Blood on the Gallows

by Joseph A. West, Ralph Compton

HIS GUN SPEAKS FOR THE OPRESSED. Former big city detective John McBride is an easygoing man- until a cold-blooded town sheriff warns him to mind his own business, or face a lynching. Driven by his sense of justice, McBride takes on the sheriff, an evil mayor and his cruel psychotic son, and a small army of hired gunmen. Helped by a mysterious white-haired, quick-drawing preacher, McBride shoulders a task most men would flee from. But John McBride isn't most men.

Genres: Westerns

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2008

About the author

Joe West was born and raised in the seaside town of Saltcoats in Scotland. At 19 he became a police officer, but soon turned his love of writing into a career as a journalist, working for the Daily Mirror in London among others. In 1972 West was recruited as a reporter for the National Enquirer, and began working in the United States. Traveling the world in search of stories, West almost froze to death on an Alaska mountain, and a spider bite nearly killed him in the Amazon rainforest. 'I swelled up like a balloon and turned a real pretty violet color,' he recalls.

Now a full-time novelist, West and his wife Emily reside in sunny Lake Worth, Florida, where he enjoys tamer pursuits like canoeing the alligator-infested swamps of the Everglades. His daughter Alexandria attends a local college where she studies forensic technology. She will have absolutely nothing to do with canoes and alligators.

West researches the settings of his novels by exploring the terrain in person, usually with little more than a sleeping bag and a can of coffee.

Recently he and Emily celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at the Lodge in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a gift from the students at Rio Rancho High School who use West's first novel as a textbook. They then spent a month in the mountains and deserts of New Mexico, often pitching their tent where the air is thin at 9,000 feet above the flat.

Reviews

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third story in the series of John McBride, the idiot. I enjoyed this story, even laughed at some of the stupid things the author had the character do.

At this posting, The Wortley Hotel in Lincoln, New Mexico is permanently closed.

[Peter Charleston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing western story.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good but it had spelling errors in the Spanish.

Oops, big word for somebody: page 178 . . . "Reverend, your reputation proceeds you, sir, a man of the cloth . . ."

Uh, that's precedes you, . . .

Does not speak well for the editor or the publishing company, and I would expect better from Signet.

Also, the cover and the title did not relate to what happened in the book. Frustrating let-down. Misleading tomfoolery.

[Huarachez Intelectualez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dos que Tres...no hay muchos balasos.