SHOOT-OUT AT SUGAR CREEK by Max Allan Collins, Mickey Spillane

This review originally appeared in the August 2021 edition of the Historical Novels Review.

Gunfighter Caleb York has settled down as the law in a remote frontier town where his reputation is feared and his own sense of justice is paramount to the law. York is a man of action, and his loyalty and principles are put to the test when he finds himself in the middle of a range war that pits the cattle ranch of his newfound sweetheart against that of an alluring, opportunistic cattle baroness.

Narrative renderings of settings and actors and the unfolding of action sequences are crafted with a descriptive panache not often seen in western noir: “But from behind the inferno that had been the bunkhouse scurried an absurd figure in fringed buckskin, a young man on foot, boyish but not a boy…” Still, plainspoken dialogue is the norm, and the story is propelled by confrontations drawn with grit, especially the story’s titular, climactic showdown. The Caleb York character was born of an unfinished silver-screen collaboration in the 1950s between Mickey Spillane and John Wayne. Following Spillane’s death, the script has been developed into a series of Western novels by Max Allan Collins. More than a few hints of Spillane’s iconic Mike Hammer are in York, a memorable hard-ass yet handsome ladies’ man with a personal sense of right and wrong that guides him against his foes.