The Hanging Man & Other Western Stories

The Hanging Man & Other Western Stories

THE HANGING MAN Bill Pronzini has been writing westerns throughout his long and varied career, and this volume collects the author’s best. Here are stories peopled by such familiar figures as lawmen, ranchers, cowhands, gamblers, detectives, newspapermen, gunfighters and timberjacks; and by such less utilized characters as stable hands, ferry tenders, writers, bartenders, saddle makers, tramp printers, confidence men, traveling dentists, moonshiners and patent medicine drummers. Here are stories set in small, imaginary Montana towns and ranches to actual locales such as the California Mother Lode, the Sacramento River delta, and the Oregon wilderness. Here are stories that run the gamut from dark character studies to stories of action, mystery and adventure to lighthearted tall tales. “Burglarproof” features John Quincannon, the male half of the 1890s firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services. “McIntosh’s Chute” tells of the hardships faced by a deep woods logging gang and the fitting vengeance they enact on its tyrannical leader. “Crucifixion River” is a collaborative novella set in and around a delta slough ferry crossing, and earned Pronzini and his wife Marcia Muller a 2008 Western Writers of America Spur Award for the best short fiction published the previous year. A new story, “A Cruel and Deadly Winter,” shares a dying man’s thoughts as he contemplates the life he leaves behind. And then there’s “The Hanging Man”… “… an outstanding, carefully-crafted, enjoyable look at America’s forgotten past.”―The Lansing State Journal “While not attempting to transcend the genre, the author has added to it with his usual professionalism.”—Publishers Weekly “…streamlined and machine tooled storytelling [that] delivers in full. Read it to experience the joys of narrative and pace.”—F. J. Harvey “…a delightful cross section of small town life in pre-statehood Montana. It feels true to life.” —The Oklahoman Bill Pronzini has been a full-time professional writer since 1969, and has published 90 novels, including seven in collaboration with his wife, Marcia Muller, and 46 in his popular “Nameless Detective” series. He is also the author of four nonfiction books, 20 collections of short stories, and scores of uncollected articles, essays, and book reviews; and he has edited or coedited numerous anthologies. His work has been translated into nineteen languages and published in nearly thirty countries. In 2008 Pronzini was named Mystery Writers of America Grand Master—their highest award—and has received six nominations for MWA’s Edgar Allan Poe award, as well as three Shamus Awards, two for best novel, and the Lifetime Achievement Award (presented in 1987) from the Private Eye Writers of America. Pronzini and his wife live in Petaluma, California.