There are many stories of American artists, in various disciplines, who have not achieved the public acclaim they deserve. Chief among them, of course, is me. But another is Stan Lynde, best known for a long-running western comic strip called Rick O’Shay. I was vaguely aware of Rick O’Shay when I was a kid, but I had the opportunity to follow it closely toward the end of Lynde’s run with it, when he was turning it away from what the syndicate had asked him for—a gag-a-day strip—to what he’d always wanted it to be—a serious adventure strip with continuing stories. The strip gained new depth (at least in my view) when Lynde experienced a Christian conversion and started working in religious themes.
But he quarreled with the syndicate, and quit (the strip went on for a while without him) to draw another—a post-Civil War adventure strip called Latigo. Sadly, those were not the times for westerns, and Latigo languished and died.
Today, Stan Lynde writes western novels. As a fan of his comic work I bought one to see how it was, and I’m happy to report it’s very good indeed.
Marshal of Medicine Lodge is one of a continuing series starring Merlin Fanshaw, a Montana deputy US Marshal in the 1880s. He’s a lot like Rick O’Shay—a decent fellow whose instincts are good, though he’s young enough to still need some seasoning. He gets the chance to grow up a lot in this story.
When the story begins, it’s late winter, and Merlin is helping the county undersheriff in his home town, Dry Creek. But he’s soon summoned by his superior, the US Marshal for the territory, to travel to the town of Medicine Lodge, near the Crow reservation, where the town marshal is having trouble with restive Indians and scofflaw whites. The marshal turns out to be different from what Merlin expected (I won’t spoil the surprise), and he has his hands full in a situation where a rancher and his cowboys are pushing the Indians hard, and the Indians have no reason to trust the white man’s law. There’s violence, and then there’s murder, and Merlin has to risk his life to save an innocent man from hanging.
There’s also a seductive woman with a dangerous secret.
I got a lot of pleasure out of Marshal of Medicine Lodge. It moved a little slowly, perhaps—Lynde just seems to enjoy the setting so much he can’t help stopping to admire the scenery often (beautifully drawn landscapes were always a feature of his comic strips, too).
Recommended. Strong moral lessons. Although there’s some mildly adult material, I wouldn’t worry about letting any kid read Marshal of Medicine Lodge.
I’ve been looking for an alternative to Louis L’Amour. I’ve been very dissatisfied with modern Western authors as I have been dissatisfied with post-cold war spy novels. Almost all the newer authors I’ve tried to read are more about passion and violence and less about the development of character within characters in the midst of a passionate and violent world. Lately I’ve been delving into Max Brand and Zane Grey. I can see why they have stood the test of time. I’m looking forward to reading Lynde. I see my regional library has this one available. I have it reserved to pick it up the next time I’m in town.
I loved Rick O’Shay, too. I can still remember my older sister reading the comic strip to me, and explaining that the character’s name was a pun on the French word ricochet (of course, then she had to explain what all that meant, too). But I loved that O’Shay acknowledged a Higher Power, and that being alone and being lonely were not the same thing. I will definitely look for this book, Lars. Thank you for bringing it to our attention
@Graybeard: Also, you might try writer Elmer Kelton. He’s gone on ahead now, but his books are deeply satisfying. If you don’t mind pain or lying awake at night, The Time It Never Rained will break your heart.
Deborah, Thanks for the suggestion.
I have been introduced to a couple of my favourite authors here at Brandywine Books. Lately I’ve been mowing through Stuart M. Kaminsky’s catalog. Lars recommended the Fonesca series. I’ve run out of them and moved on to his Rostnikov stories just because there are more of them. As a fan of Solzhenitsyn, I find his portrayal of post Soviet Russia intriguing. Fifty years ago, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denosivich, First Circle and Cancer Ward revealed the soft underbelly of Communism. Now we see Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov dealing with a world where Communism has departed but the corruption remains.
Phil posted a link to an article about Jasper Fforde a couple of years ago. Since then, not only myself, but also my wife and teenage daughters have enjoyed his Thursday Next novels. We’ve now polished off his entire catalog and are waiting for his next Next novel due out on October second.
I’m still looking for someone who can craft a spy novel with a protagonist like Len Deighton’s Bernard Sampson or John Le Carre’s George Smiley. But without the Cold War, we lack the backstory that calls for such a character.