Bloodline — John J. McLaglen

Passing through Stow Wells, top shootist Jed Herne needs a tooth pulled. Instead, he walks into a whole lotta bloodshed. When he outdraws and kills a kid out to prove himself, instead of arresting him, the sheriff makes Jed an offer to ride shotgun on a stagecoach laden with silver. Herne accepts and when the stage is attacked he finds himself using his famous guns to deadly effect once again. Then the Abernathy Home for Distressed Gentlemen comes under attack by the Apache Chief Mendez, not only does Herne the Hunter face that challenge and come face to face with a deadly enemy but also a man who claims to be his father!

John J. McLaglen is the pseudonym for the writing team of Laurence James and John Harvey.

Laurence James began his writing career in 1974 when he published his first novel in the science-fiction series SIMON RACK: EARTH LIES SLEEPING. He worked in publishing for ten years off and on till about 1970, when he went to “New English Library and ran the editorial side of NEL for three years.” In addition, around 1974, James published the fantasy saga of Hells Angels in England & Wales in the early 1990s under the name Mick Norman.

While the name of Laurence James is not synonymous with Westerns, those of John J. McLaglen, William M. James and James W. Marvin, to name but a few, are.

John Harvey, a former English and drama school teacher began his contribution to the Herne the Hunter series with the second book, River of Blood. “In the Western,” says John, “I'm interested in finding a balance between the myth of the West (as it comes through American literature and film) and the historical reality. Increasingly, I'm concerned to attempt to make a stronger place for women in the Western, which is traditionally a refuge of masculinity and male fantasy.”

The character of Jed Herne is like a blunt instrument moving through the West. He never achieves happiness, nor riches. Laurence James said, “There is no such thing as a happy western hero. Never. They can't be. They've got to be men alone. They've got to be heroes.”