The Last Snow

Nine years before his retirement, Jon Messmann (Revenger, Nick Carter: Killmaster) authored a stand-alone western titled The Last Snow. The book was published as a paperback in 1989 by Random House using Messmann's real name. It's odd that Messmann, a lifelong New Yorker, wrote the novel, considering he was ultra-productive in the 1980s with his tremendously successful adult-western series The Trailsman. By 1989, Messmann, writing as Jon Sharpe, had completed 84 installments of that series for his publisher Signet. In true pulp fashion, these novels were published nearly every month on a firm schedule. Additionally, Messmann was also writing the Canyon 'O Grady series, again as Jon Sharpe. The Last Snow is one of only two stand-alone novels that Messmann wrote in the 1980s, the other being Jogger's Moon (aka To Kill a Jogger) in 1980 for Penguin.

The Last Snow is presented in an epistolary style with 19 journal entries ranging from October 1846 through April 1847. The opening pages of the novel advise readers that these documents were found among the family possessions of Daniel Culver by his granddaughter. It's an old-school storytelling approach that has been used by the likes of Bram Stoker, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Stephen King. 

Culver is a thirty-something mountain man who makes a living as a trail guide, but has been known to gamble, gunfight, and perform as a type of mercenary. He's the proverbial “everyman”, yet Messmann rarely places Culver in action scenes. Instead, Culver is more of a messenger or consultant. When he arrives in the frontier town of Stoddard, he discovers families brutally massacred in their cabins. Citing the work of the Cheyenne, Culver enters the city to warn the settlers of a coming invasion. His cries fall on deaf ears.

In Stoddard, the U.S. Calvary has a small encampment of 200 soldiers led by a half-dozen officers. The town feels safe and immortal despite Culver's pleas. As the snow begins to fall, Culver realizes the town will be cut off with no way to cross Snowshoe Pass, the only passage through the harsh mountainside. As Culver jockeys as a mouthpiece for the town, he also rediscovers an old relationship he once had with a widow and her son. Further, Culver begins a romance with the daughter of one of the officers.

As the snowfall begins, Culver risks staying with the town in an effort to fortify it from attack. Unfortunately, the military doesn't take his efforts seriously until it is too late. As Cheyenne and other factions begin the invasion, Messmann cranks up the action with gritty violence, savage acts of murder, and the familiar bloodshed of battle. 

The Last Snow is an unusual western, brimming with non-formulaic traits from the protagonist. Culver is a sensible, no-nonsense adventurer, but realizes his efforts to fight the Cheyenne are pointless. The town is ripe for slaughter, the military's strategy is lacking, and the town's chief politicians are clueless. In many ways, Messmann exercises a liberal political fusion of words versus action as this tiny frontier town collapses from internal and external pressures.  

Thankfully, Cutting Edge Books has made The Last Snow available in a new paperback and digital edition. The book is also included in the publisher's western omnibus The Big Bold West #12, featuring novels by James Warner Bellah, Michael Carder, and Riley Ryan. If you enjoy Messmann's writing, Cutting Edge has also made available the author's Logan series, originally written as Alan Joseph, and his gothic-romance novels, originally written as Claudette Nicole. 

Get The Last Snow HERE.