Bill Crider, Piano Man
Brash Books © 2014 by Bill Crider
ISBN: 3-978-1941-2982-99
Brash Books © 2014 by Bill Crider
ISBN: 3-978-1941-2982-99
Our narrator is a piano player in the Bad Dog Saloon
in a settlement (it might be too much to call it a town) near Fort Laramie. The story of how he became a piano player,
and wound up in the Bad Dog is quickly and well told. And things become both interesting, and
potentially disastrous, when “a man named Morgan” got involved in a poker game
with the owner of the saloon—and put his 15-year-old daughter up as his stake
on a hand. He lost, of course.
The remainder of the story involves the Piano Man’s
reactions to this event, and Morgan’s efforts to reclaim his daughter. And the longer this takes, the more violent
things get.
This was, for me, something different by Crider; I
have basically not read his westerns, having instead been a devoted reader of
his PI books (Truman Smith and others), his college mysteries (the Carl Burns
and Sally Good books), and his long-running series featuring Sheriff Dan
Rhodes. Crider writes very well, and if
the conclusion holds less in the way of surprise that it might, this is a good,
solid, and disturbing read. Worth the
time (and money) to seek out.
Thanks, Don.
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