Howdy. I thought it might be appropriate for Noir-vember to talk about noir westerns. I became a fan of western novels in the past few years. It’s still a new thing for me, but I’m struck by how many compelling ones I’ve read and some of the insights they have had to offer.


As you may already know, noir fiction is typically a subgenre for crime thrillers that has a dark side to it that often culminates in a bleak outcome. Many western novels are merely crime stories in a western setting. Personally, I see noir was one of the more realistic perspectives of writing, playing on the weaknesses that human beings exhibit and how they tend to choose the low road in the hopes of achieving what they want. Anyhow, here are some of my favorite noir western novels that I’ve come across with hopefully more to follow.


The Desperado by Clifton Adams- this one was an early Fawcett Gold Medal novel from the 50s and pretty successful one that spawned a film adaptation. It is about young Talbert Cameron, a young man who ends up on the run due to no fault of his own because of something stupid that the sheriff’s son had done. Tall was merely considered guilty by association. Through a series of difficult circumstances, he becomes a killer and eventually a cold-blooded killer. In this sense, the gunman’s life chose him and because of his reputation, he is never able to shake it off. The novel ends on a moral note, though, when Tall is finally able to take control of some of his actions. This book was exceptionally good and provided more food for thought on the nature of violence than one might expect from a paperback original. It’s a thrilling and powerful story and so far, I haven’t read an Adams novel that I didn’t like. Adams followed this novel up with a sequel called A Noose for the Desperado. Adams primarily wrote westerns throughout his career, but from a crime noir point of view, I heard that his book Gambling Man was particularly good.


Flint by Arnold Hano- Arnold Hano was editor of Lion (one of Gold Medal’s rivals) for a while and edited several of Jim Thompson’s books. Something about Thompson’s novel Savage Night must have impressed him because he asked Thompson if he could write a western version of it. Thompson, being a magnanimous guy and good friend of Hano gave him permission. What we have as a result is a story of Flint, a hired killer who is living in retirement and suffering from a gunshot wound that never healed. He is sought out by a rancher who threatens to expose him unless he comes out of retirement to kill Thomason, a local competitor. This one is brutal, bleak, and gripping.


.44 by H.A. deRosso- deRosso wrote this one as a paperback original for Lion back in the 50s. It is about Dan Harland, a hired gun who is sent to kill a man, only to realize that the man did not put up any fight when the kill was made. Harland preferred to give his targets a fighting chance and was baffled that this man did not take it, and he tries to figure out why. This one has been called a detective story told as a western and it’s a solid example of how well both genres can work together.


Journal of the Gun Years by Richard Matheson- Mark Sieber wrote about this one for the Drive-In earlier, but given the subject matter, I felt the need to include it. This story is about Clay Halser, a marshal who carved out a reputation for himself as a great lawman in the west. His reputation also destroys his life, making it impossible for him to live in peace. Consider being reputed to be the toughest man in the west and to have everyone else who wants to be famous to outdo that. By the end, Halser is a mere shadow of himself. In some ways, this one is an anti-western because it demystifies the myth of the heroic gunslinger and shows him to a vulnerable human being.


Wolf Moon by Ed Gorman- this one may be the bleakest of the lot and probably one of the best things Ed Gorman ever wrote. The story is about Chase, a man who did time in prison because Reeves set him during a bank heist. Scarred and bitter, Chase is now a free man. As he enters a particular town, he realizes that Reeves is a respected figure there. This is also Chase’s opportunity to make a new life for himself, having found a new job and a wife. This is a story of how a man shot his chance at redemption to hell because he is consumed by hatred.

Vultures of Whapeton by R.E. Howard- although Howard typically wrote fantasy during his brief career, he expanded his horizons into westerns near the end of it. This story is a novella about a gunslinger who becomes a deputy in a gold mining town. It turns out that the sheriff is a leader of the local gang the Vultures and our protagonist needs to decide if he is on the side of the law or not.


Yellowleg by A.S. Fleischman- we never get his real name, but Yellowleg (named after the yellow stripes on his calvary pants) is on a quest to find the men who tried scalping him during the Civil War. He rides into a town with a wounded shoulder. He is also running with Turk and Billy who he suspects where the men who tried to scalp him. In town, he tries to thwart a bank robbery (the robbers having beat Turk and Billy to the punch) and accidentally shoots a boy due to his injured shoulder. Now, Yellowleg is committed to escorting the boy’s mother Kit through Apache territory to bury the boy with his father. Yellowleg also conscripts Turk and Billy into helping so he can keep an eye on them, but they have different plans. On the outset, this one is noir with its preoccupation with death, revenge, and hatred, but this book is an exception because it turns out to be a story of redemption and how man whose heart carried so much bitterness can heal. This one is another excellent story that was adapted to film as The Deadly Companions, by Sam Peckinpah.


No doubt there are other westerns that have this sort of flavor to them. I still need to read more of Adams as well as Harry Whittington’s westerns (his novel Desert Stake-Out is being adapted into film). I might do another report on what I’ve read in this neck of the woods after getting more exposure to it. Happy trails.

Written by Nick Montelongo

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