Cowboy stories

IN the hands of a great writer, unlikely material can be transformed into literature. And so you had J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis transforming children's fantasy into classical works. As you had Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, not to mention Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, making sure books about murder and detectives would never be regarded the same way again.

But cowboy books? Like a lot of people, they were among the staples of my adolescent years. Sudden, Dusty Fog, Mark Counter, the Ysabel Kid, the Sacketts, these and many others were characters I was addicted to. My friends and I were so finely attuned to the genre that we could tell when Louis L'Amour was having a bad day or J.T. Edson was particularly inspired. But they were not writing great literature. I could see that no matter how much I loved their work. Indeed (although I must admit I have not picked up a novel about the Wild West for years) I can say with some assurance that the only cowboy book which even approached classic status was Larry McMurtry's magnificent epic Lonesome Dove. It even won a Pulitzer Prize. You cannot classify Cormac McCarthy's books as Westerns, although he certainly locates his best novels there, but for the purpose of this review, I guess you could make a few allowances and say they are the only other modern novels written about cowboys that transcend the genre.

And now we have Robert B Parker trying to do the same with Gunman's Rhapsody (Putnam). Having said that, I must say that I do not think that the author intends the book to aspire to literary greatness. It is just that Mr. Parker, who has nearly 40 books to his credit, tries every now and then to do something different and this time around it is the cowboy novel that has taken his fancy. Robert B. Parker, as everyone who is a fan of PI fiction knows or should know, is the creator of the one of the most enduring private eyes ever created - the tough sensitive Boston shamus known as Spenser. Along with his sidekick Hawk (whom I find infinitely more interesting), he has walked the streets of Boston for years now. It is always a matter of some excitement when a new Robert B. Parker novel comes out because you are guaranteed a brilliant read - some rough stuff, a load of wisecracks, a little pop psychology and, occasionally, an exceptional plot. Make no mistake, these are above average genre novels, and are guaranteed to get you hooked - if you are that way inclined, of course.

Lately, however the allure of Spenser appears to have palled somewhat where his creator is concerned. He has introduced two new fictional characters, Jesse Stone, a flawed cop (Night Passage, Trouble in Paradise) and Sunny Randall (Family Honour, Perish Twice). The Spenser novels keep coming, but it is evident that Mr. Parker would like to work on a somewhat wider canvas. And so you have Gunman's Rhapsody. Does it work? To be completely honest, yes and no. It has all the right ingredients - legendary figures from the Old West like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson; violent towns like Tombstone; whores and saloons; simmering rivalries and deadly gunbattles. Its central story - that of Wyatt Earp, his brothers and their families - is one of the greatest and best-known stories of the Old West. And, holding all this together, is Mr. Parker's crisp, no-nonsense prose that keeps the action moving along briskly. Despite all this, however, I finished the book somewhat slowly, labouring over the parts where the author injects dollops of American history and unnecessarily freights the narrative with all sorts of baggage that it is ill-suited to carry.

Writing historical novels is always a tricky business if you are not sure how exactly you wish to pitch the book, and even proven masters like Mr. Parker can sometimes be found a little wanting in this regard. Gunman's Rhapsody works very well indeed when it is being a straight up cowboy novel but when it tries to make the stretch towards becoming a major historical novel, it flounders a little. But fans of Robert B. Parker and the cowboy novel should not necessarily give it a miss on account of this, you will find enough in the book to keep you happy.

DAVID DAVIDAR

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