Rawhide Justice - Max Brand

I have to read 2 -3 westerns a year for relaxation and nostalgia. Most Westerns follow a formula that is predictable, but still fun. In Rawhide Justice Brand created an unusual set of characters and tweaks the formula to make a very enjoyable storyline. A hero who is slim and wiry instead of muscular, who carries a rope instead of a gun, and a number of amoral characters who spice the book up. There are gypsies, a jailbreak,horses, and a set of three challenges that the hero - Reata must face. Like Hercules he must take a different tact to solve and survive each.

It is a clever story and despite the fact that it could never be considered great literature, it was still engaging.  Max Brand's most famous book and one I really enjoyed too was Destry Rides Again which was made into a movie.  Frederick Faust was a prolific writer who published over 500 books and 300 hundred of them were under the Pen Name - Max Brand. 

Born in Seattle (1892), Faust moved to the San Joaquin Valley California at a young age where he became orphaned and raised by High School Principal Thomas Downey.  Downey introduced him to classical literature which added to the romantic adventure books he had been devouring and influenced how he would eventually write. 

In 1921 he developed a heart condition that threatened his life.  A contemporary and competitor with Zane Grey, he was able to be independent in style - the Grey formula was not yet set for the genre - and yet, in pursuit of lifestyle he also followed Grey - lavish spending, acquiring lots of showy items and finding both a wife and a set of lovers. 

His Westerns were turned in to Tom Mix movies and his doctor series under another pseudonym was the source of a series of Dr Kildare movies.  He died as a War Correspondent in Italy in 1944.