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Robert B. Parker's Blackjack

Review

Robert B. Parker's Blackjack

I learned to read via exposure to mystery and detective stories (Dick Tracy comic strips count), but I grew up in an era when westerns ruled television. I loved “The Rifleman,” “Cheyenne,” “Wanted: Dead or Alive”...they were all great. Westerns started coming back to television a few years ago, but western novels never really went away. They were/are generally relegated to a small genre section given over to a handful of paperback series. There is one important exception, though: Robert B. Parker’s Cole and Hitch series. The Spenser mysteries may have made Parker famous, but I suspect that he loved his westerns, and the Cole and Hitch books are unapologetically just that.

Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are Federal marshals assigned to the 1880s southwestern U.S. territories. They are based out of Appaloosa, a mining town that is feeling its growing pains by the day. Robert Knott, a journeyman author of western novels, picked up the reigns of the series after Parker’s passing without missing a beat. It’s a series that anyone who loves westerns --- or mysteries, thrillers or historical novels --- should be reading.

"There is a murder mystery at the core of BLACKJACK, one that serves to blur the lines that separate the genres of 'western' and 'historical mystery.' The book has its feet --- make that spurs --- firmly planted in both, even while it contains, against all probability, some elements of a courtroom thriller as well."

BLACKJACK is the eighth installment in the series (the fourth written by Knott). While Cole is ostensibly the primary character, it is Hitch’s first person narration that propels each story. Knott’s latest entry begins with the murder in Appaloosa of Roger Messenger, a lawman from Colorado who is attempting to serve a warrant on Boston Bill Black. Boston Bill is a notorious gambler who is about to open a casino in Appaloosa; the warrant is for his arrest, given that he has been charged with the murder of a woman in Denver. It is one of his associates who killed Messenger, but he quickly flees the area with Cole and Hitch in pursuit.

Boston Bill is rounded up and brought back to Appaloosa in due course, but everything isn’t quite as cut and dried as it might seem. The murdered woman was Messenger’s wife…and Boston Bill’s lover. The authorities in Denver want the trial held in Appaloosa rather than the Mile High City. There are other irregularities, many of which are brought to light at trial. Cole is not entirely convinced that Boston Bill is responsible. He may be a scoundrel, but he is no killer.

In the midst of all of this, a surprise visitor to Appaloosa unsettles Cole greatly, while Cole’s wife continues to make no secret --- as is obvious to everyone but Cole --- that she is attracted to Hitch. Meanwhile, Hitch has his hands full with an attractive woman named Daphne, who is the bookkeeper for the new casino and has a satchel full of secrets of her own. As matters approach their conclusion, Hitch and Cole have to discover the truth, whatever it may be. They succeed, but it will surprise them both, even as it comes from an even more surprising source.

There is a murder mystery at the core of BLACKJACK, one that serves to blur the lines that separate the genres of “western” and “historical mystery.” The book has its feet --- make that spurs --- firmly planted in both, even while it contains, against all probability, some elements of a courtroom thriller as well. Those who enjoy mysteries but have heretofore eschewed reading westerns for whatever reason will be delighted by this book, as well as others in the series, whether by Parker or by Knott, who deserves more critical and commercial acclaim than he has received at this point. Perhaps BLACKJACK will remedy that state of affairs.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub on February 12, 2016

Robert B. Parker's Blackjack
by Robert Knott