The Killers

Wounded, and barely managing to stay one step ahead of a posse, Carmody came up with the perfect cover – acting sheriff of Salter City, a quiet little town in the middle of nowhere. But things didn't stay quiet for very long. A green-eyed blonde named Sally had run away from her kill-crazy husband, one-time Civil War raider Sam Thornton, and straight into the arms of the notorious Eldredge clan, the meanest bunch of sheriff-hating wool hats who ever shot a man in the back. Caught between these two factions was a dangerous place to be … as Carmody quickly found out! Peter J. McCurtin was born in Ireland on 15 October 1929, and immigrated to America when he was in his early twenties. Records also confirm that, in 1958, McCurtin co-edited the short-lived (one issue) New York Review with William Atkins. By the early 1960s, he was co-owner of a bookstore in Ogunquit, Maine, and often spent his summers there.McCurtin's first book, Mafioso (1970) was nominated for the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award, and filmed in 1973 as The Boss, with Henry Silva. More books in the same vein quickly followed, including Cosa Nostra (1971), Omerta (1972), The Syndicate (1972) and Escape From Devil's Island (1972). 1970 also saw the publication of his first "Carmody" western, Hangtown.Peter McCurtin died in New York on 27 January 1997. His westerns in particular are distinguished by unusual plots with neatly resolved conclusions, well-drawn secondary characters, regular bursts of action and tight, smooth writing. If you haven't already checked him out, you have quite a treat in store.McCurtin also wrote under the name of Jack Slade and Gene Curry. Carmody is, on the surface at least, just another trail-wise adventurer. Sometimes he is presented as an outlaw, sometimes as a gun-for-hire. Whatever his current occupation, however, Carmody's eye is always on the main chance, as Peter McCurtin's tough, spare narrative frequently makes plain.