After Yancey Bannerman, Johnny Cato was the best Enforcer Governor Dukes had. Johnny might like good whiskey and bad women, but he was hell with the hide off when it came to putting away the bad guys.
But Johnny was a man with a secret. No matter the game, no matter how steep the odds, he just couldn't resist the lure of the cards. And that gambling habit got him into debt, big-time, with some mighty shady characters.
Then the unthinkable happened. Johnny and Yancey came to blows over Johnny's problem, and the one-time gunsmith quit the Enforcers about thirty seconds before Governor Dukes could fire him.
Johnny warned Bannerman that the next time they met, it would be through gunsmoke. Yancey believed him. But they'd been through so much together, he felt obliged to give Johnny one more chance to come good.
Big mistake …
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As well as writing under the pen name of Hank J. Kirby, Australian writer Keith has also worked as television scriptwriter on such Australian TV shows as Homicide, Matlock Police, Division 4, Solo One, The Box, The Spoiler and Chopper Squad. His thrillers are published under his own name.
"I always liked writing little vignettes, trying to describe the 'action' sequences I saw in a film or the Saturday Afternoon Serial at local cinemas," remembers Keith Hetherington, better-known to Piccadilly Publishing readers as 'Hank J. Kirby', author of the Bronco Madigan series. "Then, when I was in my teens I had an accident at work and spent a week at home recuperating. During that time I read a story called Jailbreak Justice in a book of cowboy stories and thought I could write as good or better yarn. I filled a dozen or so pages in an exercise book, called it The Texan (very original) and mailed it away. A couple of months later I received a cheque for six pounds fifteen shillings. After that I began writing fairly regularly and Cleveland Publications asked for novels of about 40,000 words."
Keith went on to pen hundreds of westerns (the figure varies between 600 and 1000) under the names 'Kirk Hamilton' (including the legendary Bannerman the Enforcer series) and Clay Nash as 'Brett Waring'. Keith also worked as a journalist for the Queensland Health Education Council, writing weekly articles for newspapers on health subjects and radio plays dramatizing same.
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