Blue-Eyed Devil

Virgil Cole and Everett Hatch return to Appalossa where they had enforced the law in the past. Currently, the town is run by Amos Callico, an ambitious, corrurpt, chief of police, and his twelve lawmen. Callico is always looking for personal gain and his manner of providing justice is to demand kick backs from the businessmen and local residents. Virgil and Everett are hired to provide personal security by Lamar Spec, at his saloon, The Boston House. When they do, Callico approaches them and complains that they are taking money that belongs to him. When that doesn't work, he asks if they would join him. He's rebuffed and soon, the two men are providing an honest brand of security for all of the saloons in town. One day, their friend Pony Flores and his half brother, Kha-to-nay arrive. Pony tells them that his half brother has just killed a corrupt Indian Agent and robbed a bank. The government is after him for the first offense and the Pinkertons for the other. Parker is a master story teller. As I breezed through the pages I kept thinking of Gary Cooper in "High Noon" and was humming the theme song from the movie. Parker's visual descriptions and entertaining characters make the reader want the story to go on and on. I really enjoyed the book and felt as if I was sitting at a ring-side seat as the realistic action was unfolding before me. Robert Parker passed away recently and all of literature will be sorry that he's not still with us, providing entertaining stories and believable characters who we'd like to emulate.

Among the handful of basic western plots there is the story of the town taken over by a corrupt lawman--the basic story of Blue-Eyed Devil. Hitch and Cole have returned to Appaloosa and find it in the hands of an ambitious politician named Amos Callico. Amos is married to a Storyville starlet who billed herself in the brothels as the Countess. The Countess charms Cole's woman Allie with the possibility of some serious social climbing and Cole and Hitch's plans to protect an old half-breed friend and his Chiricahua brother are compromised. Callico has basically turned Appaloosa into the locus for a grand series of protection rackets, from which he will gain the resources to run for sheriff, then governor, then senator, and then, yes, president. The saloon owners turn to Hitch and Cole to protect their properties and suddenly there exists an uneasy peace between them and Callico. Things get worse when Cole kills the ne'er-do-well son of a rancher when the young man abuses one of the saloon's prostitutes. The rancher is a former confederate general; he brings in a hired killer to take out Cole. In the meantime, the representatives of the various factions mix and match their loyalties in the face of other threats, forming temporary alliances to ward off danger. The novel is vintage Parker. Hitch and Cole are at the top of their form, wielding the 8-gauge shotgun, trying to understand women and communicating with one another by saying as little as possible. Blue-Eyed Devil is an excellent addition to the series though, unfortunately, it will be the last. Parker is going out with a bang. No whimpers to be heard round these parts. Watch for the Spenser novel, Painted Ladies, in October.

Robert B. Parker died on January 11, 2010 at age 77 after writing more than 50 novels. I read them all. They were that good. Blue-Eyed Devil, a reference to whites by Indians in this story, is the fourth Virgil Cole-Everett Hitch western that he wrote. Every one of his novels, whether they are about the private detective Spenser, or the police officer Jesse Stone, or the detective Sunny Randall, is a delight to read. Each has Parker's trademark crisp humorous, somewhat manly no-nonsense language. Each has references to prior books in the series, references that add dimension, but which readers who encounter the series for the first time, while missing this dimension, will still enjoy the story. Many, including this novel, have love and desertion by a spouse or loved-one with the remaining spouse still retaining the love. In this volume, the two heroes, the fast-draw Virgil, who lacks a regular education, but understands reality, who occasionally misuses words, and his devoted follower Everett with his shot-gun and West Point education, return to Appaloosa, where they had served as law men, and find that the city has appointed a police chief who they immediately dislike. Characters from previous novels appear and help the duo in an interesting fashion when they tangle with the police chief and his army of gunmen. One of the principle characters hires a fast draw gunman to kill Virgil and the three have an unusual and unexpected relationship.

Some of you may not understand the title but having been a Robert Parker fan all of his publishing days and seriously in love with strong, silent men like Virgil and Everett my heart aches for the passing of a master. This was a good bye novel and you should read the earlier Virgil and Everett novels to pick up the pace and taste of their laid back, calm acceptance of the violence of the world and the cure of it. These men function in a time and place where violence is the cause and cure of many problems. Reading this book was a trip back in time and bittersweet because I know there would be no more. There is no one writing of the caliber of Robert Parker.

A conversation between my ego and my id about this book: Rubicon: "... you like this book"? Jason: "I did". Rubicon: "What about it you like"? A lone tumbleweed passes between us as we sit in front of a worn down, empty saloon. Jason: "When Virgil kills a man he don't make a speech. Or brag. He don't say much. Gotta `spect a man for that." Rubicon: "You don't say much. Why"? Jason: "S'pose, don't have much to say". Rubicon: "Think the world will miss Robert B. Parker"? Jason thinks about this for a long while. So long in fact that I almost forgot I asked the question. Jason: "Reckon they better". I wait because years have honed me to his tone, his inflections. He wasn't yet done. Jason: "Too many writers now-a-days. Too many people with free time and a pen. Too many damn words that don't tell anything". (Another pause as he looks across the dusty, empty street). "Parker could speak more in one sentence that most folks could write in an entire book". I keep silent. That's the most I done heard Jason talk, at one time mind you, in the seventeen years that I've known him. Once he sighs I know I can continue. He does. I do. Rubicon: "Think they'll be another like him"? Jason: "Reckon not". Rubicon: "Wanna' visit the hoar house"? Jason: "Reckon so". He smiles. I grin. No, this wasn't your ordinary review because Mr. Parker wasn't your ordinary writer. Parker wasn't just a guy with stories to tell. Stories that needed to be told, sought out Mr. Parker to tell them. And the magic of his storytelling was that he didn't need a lot of words to do it. His brevity of words carries the power of a sawed-off shotgun. Our boys, Hitch and Cole, are back; and they are still as deadly and lethargic as ever. They are an impossible blend of Billy the Kid, Buddha, and Niche. `Blue-Eyed Devil' is a brilliant continuation of `Appaloosa', `Resolution', and `Brimstone'. It was also nice to see a number of characters make cameos to help Hitch and Cole raise a little hell. OK, a LOT of hell. This is a series where you definitely want to start with the first one because... well... Hitch and Cole are such powerful characters that you need to start off with the beer version before you start pulling shots of corn liquor. Sunset, saddle, and sage. Tipping my hat to you Mr. Parker...