathetically, he decides to close the mission, which is sure to speed her demise.

With her outlook quickly becoming bleak, the devious snake-oil seller Fergal O'Brien rides into town. Although Fergal is typically interested in making a quick dollar, Maria's plight touches him. He attempts to wake her with what he claims is his universal remedy. Not surprisingly, though, his tonic fails.

An undaunted Fergal vows to help her by persuading Finnegan to keep the mission open. The bishop, however, decides that the lawless Sundown is too dangerous for a mission. The only options are to hope for a miracle or clean up Sundown with fearless gun-toting skills. Unfortunately for Fergal, though, he has never used a gun in his life.  

Buy from amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.