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The Long High Noon
Locked in a deadly feud, cowboys Randy Locke and Frank Farmer have spent decades attempting to annihilate each other any time they are within shooting distance.
So far, the men are even. One of Frank's bullets has given Randy a permanent limp. Vain Frank wears a prosthetic ear, his own lost to Randy's assault. If either of them remembers the original reason for the feud, it seems moot now.
Their quest for revenge has led them on a merry chase through the Old West—through soon-to-be ghost towns and major cities; cattle ranches and mountain cabins; brothels and fishing boats; jailhouses and movie sets. Even their marriages have fallen victim to the feud.
The story of their long-term hatred well known throughout the country, Frank and Randy are approached (separately, of course) by Abraham Cripplehorn with a proposition. With the popular Buffalo Bill's Wild West show a raging success, why not publicize their next duel and sell tickets to the event? Winner take all, in more ways than one.
Frank and Randy make a date for death…but will they be able to wait for the show? And could it be that their decades-long thirst for revenge is the only thing they are living for?
Loren D. Estleman's The Long High Noon takes the reader on a thrilling adventure, touring the Old West from the days of the trains and cattle to roads and film sets.
So far, the men are even. One of Frank's bullets has given Randy a permanent limp. Vain Frank wears a prosthetic ear, his own lost to Randy's assault. If either of them remembers the original reason for the feud, it seems moot now.
Their quest for revenge has led them on a merry chase through the Old West—through soon-to-be ghost towns and major cities; cattle ranches and mountain cabins; brothels and fishing boats; jailhouses and movie sets. Even their marriages have fallen victim to the feud.
The story of their long-term hatred well known throughout the country, Frank and Randy are approached (separately, of course) by Abraham Cripplehorn with a proposition. With the popular Buffalo Bill's Wild West show a raging success, why not publicize their next duel and sell tickets to the event? Winner take all, in more ways than one.
Frank and Randy make a date for death…but will they be able to wait for the show? And could it be that their decades-long thirst for revenge is the only thing they are living for?
Loren D. Estleman's The Long High Noon takes the reader on a thrilling adventure, touring the Old West from the days of the trains and cattle to roads and film sets.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2015
11 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Loren D. Estleman
314 books279 followersLoren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter.
Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery
Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 3, 2018
This was absolutely the best western novel I have ever read. Estleman did the research and got the history right. Somehow, he nailed the dialogue. Further, he wrapped an intriguing story together that spanned DECADES of western expansion and change! This is the most authentic western I believe I have ever read. Louis L'Amour is turning over in his grave as Estleman hits the bullseye that L'Amour, Grey, and others so often have missed.
The story concerns two cowboys and a LONG RUNNING feud. The title was sort of odd, but if you recall that western entertainment always pictured shootouts happening at high noon, you sort of get it. The fight is on between these two cowboys. They will follow each other to the ends of the continent just for another chance to kill the other. And the pursuit does take place.
Nobody knows what the feud is about. In fact, the two cowboys never say. Wait, did I say never? I meant ... NEVER-- not even at the conclusion of the book. The reader is turned away not knowing what the feud is about, though there is an implied motive in their final dialogue.
Into the feud enters a con artist named Cripplehorn, who figures out how to get the two men together in a Buffalo Bill Wild West Show type environment in the Cherokee Strip. Getting them there without killing each other is half of his battle, but we quickly recall that the west was full of con artists like this guy-- a huckster ready to sell anything for a buck.
I won't tell more because I don't want to offer spoilers.. But this was one fun, interesting, and intelligently plotted western novel that is so different from most westerns. Estleman is more know for his mystery books, but this western rivals anything Elmore Leonard ever wrote in his western heydey!
The story concerns two cowboys and a LONG RUNNING feud. The title was sort of odd, but if you recall that western entertainment always pictured shootouts happening at high noon, you sort of get it. The fight is on between these two cowboys. They will follow each other to the ends of the continent just for another chance to kill the other. And the pursuit does take place.
Nobody knows what the feud is about. In fact, the two cowboys never say. Wait, did I say never? I meant ... NEVER-- not even at the conclusion of the book. The reader is turned away not knowing what the feud is about, though there is an implied motive in their final dialogue.
Into the feud enters a con artist named Cripplehorn, who figures out how to get the two men together in a Buffalo Bill Wild West Show type environment in the Cherokee Strip. Getting them there without killing each other is half of his battle, but we quickly recall that the west was full of con artists like this guy-- a huckster ready to sell anything for a buck.
I won't tell more because I don't want to offer spoilers.. But this was one fun, interesting, and intelligently plotted western novel that is so different from most westerns. Estleman is more know for his mystery books, but this western rivals anything Elmore Leonard ever wrote in his western heydey!
June 17, 2019
Another excellent offering by Loren Estleman. This one is another of his fine westerns, this time about a long-running duel between two men. The exact reason for their feud is never explained, and it doesn't honestly even matter. They first start off trying to kill each other right after the Civil War, and end it finally in the silent movie era.
In the mean time, they meet, fire some shots, wound each other repeatedly, and then the feud goes on. Finally a sleazy promoter gets the idea of stating a major event where they finish their famous duel in front of a crowd. But putting on such an exhibition faces many challenges, not the least of which is keeping them from killing each other prematurely.
All this is just a device to tell a quick overarching history of the old west, from the early days of expansion to the time when it became just figures on a flickering screen, often played by old cowboys and gunslingers.
The read is amusing, although it starts a bit slowly, and the main characters are so full of western grit and lore you can practically see the trail dust on the pages of the book.
In the mean time, they meet, fire some shots, wound each other repeatedly, and then the feud goes on. Finally a sleazy promoter gets the idea of stating a major event where they finish their famous duel in front of a crowd. But putting on such an exhibition faces many challenges, not the least of which is keeping them from killing each other prematurely.
All this is just a device to tell a quick overarching history of the old west, from the early days of expansion to the time when it became just figures on a flickering screen, often played by old cowboys and gunslingers.
The read is amusing, although it starts a bit slowly, and the main characters are so full of western grit and lore you can practically see the trail dust on the pages of the book.
June 9, 2015
Don't bother.
September 28, 2019
Ok, first, not my style, and second, it was an audio read so you all know this can skew your taste for a book one way or the other.
Listened to in my car driving around and it didn't really hold my interest. I liked the baseline story, but there were some historical inaccuracies (like, Madison Square Garden was mentioned around the time of the California Gold rush, which came many years before the first MSG was built) and some things that were cringeworthy, but all in all, nice little western.
Listened to in my car driving around and it didn't really hold my interest. I liked the baseline story, but there were some historical inaccuracies (like, Madison Square Garden was mentioned around the time of the California Gold rush, which came many years before the first MSG was built) and some things that were cringeworthy, but all in all, nice little western.
July 22, 2022
This is hard to pin down as what "kind" of book it is: western (yes), historical fiction (yes), travel novel (maybe), buddy-flick (yup), fictional documentary (I suppose), comedy (enough times for a yes). But that is a positive trait.
November 19, 2025
I have never read an entire book out loud to another adult before, but this one practically begged for it, and had me dredging up the drawl I inherited from both sides of my family. It was the most fun I’ve had in a while. Larger than life, often hilarious, and a little melancholy.
July 1, 2015
In Loren D. Estleman’s latest novel, The Long High Noon, Randy Locke and Frank Farmer are dead set on killing one another. Since their early twenties, they have been locked in a notorious, yet entertaining duel throughout the untamed West. Whenever one of them comes into shooting range of the other, one can expect gunfire within seconds.
Besides their wounded egos, Randy has a permanent limp from a horse riding accident and Frank has constant pain in his chest as well as a prosthetic ear. Both gifts bestowed onto one another via bullets after their first encounter in BlueBottle Saloon in El Paso.
Perhaps the duel started over the affections of a mystery woman, or related to finances, or a claim to a desirable piece of land? Whatever the reason, Abraham Cripplehorn (a.k.a. Jack Dodger) wants in on the action. An entrepreneur and professional liar with a handcrafted ivory eye, Cripplehorn is set on making a fortune from Locke and Farmer’s feud after reading about them in the Chicago Tribune.
After yet another duel in the woods outside of Oakland, California, Cripplehorn convinces the men to finish the fight in San Francisco, where he promises glory and fame to the winner.
However, the men are met with a new law posted by the Governor of California, who promises execution to anyone who participates in contests that could result in human death. So, the men go farther south to perform in an “Exhibition of the Century” for the ultimate duel to the death.
Who will be the last man standing?
Reviewer: Briana Goodchild is on the verge of becoming a bibliophile and is currently a student of English Literature and Drama. Like any book reader she enjoys a strong cup of tea and an enticing story to match. Occasionally, when diving into the Mystery Genre, caffeine is required.
Killer Nashville's Review of The Long High Noon
Killer Nashville's Past Book Reviews
Besides their wounded egos, Randy has a permanent limp from a horse riding accident and Frank has constant pain in his chest as well as a prosthetic ear. Both gifts bestowed onto one another via bullets after their first encounter in BlueBottle Saloon in El Paso.
Perhaps the duel started over the affections of a mystery woman, or related to finances, or a claim to a desirable piece of land? Whatever the reason, Abraham Cripplehorn (a.k.a. Jack Dodger) wants in on the action. An entrepreneur and professional liar with a handcrafted ivory eye, Cripplehorn is set on making a fortune from Locke and Farmer’s feud after reading about them in the Chicago Tribune.
After yet another duel in the woods outside of Oakland, California, Cripplehorn convinces the men to finish the fight in San Francisco, where he promises glory and fame to the winner.
However, the men are met with a new law posted by the Governor of California, who promises execution to anyone who participates in contests that could result in human death. So, the men go farther south to perform in an “Exhibition of the Century” for the ultimate duel to the death.
Who will be the last man standing?
Reviewer: Briana Goodchild is on the verge of becoming a bibliophile and is currently a student of English Literature and Drama. Like any book reader she enjoys a strong cup of tea and an enticing story to match. Occasionally, when diving into the Mystery Genre, caffeine is required.
Killer Nashville's Review of The Long High Noon
Killer Nashville's Past Book Reviews
July 2, 2024
"Is it necessary always to be colorful? It must be a constant drain on the imagination coming up with all these frontier aphorisms."
My first read of an Estleman western, 2015's "The Long High Noon" is about two feuding cowboys who have spent decades trying to kill each other, with semi-humorous results, as they separately go on with their lives out west and keep running into each other. A crooked journalist with a penchant for sensationalism hears about their story across the plains and decides to set up an event where the two will duel each other in front of a paying audience.
Estleman's writing style here is abrupt and quick as he just moves around these characters and events taking place, not settling into environmental or emotional prose at any time, just giving the facts (or should I say his character's versions of facts, which are rarely spot-on) in a way that reads like some old cowboy sitting at a campfire regaling a long, funny, and tragic western tale full of anecdotes, hyperbole, asides, and half-truths.
Most of the folks we meet out west are incompetent, and most of them are scoundrels. The two rivals Frank and Randy are diametric opposites in appearance and manner but their shared dislike of each other for hard-to-define reasons drives a really fun read.
Verdict: A good Saturday-afternoon western with a fun pair of unique characters.
Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
My first read of an Estleman western, 2015's "The Long High Noon" is about two feuding cowboys who have spent decades trying to kill each other, with semi-humorous results, as they separately go on with their lives out west and keep running into each other. A crooked journalist with a penchant for sensationalism hears about their story across the plains and decides to set up an event where the two will duel each other in front of a paying audience.
Estleman's writing style here is abrupt and quick as he just moves around these characters and events taking place, not settling into environmental or emotional prose at any time, just giving the facts (or should I say his character's versions of facts, which are rarely spot-on) in a way that reads like some old cowboy sitting at a campfire regaling a long, funny, and tragic western tale full of anecdotes, hyperbole, asides, and half-truths.
Most of the folks we meet out west are incompetent, and most of them are scoundrels. The two rivals Frank and Randy are diametric opposites in appearance and manner but their shared dislike of each other for hard-to-define reasons drives a really fun read.
Verdict: A good Saturday-afternoon western with a fun pair of unique characters.
Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
February 4, 2017
This book has more open range cowpoke simile and metaphor than there are quills on a porcupine's back, so if you don't cotton to that style of lingo, then best you find your reading enjoyment elsewhere.
Randy Locke and Frank Farmer share a hatred of each other that surpasses all other concerns in their hard-scrabble, violent lives. They also share a gunslinger code that keeps them from killing each other if they aren't both armed, sober and forewarned. So the story follows them through their near misses, as well as the life and death of the old west. A PT Barnum wannabe with a fake eye attempts to cash in on their feud.
No shortage of colorful characters and language. It's a bit short on plot, though.
Randy Locke and Frank Farmer share a hatred of each other that surpasses all other concerns in their hard-scrabble, violent lives. They also share a gunslinger code that keeps them from killing each other if they aren't both armed, sober and forewarned. So the story follows them through their near misses, as well as the life and death of the old west. A PT Barnum wannabe with a fake eye attempts to cash in on their feud.
No shortage of colorful characters and language. It's a bit short on plot, though.
June 6, 2015
Great
I have read almost every book that Estleman has written, and that's a lot of books --he's written seventy. This book, one of his western historicals, as opposed to his crime fiction, is one of his best. Set in the west-- post civil war to the early 1900's-- it tells the story of two Cowboys gunning for each other throughout the western states. The book s more you he in cheek than not but also tugs at the heat strings. As always, Estleman's writing is superb, and his knowledge of the west is encyclopedic. What I like best about his writing is that the research flows as part of the story and is not just clunky exposition. Just read the book. Guarantee you'll like it.
I have read almost every book that Estleman has written, and that's a lot of books --he's written seventy. This book, one of his western historicals, as opposed to his crime fiction, is one of his best. Set in the west-- post civil war to the early 1900's-- it tells the story of two Cowboys gunning for each other throughout the western states. The book s more you he in cheek than not but also tugs at the heat strings. As always, Estleman's writing is superb, and his knowledge of the west is encyclopedic. What I like best about his writing is that the research flows as part of the story and is not just clunky exposition. Just read the book. Guarantee you'll like it.
March 20, 2016
This isn't Estleman's strongest book, though it could be the genre itself. I'm not sure what the point of the book was.
Watching these two men spend all this time revolving around each other, sworn to kill each other and never quite intersecting, just seemed to drag after a while.
It does have Estleman's great prose, which made it an easy read. That helped, as I might have given up on the book otherwise.
I'll give another of Estleman's westerns a try, but this may not be a genre for me.
Watching these two men spend all this time revolving around each other, sworn to kill each other and never quite intersecting, just seemed to drag after a while.
It does have Estleman's great prose, which made it an easy read. That helped, as I might have given up on the book otherwise.
I'll give another of Estleman's westerns a try, but this may not be a genre for me.
July 22, 2015
Frontier aphorisms by the wagon load in this witty, comical, western tale of revenge that spans decades and changing times of an on-going feud between the two central characters. The reason of the feud long forgotten by both Frank and Randy, but they're still hankering for a final High Noon showdown.
October 23, 2015
I just had to quit reading this book. I guess my expectations were too high. I grew up reading Westerns by Zane Grey, Max Brand, Louis L'amour, Larry McMurty, etc. The contrast between the combatants; one dirty and unkept - the other clean and dapper. Both trying to kill the other. Also how they continued to run into each other over a vast distance. I didn't find it believable.
September 7, 2015
A recess from reading good books to read about two cowboys trying to kill each other from page one to page 270. Saving grace, the western cliches & homilies one wishes he'd remember at the opportune time.
October 9, 2015
I like Lauran Paine's stories. They always end right ... just like the movies. This book is two separate stories, both about small town sherifs. He makes both of them honorable men just trying to abide by the law. Excellent.
June 5, 2015
Not a lot of action but Estleman can sure spin a good yarn.
May 20, 2015
Estleman's excellent research and wonderful dialogue make this another quality story of the "Old West".
June 8, 2015
Some of the best western writers today. Good characters, fine detail to the locales and to action.
June 1, 2015
While it fades a bit in the third quarter, the dialog is so colorful and rings so true, that it's well worth reading.
July 3, 2015
Estleman's writing style is superb. I gave it a 3 because the pace of the story was a little too slow for my tastes.
I look forward to reading one of his mysteries soon.
I look forward to reading one of his mysteries soon.
January 13, 2016
I couldn't get passed the first 2 chapters. Dreadfully boring, and poorly written.
December 7, 2015
Very different premise for a western story with interesting character points of view. Would recommend it to a western fan needing a new twist.
June 19, 2015
2 men who's lives are told through story. Well written.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews