FFB Review: Wide Spot In The Road (The Drifter Detective #4) by Wayne D. Dundee

Back in September, I reminded you of The Drifter Detective. In October I reminded you of the second book in the series, Hell Up In Houston. Last month I reminded you of the third book in the series, The Girls of Bunker Pines.  Today for this final Friday before Christmas 2020, I remind you of the fourth book in the series, Wide Spot in the Road. Like the others preceding it, this one is not available in eBook format and the print version is only available via third parties at an insane price.

After you read here, make sure you head over to Patti Abbott’s blog as well as Aubrey Nye Hamilton’s blog and see what they suggest today.  Both ladies have a lot of reading recommendations, so I am sure if whatever is suggested for today will not work, something else they have talked about will. 

FFB will return in the new year as the next two Fridays are holidays and you good folks are going to be busy with family and friends.  Take care of yourselves and have a fun and safe holiday season. 

  

If the drifter detective, Jack Laramie, had blinked he might have missed the small “chili” sign in the window of Frenchy's as he passed by. After all there was only one vehicle in the parking lot and the place itself wasn't much to look at. Neither was anything around it at this wide spot in the road where an unpaved county road crossed the little used state highway. Just another wide spot in the road with this one located somewhere in the Texas panhandle. No reason to stop other than that sign for chili.

 

 

For Jack that sign was reason enough to stop. Jack loves his chili and prefers the variations one gets across the state in real places to eat as opposed to the cookie cutter chain joints he sees more and more. He has a lot of opportunity see things out on the road as, despite being based in Dallas, he is out there in his DeSoto pulling the horse trailer. The road is where he mainly earns his living as a private detective. It is early afternoon and he has been on the road quite awhile so by this point he realizes he is pretty hungry and that makes it a good idea to check out the chili served in Frenchy's of Beule’s Corner.

At first, just after Jack got out of the DeSoto and started for the door, the decision seems a bit questionable as there are some raised voices, some noise, and a man suddenly storms out of the diner and barely misses Jack. For his sake he does and with a few more fast steps jumps into his truck. He takes off at a high rate of speed headed down the isolated highway. According to the waitress, Bonnie, who also happens to be the niece of the owner, the guy who made a scene and took off is Alden Frain. Tipping furniture over and ripping the phone off the wall was not appreciated by Bonnie. He probably just ruined any chance he had with her of having a relationship. Tearing the phone off the wall was bad enough, but things are really going to go downhill when two very scared young adults arrive closely followed by a biker gang that wants payback. 

Fourth in an excellent series that began with The Drifter Detective this installment by author Wayne D. Dundee is a good one. Recently published by Beat To A Pulp Press, Wide Spot In The Road is another great action oriented tale featuring the grandson of legendary lawman Cash Laramie. At the same time, readers also find out a little bit more about Jack and what keeps him on the roads of Texas working cases during the 50s. Keeping his grandfather’s memory alive with a gun and a talisman, Jack holds up the family name while trying to make sure good people aren't harmed by the bad guys. In this case, he might be a bit outnumbered. A book and a series very much worth your time.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014, 2020

FFB Review: The Girls of Bunker Pines (The Drifter Detective Book 3) by Garnett Elliott

Back in September I reminded you of The Drifter Detective. Last month I reminded you of the second book in the series, Hell Up In Houston. Today I remind you of the third book in the series, The Girls of Bunker Pines.  It appears that the eBook is no longer available and the print is only available via third parties at an insane price. 

After you read the reviews, make sure you head over to Patti Abbott’s blog as well as Aubrey Nye Hamilton’s Happiness Is A Warm Book blog and see what they suggest today. Todd Mason is back collecting links so you will have even more suggestions on his Sweet Freedom blog later.

 

 

It began with The Drifter Detective and continued on with Hell Up In Houston and now traveling private investigator Jack Laramie is back in The Girls of Bunker Pines. It is 1956 in Kilgore, Texas as a hail storm pulls Jack Laramie from an intense dream of his B-17 being shot down over Germany during the war. While he is back home and has pretty much adjusted to civilian life by wandering across Texas in his Desoto hitched to a horse trailer while working as a private investigator, the nightmares of war persist from time to time. His normal solution of downing a couple of shots won’t work this night as he is on a surveillance job outside a traveling church revival led by pastor Dalton Byrnes.

 

He may have fallen asleep, but it is clear that nothing much is going on.  The pastor may be a lot of things, but he isn’t having sex with his client’s wife. Though she does seem very interested even if the attention is not reciprocated. While one case seems to be drawing to a close, Jack’s being there has led him to meeting Joe Crewes. One look at Joe and Jack knows he sees a fellow veteran with his own demons.  Joe Crewes served in Korea and has a very complicated case for Jack Laramie if he is interested.

 

What follows is a complicated tale set in 1956 interspersed with Jack’s memories of flying in a B-17, being shot down over Germany, and the aftermath. Those flashback sections are intense and are skillfully woven into the main storyline of a client who may or may not be helped by Jack. The Girls of Bunker Pines: The Drifter Detective Series is another solidly good read that works on all levels all the way to the end. While it would obviously be best to read the series in order, one could read this as a standalone before going back and picking up the other installments of so desired. Author Garnett Elliott puts you in the moment with Jack and does not let go till the very end.

 

Material supplied by the publisher in exchange for my objective review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014, 2020

FFB Double Take Review: The Drifter Detective by Garnett Elliot

Back in March and April of 2013, Barry and I in separate reviews gave our thoughts on The Drifter Detective. It seemed fitting more than three years later and with seven books more in the series at this point that for FFB today I run those reviews again. Therefore, as an FFB Double Take Review, Barry and then I offer thoughts on the first book of the series. Please note that when we reviewed the earlier edition of the book it did not contain the additional short story “Fighting Chance.” It also had a far different cover design that I very much liked and briefly referred to in my review.

For other reading suggestions today, head over to Patti Abbott’s blog. And, yes, you should read her books too. I have told you that before as well.

"The Drifter Detective" (2013) by Garnett Elliott

Reviewed by Barry Ergang

In Texas just after World War II, investigative jobs in cities like Dallas and Houston are hard to come by for one-man operations because big firms like the Pinkertons and others tend to get them, so ex-G.I.-turned-P.I. Jack Laramie tools around rural areas in search of business, hoping to eventually amass enough money to open an office in San Antonio or Austin. Towing a horse trailer, which he sleeps in, behind his DeSoto coupe, he's on his way to Abilene where there is a "hint of a job" when the car begins to act up. He manages to get it to the small town of Clyde and to a service garage. The proprietor assures him that because it's late afternoon, the car's problem won't be diagnosed until the next day at the earliest.

The man gives Laramie directions to the local saloon, and tells him the widow Talbot runs a boarding house where he might get a room for the night. (Laramie figures it wouldn't be a good idea to sneak back to the garage to sleep in the horse trailer.) Soon after he meets Sheriff Gideon Hawes, who says he can throw some work Laramie's way. The job, he learns the next morning, entails keeping an eye on the estate of a prominent local citizen, Thomas McFaull, who might be engaged in some illicit activities. Laramie agrees to do it, and quickly finds himself entangled with McFaull's promiscuous wife, a surly sheriff's deputy, a railroad worker, and the flirtatious widow Talbot. It isn't long before matters turn dangerous, and Laramie finds himself wondering if things are really as they seem and whether he'll survive so he can get back on the road to Abilene again. 

A neatly-paced, action-packed long short story, "The Drifter Detective" is written in a colorful but not overwrought style and populated with characters the author imparts life to. For fans of hardboiled fiction with pulpy flavor and texture, this one is well worth Amazon's 99¢ asking price. 

Barry Ergang ©2013, 2016

Former Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, Derringer winner Barry Ergang's work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. His website is http://writetrack.yolasite.com/.

For my take on the book…

The Drifter Detective: A Jack Laramie Beat by Garnett Elliott is the latest release from Beat To A Pulp and is a very good one. The striking and well done cover only hints at the powerful tale inside as the read takes readers to West Texas and the world of private investigator Jack Laramie. After a clash with a local ranch hand as he closes a case, Jack is happy to get back in his Desoto and head out of Cross Plains, Texas. He doesn’t make it very far down the road before mechanical issues cause him to have to find a garage. His quest for a place to drink and a bed for the night in Clyde, Texas will create new problems in unexpected ways.

Grandson of the legendary US Marshall, Cash Laramie, Jack is a tough WWII vet who has seen the worst the world has to offer. These days he lives out of an empty horse trailer attached to his old Desoto and does the best he can to survive. This novelette of approximately 9k words is a hard hitting read that is excellent and very much well worth your time.

The Drifter Detective

Garnett Elliott

Beat To A Pulp

http://www.beattoapulp.com

March 2013

ASIN: B00BVRQWMQ

Kindle E-Book

106 Pages

$0.99

Material supplied by David Cranmer in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R Tipple ©2013, 2016

Review: "Torn And Frayed: The Drifter Detective Series Number 7" by David Cranmer

The night of August 15, 1951 finds Jack Laramie on the road just, outside of Clyde, Texas. The private detective stops for gas and food. The waitress, Vicky Mae, does not appreciate the small joke Jack makes as she serves him a cup of coffee.  His joke was also very much not appreciated by the man who clearly has an ongoing interest in Vicky Mae. Things escalate as Luke decides to go physical with Jack and it isn’t long before the cook has to come out of the back wielding a shotgun to restore order.

Despite what happens, Jack sticks around town. Eventually Laramie, grandson of Cash Laramie, goes to work for a local rancher by the name of Othmer. At first he is just helping the elderly rancher take care of the livestock and property, but things change when Othmer tells him of recent events involving his daughter, Nancy. What Othmer thinks is going on isn’t. As usual, Jack feels a duty to set things as right as he can. Some people are just bad and there are plenty of those types in Torn And Frayed: The Drifter Detective Series Number 7.

This seventh book in the series also includes a bonus short story featuring Cash Laramie, U.S. Marshal in “Missing.” Also seen in the book, Further Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles, the short story tells of a time when Cash, known as the “Outlaw Marshal” went missing in 1888 and Gideon Miles had to go looking for him.

Once again, David Cranmer brings readers back into Jack Laramie. A man looking for his place after World War II in a world that is changing. There is a lot of his grandfather in him and one gets the sense that he is a man born to the wrong time. Plenty of mystery and action make this latest installment in the Drifter Detective series another mighty good read. 

Torn And Frayed: The Drifter Detective Series Number 7

David Cranmer

http://www.davidcranmer.com

Beat To A Pulp

http://www.beattoapulp.com

ASIN: B01E9DSDQQ

eBook (paperback available)

79 Pages

$1.49

Material was purchased back in April to read and review by way of funds in my Amazon Associate account.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Torn and Frayed -- David Cranmer

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Torn and Frayed -- David Cranmer: Torn and Frayed  is a novella in the "Drifter Detective" series.  David Cranmer is the originator of the series idea, but this ins...

Interview: David Cranmer (Graham Wynd's Blog)

Interview: David Cranmer (Graham Wynd's Blog)

Review: "Between Juarez And El Paso (The Drifter Detective Series Book 6)" by Alec Cizak

It is March 1956 and private investigator Jack Laramie is in Dallas as Between Juarez And El Paso begins. It has been a long drive for Jack in his Desoto towing his horse trailer home as he came in to Dallas by way of Amarillo. All he wanted was a good drink when he wandered into “Rube’s” on

Commerce and Field streets.

It was not long before a fight broke out as they often do in drives such as “Rube’s”. In the aftermath of the brawl he runs into a “Shel Eastman” who he first met on a forced march as prisoner of war back in January of 45. They both survived the prison camp known as Stalag Luft Three and more and came home with more than a few inner demons to deal with. While Jack has found the open road to be some solace, what has kept Shel going through still more grief in recent years is the love of his daughter, Karen.

These days Karen is far from her Dallas home as she is studying literature out at Texas Western University in El Paso. At least, she is supposed to be there. Shel has no idea where his daughter really is as both her and her college roommate seems to have vanished. Staff of the university claims that Karen was never studying there. Police in El Paso as well as local private investigator there were of zero help.

A while back there was a picture in the local paper in Dallas that showed two Cuban casino owners, a U.S. Senator, and three ladies. The ladies were young, beautiful women and one of them was Karen. Despite the picture in the paper, Shel has not been able to get anyone in El Paso interested in the

situation or the plight of his daughter. Shel was politely warned off and the grief stricken father desperately needs Jack’s help.

Jack goes to El Paso and soon realizes something very strange is going on at the border city. It isn’t just the fact that the staff at Texas Western is being so uncaring and difficult. It isn’t just the fact that with a little help from a female contact he learns young female students are disappearing at an alarming rate. It isn’t just the fact that distinctive men in suits seem to be everywhere eyeballing certain folks all while the local cops take a hands off approach. It is all that and more and wants Jack Laramie sticks his nose in things his presence draws unwelcome attention in multiple ways.

This sixth book in The Drifter Detective series is another solidly good read. Written by Alec Cizak there is a darker tone in this installment than some of the earlier read in the series which began with The Drifter Detective by Garnett Elliott. Plenty of action and intrigue are at work in novel that quickly escalates the hard boiled tension as Jack Laramie confronts one and all in his latest search for the truth. While it would help to have read earlier books this enjoyable series, one could begin with Between Juarez And El Paso if one were so inclined. It is a mighty good read.

Between Juarez And El Paso (The Drifter Detective Series Book 6)

Alec Cizak

http://nomoralcenter.blogspot.com/

Beat To A Pulp

http://www.beattoapulp.com

July 2015

ISBN# 978-1-943035-08-3

Paperback (e-book available)

114 Pages

$6.25

Paperback version supplied by the publisher in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2015

FREE Book Alert--- WIDE SPOT IN THE ROAD by Wayne D. Dundee

As posted on the BEAT TO A PULP page on Facebook:

"A FREE ebook offer for the next few days: WIDE SPOT IN THE ROAD http://tinyurl.com/kspszzt by Wayne D. Dundee (THE EMPTY BADGE) is the fourth novella in The Drifter Detective series, following on the heels of THE GIRLS OF BUNKER PINES, HELL UP IN HOUSTON, and the eponymous debut, THE DRIFTER DETECTIVE."

 

Review: "Dinero Del Mar: The Drifter Detective Series" by Garnett Elliott

As often happens in the series one case heads to another and such is the case here in the latest in the Drifter Detective Series, Dinero Del Mar. The year is 1958 and Jack Laramie is in Harlingen, Texas. Once again drinking is involved and this time the establishment is the “Blue Barn” a local dance Hall. He may be fueled by alcohol, but Jack knows beauty when he sees it and the dark haired beauty Bea Eckert is quite the sight.

Jack just recently finished a case he worked for a local rancher named Chat McPherson and word has gotten out about what Jack does for a living.  Cole Eckert happens to be the brother of Bea and he wants to hire Jack. That means they need to go outside and talk about a situation as the sun slides down the south Texas sky and Jack tries to sober up enough to conduct business. Cole eventually explains how Bea has a great future in front of her if she can get out of Harlingen. To do that she needs to win the local event known as “The Miss Texas Pink Grapefruit Beauty Contest.” Dedicated to the legendary Texas pink grapefruit the winner gets 500 bucks and her face plastered on every grapefruit shipping crate across the state. It also gives her some credibility when Bea and her agent/brother Cole go to Nashville or California.

Cole is sure the contest is rigged and wants private detective Jack Laramie to investigate. Once Jack proves that it is rigged they could take the story to the media and force a new contest that would be fair and square and thus Bea would finally be rightfully crowned. Jack doesn’t think much of their case, but the allure of Bea is something too powerful to resist. Before long he is deeply investigating all facets of a case. A case that will eventually merge with another before this good read ends.

Book five in the series that began with The Drifter Detective  is another good one. Through the books the years have passed and the nightmare of the war may have lessened some, but Jack Laramie, continues to drive his aging Desoto as it pulls his horse trailer home around the state working cases. Cases where alcohol often plays a role as does the greed and vice of others. They may not be the mean streets of a city on the west coast, but these Texas streets and the people on them are often just as mean. Dinero Del Mar: The Drifter Detective Series is another solidly good that can be read as a stand-alone. However, it really should be read in conjunction with the others as the latest installment of a very good series.

Dinero Del Mar: The Drifter Detective Series

Garnett Elliott

Beat To A Pulp

http://www.beattoapulp.com

August 2014

ISBN#: 978-0990591610

E-book (also available in print)

118 Pages

$1.99

E-book version supplied by the publisher in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

Via Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: A Visit With Wayne D. Dundee

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: A Visit With Wayne D. Dundee: A Visit With Wayne D. Dundee

Review: "Wide Spot In The Road (The Drifter Detective #4) by Wayne D. Dundee

If the drifter detective, Jack Laramie, had blinked he might have missed the small “chili” sign in the window of Frenchy's as he passed by. After all there was only one vehicle in the parking lot and the place itself wasn't much to look at. Neither was anything around it at this wide spot in the road where an unpaved county road crossed the little used state highway. Just another wide spot in the road with this one located somewhere in the Texas panhandle. No reason to stop other than that sign for chili.

For Jack that sign was reason enough to stop. Jack loves his chili and prefers the variations one gets across the state in real places to eat as opposed to the cookie cutter chain joints he sees more and more. He has a lot of opportunity see things out on the road as, despite being based in Dallas, he is out there in his DeSoto pulling the horse trailer. The road is where he mainly earns his living as a private detective. It is early afternoon and he has been on the road quite awhile so by this point he realizes he is pretty hungry and that makes it a good idea to check out the chili served in Frenchy's of Beule’s  Corner.

At first, just after Jack got out of the DeSoto and started for the door, the decision seems a bit questionable as there are some raised voices, some noise, and a man suddenly storms out of the diner and barely misses Jack. For his sake he does and with a few more fast steps jumps into his truck. He takes off at a high rate of speed headed down the isolated highway. According to the waitress, Bonnie, who also happens to be the niece of the owner, the guy who made a scene and took off is Alden Frain. Tipping furniture over and ripping the phone off the wall was not appreciated by Bonnie. He probably just ruined any chance he had with her of having a relationship. Tearing the phone off the wall was bad enough, but things are really going to go downhill when two very scared young adults arrive closely followed by a biker gang that wants payback.

Fourth in an excellent series that began with The Drifter Detective this installment by author Wayne D. Dundee is a good one. Recently published by Beat To A Pulp Press, Wide Spot In The Road is another great action oriented tale featuring the grandson of legendary lawman Cash Laramie. At the same time, readers also find out a little bit more about Jack and what keeps him on the roads of Texas working cases during the 50s. Keeping his grandfather’s memory alive with a gun and a talisman, Jack holds up the family name while trying to make sure good people aren't harmed by the bad guys. In this case, he might be a bit outnumbered. A book and a series very much worth your time.

Wide Spot In The Road

Wayne D. Dundee

http://fromdundeesdesk.blogspot.com/

Beat To A Pulp Press

http://www.beattoapulp.com

May 2014

ASIN: B00KAMO86K

E-book (also available in print)

66 Pages (estimated)

$1.99

Material picked for review using funds in my Amazon Associate account.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

FREE Book--- "Hell Up In Houston" by Garnett Elliott

Start your Saturday with Hell Up In Houston by Garnett Elliott. This is the second book of his The Drifter Detective series and a mighty good one. My review is here on a book well worth your time.


Amazon Synopsis:

"Houston has been called "a sprawling city of astronauts and cowboys, in the middle of a swamp." And now Jack Laramie, rural-wandering PI, is headed up that way after his faithless Desoto blows its radiator. Jack's got a bit of a past with the city, in the form of a Cajun PI named Lameaux--a guy who mixes his "investigations" with organized vice. So Jack decides to lay low, holing up in a swanky downtown hotel called the Fulton. It's a splurge after sleeping in an old horse trailer night after night, but Jack figures he deserves a break. Until the Fulton's grizzled house detective shows up with a proposition ...

Jack's way out of his league this time around, and when he discovers a blackmailing scheme involving a famous industrialist, he finds himself bumping gun-barrels with the Federal Government. Survival's going to require throwing the PI code out the window. And some quick thinking.

Join Cash Laramie's hardluck grandson in this second installment of The Drifter Detective series, "Hell Up in Houston." At around 15K words, it won't take too long--just remember to bring your Colt."

Review: "The Drifter Detective: A Jack Laramie Beat" by Garnett Elliot

The Drifter Detective: A Jack Laramie Beat by Garnett Elliott is the latest release from Beat To A Pulp and is a very good one. The striking and well done cover only hints at the powerful tale inside as the read takes readers to West Texas and the world of private investigator Jack Laramie. After a clash with a local ranch hand as he closes a case, Jack is happy to get back in his Desoto and head out of Cross Plains, Texas. He doesn’t make it very far down the road before mechanical issues cause him to have to find a garage. His quest for a place to drink and a bed for the night in Clyde, Texas will create new problems in unexpected ways.

Grandson of the legendary US Marshall, Cash Laramie, Jack is a tough WWII vet who has seen the worst the world has to offer. These days he lives out of an empty horse trailer attached to his old Desoto and does the best he can to survive. This novelette of approximately 9k words is a hard hitting read that is excellent and very much well worth your time.

The Drifter Detective: A Jack Laramie Beat

Garnett Elliot

Beat To A Pulp

http://www.beattoapulp.com

March 2013

ASIN: B00BVRQWMQ

Kindle E-Book

Approximately 37 Pages (includes author bio and ads for other books)

$0.99

Material supplied by David Cranmer in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R Tipple ©2013