The Adventures of Johnny Vermillion » (First Edition)

LOREN D. ESTLEMAN is the winner of five Spurs, two Stirrups, and three Western Heritage Awards for his Western writing. He lives in Whitmore Lake, Michigan.

"Estleman rivals the finest American novelists with his gritty vision and keen ear."—Washington Post Book Review

Publishers Weekly

Every one of Estleman's more than 50 crime novels and westerns (Port Hazard, etc.) offers suspense, action, humor and plot twist, with the westerns all refreshingly devoid of formula horse opera antics. This one, set in 1873, is even funnier than most. Led by a handsome and charmingly slick con artist, Johnny Vermillion, the Prairie Rose Repertory Company performs Shakespeare onstage, and robs banks offstage. They are masters of disguise and role-playing and are more tricksters than anything else, but they've unwittingly cut in on the turf of Black Jack Brixton's Ace-in-the-Hole Gang, a murderous bunch who vow to wipe out their criminal competition. A resourceful Pinkerton detective gets on the trail of both outfits. Of course, four-time Spur Award-winner Estleman ensures that the actors, the outlaws and the detective will converge at the same location, in a final showdown filled with laughs and gunsmoke. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.