FORGOTTEN BOOK: APACHE LAW: SHOWDOWN

Apache Law:  Showdown  by "Luke Adams" (Bill Crider)  (2000)

This is the fourth (of four) paperback westerns featuring Mitch Frye, the half-Apache sheriff of the small mining town of Paxton, Arizona.  Frye is a former civilian Amy scout for General George Crook, riding with Tom Horn and Al Seiber during the Apache Wars.  After being cut from the army, Mitch drifted into Paxton to get the reward for two killers who had tried to get the drop on him.  Through a complicated series of events, the town's  mayor, J. Paxton Reid, managed to blackmail Mitch into taking the job of ton sheriff, holding a spurious document that could place Mitch under a charge of murder if Reid desired.  Despite chafing at being forced to take the job, Mitch enjoyed the work and was good at it.  Slowly Mitch earned the respect of the townspeople despite being a halfbreed.  The work was n=ot strenuous, mainly involving breaking up fights among drunken miners.  He had a loyal deputy named Alky, and the adoration of Reid's beautiful daughter, Jewel -- although Mitch was careful mot to take tht relationship beyond friendship.

A telegram informed Mitch that the Hayes gang had just robbed a bank in Tucson, killing everyone in the bank before making their getaway.  A posse had been trailing them north, in the general direction of Paxton.   Mitch rode out to meet the posse and, using his tracking skills. soon found the gang.  A gunfight ensued and Mitch managed to get behind the gang and capture them.  The money from the robbery was never found.  At the trial, the gang members were found guilty and sentenced to hang,  but they vowed to escape and to hunt down Mitch.  And escape they did. 

Meanwhile, there was gunfire in one of the town's saloons.  A miner who had had too much to drink lost most of his poke in a card game.  He tried to recoup losses by dealing from the bottom of the deck and was caught.  He then tried to pull his gun and was shot in the shoulder by another player.  The man who fired the gun turned out to be Trace Beaumont, whom Mitch knew while growing up.  While never friendly, Mitch felt obligated to Trace because he had saved Mitch from drowning when Mitch was seven.  Trace wore his guns slung low as a gunfighter would.  He admitted to being a hired gun, but vowed that he had never broken the law, and was now working as a Pinkerton agent.  Trace had planned to leave town soon for business in Tucson but changed his mind after he met Jewel.  Trace's natural charm captivated Jewel, perhaps encouraged by the thought of making Mitch jealous; Jewel's father was impressed by Trace's smooth ways and his claim to be Pinkerton.  Mitch felt there was something off about Trace, but could it only be because of the attention he was paying Jewel?

Now the Hayes gang was most likely headed to Paxton to kill Mitch, and his one deputy -- Alky -- was out of commission due to a bad fall.  Mayor Reid suggested that Mitch deputize Trace and two other gunslingers who had come to town the same time as Trace.  Against his better judgment, Mitch agreed.  The Hayes' were most likely to go after the missing loot from their bank robbery also.  Mitch suspected that one of his three deputies was the unknown "fifth" member of the gang, lone just as eager to kill him as the others in the gang.  Then one of his deputies was brutally murdered.  And Paxton's local bank was flush with cash from a local church building fund, and just ripe for picking...

Gunfire and betrayal soon follow.

Showdown is a fast an enjoyable read with the detail of a small town one would expect from Bill Crider.  I knew that Bill had written at least the first tow book in the series and found confirmation on the internet that he has written all four.  I have no reason to doubt that the writing, the plotting, and the characters all read like vintage Crider.  The relationship between Mitch and Alky echoes that between Dan Rhodes and his jailhouse employees, Hack and Lawton.  Mitch, like Rhodes, also has to navigate tricky political waters.  Unlike Rhodes, though, Mitch is a man of action and fast reflexes -- something well suited for an Old West hero.

Not a great novel but a thoroughly enjoyable one, certainly worthy of a few hours of your time.  And, for the many fans of Bill Crider out there, possibly a chance to read something something new from a well-missed author.