Carmody #01 - The Slavers

Peter McCurtin’s Carmody series was a knockoff of the Lassiter western series written by several authors, including McCurtin, under the house name Jack Slade. The first in the series was released in 1970 and remains available today as a cheap ebook.

Carmody is differentiated by other western series titles by the first-person hardboiled narration from our hero. McCurtin is clearly trying to mimic the popular narrative style of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer that was selling quite a few books at the time.

As a main character, Carmody is a benevolent outlaw who is thrust into situations where he is forced to set aside his criminal nature and be a hero. In The Slavers, it’s 1885 in New Mexico and Carmody reconnects with an old buddy who discloses that their mutual friend, a Navajo Indian (a Christian!) was killed and his wife and daughter has been enslaved. Together, they devise a plan for Carmody to save the girls.

McCurtin does a nice job giving readers a quick history regarding the legality and practice of taking and holding Indian slaves. Short version: Enslavement of Native Americans was completely forbidden, but not always strictly enforced, by 1885. The Civil War is long over, Santa Fe had rudimentary plumbing, and an early automobile had been invested in Europe. This was a new era.

All roads lead to the involvement of the town’s wealthy rancher, Thatcher McKim, and his goons fall like dominos under the hail of bullets from Carmody. The tough guy dialogue and patter throughout the novel was simply superb. The explosive set-pieces split the difference between classic westerns and the violent novels forthcoming in series titles like Edge.

Overall, Carmody is a hero worth reading, and The Slavers made me happy to have a new old series to collect and enjoy. Get the paperbacks HERE and digital HERE.