Empty Holster
By Marvin L. Brown
1st Books, October 2001
ISBN 0-75967-301-2
Western
- some violence

Reviewed by: Beverly J. Rowe, MyShelf.Com
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John Marvin Brown is better known as "Whistler" to his contemporaries, so called for his musical talents and habit of whistling to himself as he goes along. He is a hard man in the hard land of the Colorado Territory: ex-lawman, ex-soldier.

Whistler is ambushed, robbed and left to die by "Scabbed Nose John" and his gang of outlaws. His sister Katherine takes him to her ranch and nurses him to recovery. After many months of rehabilitation and armed to the teeth, Whistler sets out to bring the outlaws to justice.

He is approached by the Governor of the territory to help out with his plan to civilize Colorado, and becomes one of the special State Marshals. It's a difficult road he travels, but he is a determined and capable man, and justice and revenge mesh into one. Scabbed Nose John's gang leaves a wide trail of atrocities and seems to outmaneuver Whistler at every turn, but John Marvin Brown is up to the challenge. Most westerns show the hero as invincible, but Whistler is a tough but vulnerable man who must overcome injury and experiences an occasional "power failure."

This is an exciting, fast-action first novel...hard to put down. Colorado and Texas history is accurate and Brown has fully realized characters, a surprise at every turn, and just enough romance to show Whistler as a susceptible, caring, and likable man.

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