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REVIEWS for Western Novels by Larry
D. Sweazy
It's early 1875 and Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe has gone undercover to investigate cattle thefts and
raids that have ranchers upset in Corpus Christi. Even though he was cleared of any wrong doing concerning the death of a
fellow Ranger, the town isn't willing to be as forgiving of Wolfe. So Captain Leander McNelly sends Wolfe to Corpus Christie
posing as hide trader Zeb Teter. The more Wolfe investigates, the more he finds all may not be as it seems. The reasons for
his assignment may run deeper than he suspects. Author Larry D. Sweazy does a wonderful job placing the reader in the territory
as he vividly describes the area. He masterfully blends historical events and people with his own characters for a plausible
chain of events. THE COUGAR'S PREY is an intriguing tale of western lore, murder, mystery and deception. It's a fast-pace
read that will lasso readers in and hold them till the end. 10/17/11 -- BEST BOOKS OF INDIANA judge's comments
for The Scorpion Trail:
For the second-consecutive year, Larry D. Sweazy delighted Best Books of Indiana judges with his latest addition to the Josiah Wolfe series. The Scorpion Trail, while a traditional and gritty western
novel, sets itself apart in the genre due to Sweazy's deft storytelling and historical accuracy. It was a joy to watch the
further development Josiah Wolfe's character throughout his new adventures in The Scorpion Trail, which truly compliments
Sweazy's previous novel The Rattlesnake Season. While The Scorpion Trail stands very well on its own, reading
the books in tandem is recommended for a truly great western experience. Sweazy's The Rattlesnake Season, was only
the second western novel ever selected as a finalist for the Best Books of Indiana competition. The Scorpion Trail now becomes the first western to
win the competition. Both recognitions are a testament to the supreme quality of Sweazy's Josiah Wolfe series, which
are not simply great westerns, but great novels of fiction.
The Cougar's Prey -- 10/04/11
-- Journey of a Bookseller -- Jo Ann Hakola
Pete
Feders had been his friend and his enemy in life, but even after he's dead, he's still haunting Josiah Wolfe... Mr. Sweazy
sent me a copy of this book for review (thank you). It's publication date is today. Berkley is the publisher and
you can get a copy now. This author writes authentic westerns that are hard and gritty. His characters aren't perfect,
bad things happen to good people, and it's a tough life in Texas. Josiah is a Ranger, but the public in Austin thinks he murdered
Feders to get Pearl, a woman they both were interested in. That wasn't the case, but it's not safe for him in town anymore.
He gets assigned to go undercover and live in Corpus Christie and see if he can find out who is working with the Mexicans
that like to raid the ranchers in that locale. Josiah never seems find a straight line to follow. One thing leads to
another, his cover is blown, and he's on the move back to Austin because he's heard that his young son is seriously ill. The
story moves along well and Josiah makes up his mind about some important issues on the way. It will be interesting to
see what happens in the next book in the series. I think Josiah is probably going to have to face more challenges.
Mr. Sweazy has given him a rough life so far. Why not purchase a copy of this book and take a ride with real cowboys?
There are others in the series if you'd like to start at the beginning. They are well worth the read. Happy reading.
The
Cougar's
Prey -- 09/28/11 -- Nuvo -- Rita Kohn ****
Larry D. Sweazy's fourth book (Berkley Western Novel, $6.99) in his award winning Western
series thrusts Josiah Wolfe into yet another cauldron of intrigues where friends and foes are interchangeable and the fate
of the Texas Rangers seems to hang on the threads of his personal actions. In his third year of service, Ranger Wolfe
is caught in events swirling around the financial crisis of 1873 and the lingering aftermath of the War Between the States
[Civil War to northerners]. He's also at the cusp of facing up to his own need to provide a stable home for his young son
and balancing new love against haunting memories of his deceased wife and daughters. Josiah Wolfe is a flawed hero, which
is what makes us embrace him all the more fiercely. He's anyone of us across time and place trying to do the right thing
against odds. And that's Sweazy's gift as a storyteller - Texas circa 1870s is immediate, with officials entrusted to serve
the greater good actually acting in their self-interest and motivated by personal greed. Josiah is basically a simple, decent
person most often out of his element in a world of intrigue. How he balances his integrity against political machinations
set to destroy the fabric of a good life for the "little people" is the stuff of Sweazy's page turner series. The
Cougar's Prey is a worthy companion to The Rattlesnake Season, The Scorpion Trail and The Badger's
Revenge.
The Badger's Revenge -- July 05, 2011 -- Bookgasm.com -- Bruce Grossman
THE BADGER'S REVENGE, the third entry of Larry D. Sweazy's Josiah Wolfe series, builds upon its preceding books. Wolfe is a no-nonsense Texas
Ranger who is on the hunt for an Indian raiding party, but things change rather quickly when two Comanche scouts take him
and his party as prisoners. That does not sit right with our hero, since on most accounts, Comanches take no prisoners and
would have easily scalped these men and left them for dead. It becomes apparent that these scouts have plans for Wolfe: collecting
a bounty on his head, as a gang leader Wolfe has a history with wants to exact revenge. He's the Badger of the title, aka
Liam O'Reilly. Wolfe is taken to a town where the sheriff is pretty much a figurehead, and O'Reilly seems to be the one pulling
the strings. "Out of the frying pan, into the fire" is the best way to describe what comes next for Wolfe. While
escaping, he kills a man who turns out to be part of the law. The story moves into some soap-opera aspects, but with darker
tones, since it's set up that one of Wolfe compatriots has his eyes on a woman that Wolfe also sees a future with. (In the
previous novels, Wolfe's wife passed away, leaving him to raise their son on his own.) Sweazy uses these aspects to build
upon the continuity of the series, while also using some slight mystery aspects that are well hidden throughout. It would
be easy to spoil certain aspects of THE BADGER'S REVENGE, but that would ruin this fine entry to a great Western series. Sweazy
also does a great thing by leaving certain threads open for the following novel. Wherever he goes, I'm on board, through thick
and thin.
The Badger's Revenge -- June 19, 2011, Matthew P. Mayo
The third book in Sweazy's Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series, The Badger's Revenge, is aptly titled, as the book serves up that cold dish left, right, and center. It also whips up a mess of guns, heat, trail
dust, Texas Rangers, Comanche Indians, and people stuck in hard-luck lives, doing their best with the cards they've been dealt.
This time out, Josiah Wolfe has a price on his head. He is dogged by two Comanche scouts, a murderous Irishman nicknamed The
Badger, and the whiff of something-or someone-unseen and dangerous. It's a pleasure for me to sink back into the dusty, dangerous,
and complex world of everyman Josiah Wolfe. His rich inner monologues, his self-doubts, and his moments of emotional vulnerability
counter the convictions that form who he is and what he stands for. But in The Badger's Revenge, that rigid moral
core threatens to fill him completely. As with all of Sweazy's characters, Wolfe is refreshingly human. Even the bad guys
aren't wholly bad, they're driven by understandable, if unacceptable, impulses. Wolfe is still plagued by a bloody war and
the brutal deaths of his wife and daughters. His young son is a constant reminder of what should have been, and his trying
friendship with Scrap Elliott hints at something unknown, but looming. The Badger's Revenge is a richly layered story
that offers twists and turns that dare the reader to speculate who is guilty and why. There is blood, killing, deceit, anger,
mistrust, and betrayal and, in the midst of it, Josiah Wolfe does his best to keep it all at arm's length as he tries to make
sense of the mayhem, even as bullets whistle by his ears. My only complaint is that since I have grown so fond of these characters
and Sweazy's artful unfolding of their predicaments, I have to wait for the fourth book before I find out what happens next.
The Scorpion Trail -- April 09, 2011 Spur&Lock
The Scorpion Trail, by Larry D. Sweazy, is the second in a series of westerns featuring Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe. It fills in any gaps about the character for
readers who missed the first novel in the series, and it whets the appetite for subsequent Josiah Wolfe adventures. The novel
opens with Wolfe at his new home in Austin, where he runs into a murder and the beginning of a mystery that haunts him the
rest of the story. It ties in with events from The Rattlesnake Season , the first Josiah Wolfe novel, and will probably have ramifications that are explored in the third, The Badger's Revenge. Author Sweazy does a fine job of creating a sense of continuity and the roll of life for his characters. Even secondary
characters have a depth that makes them memorable after the reader turns the last page. Although I'm a fan of the compact,
40-thousand-word westerns of the 1960s paperback era, this longer tale - which I estimate to be around 70-thousand words -
doesn't lag. It's filled with action and incidents, as well as quiet scenes of discussion between characters. Sweazy performs
well that tricky feat of building a relationship between the jaded Wolfe and the callow, hot-headed Scrap Elliott, who's working
hard to be a stalwart Ranger but still has a ways to go to fully mature. The dynamics of Josiah Wolfe's other relationships
drive much of the plot. His regard for Austin's tenderloin district madam, Suzanne del Toro, and the mysterious Juan Carlos
are nicely developed by Sweazy, who handles particularly well Carlos' shadowy characteristics. The mysteries behind this fellow's
comings and goings certainly leaves the reader wanting more. An actual Indian battle is incorporated into the plot: the Lost Valley fight between Texas Ranger Company B and Comanche and Kiowa in 1874. It's a dramatic part of the book that doesn't overshadow the
rest of the story, but lends a good sense of what Ranger life was like for the Frontier Battalion. Sweazy puts together
all the parts of his narrative very well - characters, pacing, incidents. As a result, I look forward to reading the next
book in the series and to seeing more from Larry Sweazy in the future.
I was lucky enough(finally) to win THE SCORPION TRAIL, the second book
in the Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series that Larry Sweazy was giving away on his blog, TENSE MOMENTS. it looked interesting and I jumped at the chance. Not familiar with his writing, or his character, I was swept into this
one as I read. Josiah Wolfe was starting life over in Austin, Texas, moving his young son and the Mexican woman helping with
him(his wife and three daughters had succumbed to illness). Now he has to leave him to report to the Texas Ranger Frontier
Battalion. He goes looking for his friend, Juan Carlos, brother of his late commander, to check on him and seek his help to
keep a look out on his son while he's away. Juan is wanted, but is innocent, having saved Josiah's life. He's hiding in the
livery stable and Josiah arrives just in time to see it going up in flames. A body, what's left of it, is found in the charred
ruins, a bullet hole in the back of the skull. Was it his friend? Josiah gets word to see a woman, Suzanne Del Toro, a madame,
to find Juan. But she's gone missing as well. Young Ranger Scrap Elliot and Josiah head to Waco, arriving to see in the papers
that another fire has happened. A Mexican couple was seen running from the scene. Was it Juan and Suzanne? What's going on?
Josiah needs to deal with that and, at the same time, an officious Major who thinks dealing with the Indian problem will be
easy. The Comanche had raided a small ranch and they were charged with tracking them down. THE SCORPION TRAIL is available. The first book in the series, THE RATTLESNAKE SEASON is also easy to find, and the third, THE BADGER\'S REVENGE is out today. Recommended and I'm getting the first and third soon as I can.
Nuvo -- The Badger's Revenge -- March 23, 2011 by Rita Kohn **** 4 stars
Sweazy spins a good yarn. Within 300 pages he slides
in a lot of 1874 descriptive landscape with the resultant sounds, smells, feels and tastes of natural and manmade events
as Ranger Wolfe pursues vigilantes in the name of making Texas a law abiding state. As in the first two books in the series,
Wolfe gets into and out of near death situations while confronting a changing roster of personal enemies. With this book,
the score seems to get settled with most of them, but his life remains unsettled as he tries to determine how to raise
his two-year old son and come to grips with conflicting love interests. Sweazy paints a realistic social, cultural, political
triptych, drawing us into the climate and manners of the time and place. Once again we experience city and small town life
juxtaposed with farmsteads. And once again we're on the open road in southern Texas, feeling the vast open spaces. Characters
come and go but their presence is fully experienced. Some we hope show up in book #4. If you're already a reader of the series,
#3 won't disappoint. If you're newly interested, pick up the trio. They're page turners and very shareable.
This is the first book in the Josiah Wolfe: Texas Ranger series,
and I believe it is Larry D. Sweazy's first full-length novel. Right from the beginning it becomes very evident that he's
spent time doing research, such as the background of the Texas Rangers. Although the book begins by explaining that Wolfe
has lost all but one of his family, I found it refreshing that they hadn't been killed by a band of outlaws thus starting
yet another series along the revenge theme. The feeling of loss that Wolfe feels is extremely well portrayed as is his slow
return to wanting to live his life again, helped by having a surviving son to care for. There is much time for reflection
as Wolfe escorts Langdon to the hangman's noose, and this allows the author to flesh out the background to his hero. As well
as the struggle to rise from the depths of sorrow Wolfe also has to struggle with trust. Who is telling the truth about the
escape of Langdon, can he even trust his fellow Texas Rangers? The book isn't as fast paced as many of the westerns I read
but it is thoroughly absorbing and before I knew it I'd reached the end and now find myself eager to read the next in the
series: The Scorpion Trail. On the strength of this book it seems that Larry D. Sweazy could well be a new star in
the world of western fiction. Looking at the cover of the book, pieced together by Bruce Emmett who has done many others,
I have to wonder what he was thinking? I've heard of a horse with no name, but one without a neck? Looks more like a camel.
Terrible. Good job we don't really judge a book by its cover.
Judge's comments: Sweazy immerses readers in the adventures of Josiah Wolfe, a
former Texas Ranger who is lured back to his previous lifestyle after the deaths of his wife and daughters. This carefully
crafted and perfectly paced novel hooks readers with Wolfe's dramatic personal conflict: an old friend and comrade is now
an outlaw whom Wolfe must bring to justice. Excellent historical details and rich characterization of Wolfe's struggle to
fulfill his duty make The Rattlesnake Season an excellent start to a new Western series.
Already a fan of Larry D. Sweazy’s first novel in his Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series, The Rattlesnake Season,
I was prepared to like its sequel, yet hesitant, too, lest Sweazy do something to sway my fondness for the well-drawn characters
he’d introduced me to. I needn’t have worried. The Scorpion Trail is a first-class read.
And those characters? Sweazy works them over pretty hard—emotionally, physically, socially—but the ones
who survive emerge stronger and wiser. Josiah Wolfe is a complex character decidedly not superhuman. His tragic
past and the specters of his dead wife and daughters haunt him every day, but his love for his young son, for being a Texas
Ranger, and for the newly appreciations of a woman in his life bubble to the surface, forcing Wolfe for the first time in
a long time to look at the future with hope. We’re treated also in this book to the maturation of the pugnacious, trigger-happy
ranger, Scrap Elliot—a welcome development, for Scrap is a firecracker whose youthful vibrancy counterbalances Wolfe’s
more mature, sober ruminations. In these characters, Sweazy is setting up a partnership, burrs and all, as filled with
tension as it is with growing admiration. At times a gunshot-speed series of events, the book takes Wolfe and Elliot from
Austin to Waco to Fort Worth, along the Brazos River. Toss in an ungrateful prostitute, angry Kiowas, skulking killers,
and a vicious Mexican known as El Puno, the Fist, and you’re on—and in—The Scorpion Trail. Sweazy
has the rare and enviable ability to convey a balance of gripping action and weighty themes in a conversational manner.
The Scorpion Trail proves he’s a natural storyteller, born to the task.
Nuvo -- The Scorpion Trail -- June 17, 2010 by Rita Kohn**** 4 stars
Hot off the press for splendid summer reading is the second in the Josiah Wolfe Texas Ranger Novel series. Larry D.
Sweazy sets up a quest in the Greek tradition, propelling us into heart-thumping incidents amidst intensifying diversions
to keep the hero from gaining the upper hand. Sweazy admits to altering historic timelines to heighten the drama, but since
this is a page-turning western novel, not historical fiction, we forgive the disparity. As with the premiere book, characters
are fully drawn, places are meticulously described and incidents are plausible. You’re right there with Josiah Wolfe,
who starts out once again to re-join the Texas Rangers in July 1874 following the hair-raising final incidents we witness
at the close of The Rattlesnake Season. He has left the remote family homestead in favor of a house in Austin, the
noise-filled capital city overflowing with people in search of prosperity and Sweazy puts us into their individual and collective
stories. At the center is the charge to the Texas Rangers to transform the population of Texas from its indigenous roots into
a white culture. It’s not pretty, and in retrospect we wonder at what cost to defining who and what we really are as
a nation, undivided, with liberty and justice for all. Take both books to the beach, or give yourself a treat during a stay-cation.
Next in the series is The Badger’s Revenge, hot into Comanche territory.
A writer of more than 40 short stories, THE RATTLESNAKE SEASON is the first full-length novel from Larry D. Sweazy. It’s also the starting point to a new character in former Texas
Ranger Josiah Wolfe. At the start of the book, we find Wolfe mourning for his wife, who died giving birth to his son,
and also his daughter, who died from sickness. As you can see, this is not your slam-bang Western that’s an excuse to
pepper in gratuitous sex and violence. The story is based on that tried-and-true idea of bringing a prisoner to trial, which
is nothing new, but what is different is how Sweazy tells it: with amazing character development throughout to keep readers
engaged. These are not the one-note characters you might expect in most Westerns, but fully drawn-out and complex personalities,
with Wolfe really having to come to terms with his former life as a Texas Ranger. Add in the fact that the prisoner in question
is a former associate and action pieces with enough bloodshed, and they’ll keep a Western fan wanting more. It
all builds to a climax which, for me, was a little lacking. In essence, the ending is a more of a fizzle. Still, Sweazy shows
signs of some unbridled Western talent, which hopefully grows in the second book of the series, THE SCORPION TRAIL. —Bruce Grossman
Nuvo -- Rita Kohn -- April 07, 2010 -- The Rattlesnake Season **** 4 stars
Noblesville’s Larry D. Sweazy launched his action-packed Western series with ex-Texas Ranger Josiah
Wolfe mourning the recent deaths of his daughters and wife, an infant son to look after and poor prospects for making a living
on his East Texas family farm. It’s July 1872; 290 "keep-turning" pages later we’ve experienced a story
of people in a time and place that still haunts, taunts and tempts us with a mysterious pull into a part of the American story
so full of misconceptions and folklore as to make factual reference seem incorrect. Sweazy’s meticulous research lays
out the stuff we like to believe and picks it apart with something closer to the truth set within an engrossing story of law
and disorder in the State of Texas. What sets Sweazy apart are his interior insights rounding each character with layered
motivations for choices made at any particular moment. His poetic bent lifts descriptions beyond intellect into the heart.
When Josiah rejoins the Rangers he comes squarely back into why he left. Facing off once again with Charlie Langdon as the
antagonist, Josiah’s personal interaction grows deeper, larger and disastrous as events escalate out of control. The
final rescue is a hair-raiser. If Josiah makes you sit taller in the saddle through his commonsense bravery, you’ll
find yourself equally admiring the wisdom of Ofelia, the Mexican woman whose loyalty in caring for the infant son gives Josiah
leave to be off with the Rangers full-time. Sweazy was born in Anderson, IN. www.penguin.com
When former Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe signs up for a second stint with the rangers, he does
so mostly to take his mind off the mind-numbing pain of personal loss. First, his young daughters were taken from him by a
flu epidemic. Then, his beloved wife dies in childbirth, leaving an infant son for him to raise with only the help of a nanny.
His soul is so tortured by the loss of his family, he accepts an offer to return to being a peace officer. His first assignment,
one destined to test his mettle to the limit, requires him the deliver an old comrade in arms from his days in the Civil War
to be hanged for crimes too numerous to mention. Wolfe's inner turmoil, while threatening to eat him alive, stops short of
affecting his integrity and the desire to always find the truth. Truth is in short supply when another ranger is accused of
murdering the ranger captain, Josiah's friend, and the one responsible for him getting assigned to the Frontier Battalion.
Josiah isn't easily convinced the man's guilty and he soon finds out that friends can be in short supply if he pursues the
truth a little too hard. The Rattlesnake Season is more than just another western. It is a thoughtful, well-researched,
and poignant novel of a time when guns were the primary problem solvers and the guilty seldom lived to a ripe old age. This
isn't simply a white hat versus black hat read. You'll be drawn into Josiah's world and get an opportunity to feel at one
with the period. I rate this book a 10."
Meritorious Mysteries 11/09 -- The Rattlesnake Season – Molly Weston
What a treat it is for me to review this book! I met Larry many years ago at Magna
cum Murder in Muncie, Indiana. He showed me a chapter from a mystery manuscript then, and my mouth, literally, dropped open
when I finished it. I was surprised to hear from him that he'd written a western for publication, but he assured me that I'd
find a mystery in it. I not only found a mystery, but I'm already waiting for the next installment of Texas Ranger Josiah
Wolfe. Wolfe, a young Civil War veteran, answers the call when Captain Hiram Fikes invites him to re-join the Texas Rangers.
Their first mission: to capture Charlie Langdon, Wolfe's former deputy and fellow veteran. Things go badly almost from the
beginning, and Wolfe has many reasons to reconsider his decision, but loyalty to Fikes and a vision of justice keep him on
the job. After growing up with the cowboy movies and TV shows that glorified the Old West, I was enthralled with a story of
the hardships that were part of everyday life and with the politics that affected Reconstruction. I'll be sharing this book
with contemporaries who love either mystery or western novels.
I took a walk on the Western side last week, reading Larry Sweazy's The Rattlesnake Season. I have to say I
love westerns and though this isn't a historical romance (like I usually read), it still had all the things that make westerns
so fun. Outlaws. Gunfights. Cowboys. Texas Rangers. The main character, Josiah Wolfe, is a Texas Ranger I'd want on my side
of a showdown. He's the strong, silent type, a widower raising a two year old son, and has some enemies. There's a bit of
mystery, some double-crossing, and a hint of romance. I can't say I'm thrilled with the set-up of the love triangle, but I'm
curious to see where it's going in the next Josiah novel The Scorpion Trail.
A teaser from the book:
"The gray dawn was just another bad memory, the quiet night before suspect, and accordingly, every action
and word would be pored over, tossed and turned, in search of apparent failures, answers about what had occurred from shortly
before the shooting began in the camp."
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