THE RETURN OF THE WOLF: A JOSIAH WOLF, TEXAS RANGER NOVEL Larry D. Sweazy, Five Star Publishing, 2020, $25.99, hb, 300 pp. 978-1432868925 [Note: A version of this review of The Return of the Wolf appeared first in Roundup Magazine.] There wasn’t much to keep Josiah Wolfe in the Texas…
Review: Submariner Sinclair by John Wingate
SUBMARINER SINCLAIR: The Submariner Sinclair Naval Thriller Series John Wingate, Sapere Books, 2021, $8.99, pb, 242 pp. 978-1800552098 [Note: A version of this review of Submariner Sinclair appeared first in Historical Novels Review.] In the middle of World War II, Sub-Lieutenant Peter Sinclair, Royal Navy, commands a small warship, Chaser…
Review: Splinter on the Tide by Phillip Parotti
SPLINTER ON THE TIDE Phillip Parotti, Casemate Publishers, 2021, $19.03, pb, 233 pp. 978-1612009582 [Note: A version of this review of Splinter on the Tide appeared first in Historical Novels Review.] War makes boys grow up fast, and World War II had that effect on plenty of civilian guys turned…
Review: Hunters in the Stream by Terry Mort
HUNTERS IN THE STREAM: A Riley Fitzhugh Novel Terry Mort, McBooks Press, 2021, $10.99, hb, 232 pp. 978-1493058365 [Note: A version of this review appeared first in Historical Novels Review.] Going from a private investigator in Los Angeles to a naval officer in 1942 doesn’t seem to be much of…
Review: Death in the Time of Pancho Villa, by Sandra Marshall
DEATH IN THE TIME OF PANCHO VILLA: A Rose in Old El Paso Mystery Sandra Marshall, Level Best Books, 2020, $14.67, pb, 216 pp. 978-1-947915-26-8 [Note: A version of this review appeared first in Historical Novels Review.] Death in the Time of Pancho Villa opens on a spring evening in…
Review: Battle Stations, by Roger Jewett (Irving A. Greenfield)
BATTLE STATIONS: U.S. NAVY HISTORICAL THRILLER SERIES, BOOK ONE Irving A. Greenfield writing as Roger Jewett, Sapere Books, 2020, $10.99, pb, 351 pp. 978-1913518639 [Note: A version of this review appeared first in Historical Novels Review.] In Battle Stations, Navy Captain Andrew Troost is a consummate professional bound for high…
Review: Ordered West, by Alan D. Gaff and Donald H. Gaff
Ordered West: The Civil War Exploits of Charles A. Curtis. By Alan D. Gaff and Donald H. Gaff. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2017. Pp. 704. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index). [Note: A version of this review appeared first in Southwestern Historical Quarterly.] In the late 1870s when Charles…
Review: The Bloody Black Flag by Steve Goble
THE BLOODY BLACK FLAG: A SPIDER JOHN MYSTERY Steve Goble, Seventh Street Books, 2017, $15.95, pb, 240 pp. 9781633883598 Spider John Rush was a married carpenter, but forced by circumstance into piracy. Now he and his friend Ezra must once again join a pirate crew, to avoid danger ashore….
Review: Beneath the Darkest Sky by Jason Overstreet
BENEATH THE DARKEST SKY Jason Overstreet, Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2018, $26.00, hb, 302 pp. 9781496701787 American Foreign Service worker and former FBI agent Prescott Sweet finds the enticement of working in Stalin’s Soviet Union during the mid-1930s too tantalizing to resist. The fact that he is African American in an…