FORGOTTEN BOOKS #136: GHOST GUNS (aka, THE SHAME OF ARIZONA) By W. C. Tuttle


Ghost Guns is the first W. C. Tuttle screwball western I’ve ever read, but it won’t be my last. Henry Harrison Conroy, former vaudevillian, is Sheriff of Tonto City, Arizona. Although Henry takes a comic view of the world, he’s smart. And he needs all of his intelligence to solve a series of murders that involve a blonde angel who packs a rifle, a gambler’s ghost, a stage-coach robbery, a sale of a gold mine, and some wild gunplay. If you’re looking for a completely different kind of Western, Ghost Guns delivers. I want to thank James Reasoner for touting W. C. Tuttle on his blog. James’ remarks lead me to seek out and read this fine book.

14 thoughts on “FORGOTTEN BOOKS #136: GHOST GUNS (aka, THE SHAME OF ARIZONA) By W. C. Tuttle

    1. george Post author

      I never heard of W. C. Tuttle until I read about him on James Reasoner’s excellent blog, Rick. Tuttle is well worth reading. By the way, I just mailed a BOUCHERCON box to you. Enjoy!

      Reply
  1. Todd Mason

    Tuttle wrote some dull stuff by the end of his career, presumably feeling burnt out and underappreciated, and that, unfortunately, is all I’ve read so far…so be warned about some of his later work. But I look forward to good Tuttle.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Many writers tail off at the end of their careers, Todd. But the two Tuttles I’ve read so far were published in 1934 and 1955. They were very enjoyable!

      Reply
  2. James Reasoner

    If you look at the covers of the ARGOSY issues in which some of the Henry stories appeared, the artist obviously modeled the character after W.C. Fields. I haven’t read any of the stories yet so I don’t know if Henry comes across that way in Tuttle’s prose. Todd’s right, Tuttle’s later work isn’t nearly as good, but fortunately he wrote a lot for a long time, so I’m not likely to run out of his stories from the Twenties and Thirties to read.

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  3. James Reasoner

    By the way, at one time Tuttle was the commissioner of the Pacific Coast Baseball League and wrote some humorous baseball stories. All the ones I’ve read have been pretty bad. I think he wrote a few non-Western mystery novels, too, but I haven’t read any of them.

    Reply

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