Sidewinders introduces two new characters, Scratch Morton and Bo Creel. Two partners that wander through the west together. They are a bit different than usual, as they are, let’s just say slightly weathered.
They’re still tough men, with both fists and guns, despite their age.
They’re headed toward the town of Red Butte when they break up a stage hold-up, driving off the outlaws. The shotgun guard, another older man named Ponderosa Pine, is wounded, so they accompany the stage into town.
The stage line is owned by Abigail Sutherland, a widow with two sons, and she’s in competition with another line owned by a man named Rutledge, who’s hired a band of gunmen to work for him. They hire on to protect the line on it’s runs.
The outlaw gang they’d interrupted has been harowing both lines for months, mostly piddling amounts hardly worth the effort.
There’s a mystery here and Morton and Creel set out to figure what’s going on.
I like these two characters and the way the mystery is gradually revealed makes for an interesting mix of genres. I only had one small quibble with the way it was done. Other than that, I enjoyed the book and look forward to the next one, which is due shortly.
I hope Norton and Creel have a long line of books in their future. They are an interesting pair and somewhat different from your run of the mill western characters.
Recommended.
Not The Baseball Pitcher 
I’ve been trying to figure out who JA Johnstone is. William W passed away last year so I’m not sure who the new author is. Also hoep they don’t stop the Post-apocalyptic work. I own all the Ashes book plus some of his other stuff like Breakdown. Nice review!
Ben
benjaminrogers.wordpress.com
There is more than one writer working under the name J.A. Johnstone. I know one of them, but have been asked not to reveal the name.
its his daughter i think…….long as Smoke continues to kill everyone that makes him mad, i will continue to read the books lol
and william w past away in 2004 (they kept it secret for three years) may he finally rest in peace
I own the entire Ashes series and believe in a lot of what Ben Raines had to say. I know the series needed to end when it did, but I still hold out hope for either the Last Rebel series or something that be very similar!
I don’t know why Johnstone didn;t do anymore Last Rebel novels. I was hoping he would. If you haven’t read Jackknife, I’d recommend it.
It’s about a terrorist attack on a Walmart-like superstore. The author is planning another with the character, “Jackknife” McCabe, but doesn’t know when he might write it.
From William W. Johnstone’s website:
Being the all around assistant, typist, researcher, and fact checker to one of the most popular western authors of all time, JA Johnstone learned from the master, Uncle William W. Johnstone.
j a johnsione has to be a women. the writing reflects things a woman would do when the loner had a chance to kill pike or a least lock him in a cell . what did he think pike would do, not interfere any more the loner had four opportunities to do pike in,and did not do it.
While I don’t know all the authors that write under the name J. A. Johnstone, I do know of one and I can assure he is not a woman.
I have been reading Wm. W. Johnstone books for a long time. I do not think there are several writers. In some of the books before Wm. Johnstone passed away, I have in my memory that he was teaching his Nephew to follow in his footsteps. I do not believe that a woman could write these books. Women have a tendency to get mushy and fixated. To me, these are true Western books. I was surprised that JA Johnstone could pick up where Bill left off, but, he has been able to. Such good, nice clean books. I don’t have to put up with F this and F that and a lot of sex. Thank God for this.
The Jo in the family is William’s niece. She oversees the program and I recognize several writing styles in the new books. I only know one of the writers, He’s sent me copies of a couple of the books he wrote. I’d guessed he was one before certain circumstances brought him to light. And no, don’t ask me his name. It’s an open secret and a bit of looking around should let you figure it out without my help.
I feel the J.A. johnstone is a woman and I’m ok with it as long as turns into love stories or crap. I own all of W.W. Johnstone books and I do feel the books have changed a bit somewhere around 2005. I do not like the secrets surrounded by the “J.A.” name at all. Secrets I feel hurts the books. I also thought I had contacted W.W. while in Iraq by e-mail in 2006, but now I know it wasn’t him I was talking to. In 2007 the truth came out he had (I thought) died in 2005. Doing a google search on him today, I see he died in 2004. Point is after all this: I’m glad the books are still around because it gave my mom and I a lot to talk about until this month when my mother passed away.
J.A. johnstone is a house name used by different writers. I know one of them, recognizing his style and because he used one of his own characters, changing the name slightly, in one of the BLOOD BOND books. I suspect several others as well.