A while back, I discovered an author named William MacLeod Raine. Born in England, he moved to Arkansas after his mother died, which was when he was about ten years old. Although his earlier works, such as “A Daughter of Raasay: A Tale of the ‘45″ were romantic novels set in England, the majority of his work consists of westerns. Due to the sheer number of western novels he wrote (at least 80 from 1908 until his death in 1954), he was one of the most prolific western authors of his day. Strangely, he seems to be mostly forgotten now.
Thus far, I’ve read two of Raine’s works: “Bucky O’Connor” and “Brand Blotters”. I’m in the process of reading “Crooked Trails and Straight” and have plans to read “Man-Size”, “The Fighting Edge” and “Texas Man”. Actually, I plan to read as much of his material as I can; the latter three just happen to be my priorities.
Now, you may be wondering what they’re about. The problem with Raine is that not a lot of his books have any sort of summary or synopsis available in digital form, which means that one has to buy and/or download a book and hope for the best. With a guy like this, how can you go wrong? Well, you can’t (see my review below for details). That aside, here’s what the works are about:
- In “Bucky O’Connor”, the titular Arizona Ranger not only has to help a sheriff solve the mystery of a train robbery, but also find a man’s daughter and break another man out of prison.
- “Brand Blotters” is a two-part story. In the first part, a man travels to Arizona and casts a major influence on the area thanks to his shrewd investing skills, but may be carrying a dark secret. In the second part, a railroad magnate is kidnapped by a notorious outlaw and a sheriff sets out to rescue him.
- Thus far, “Crooked Trails and Straight” appears to be about a boy who accidentally gets caught on the wrong side of the law.
Anyways, here’s my opinion on Raine: He does a fantastic job with setting and details. I actually felt that I was riding a horse across the Arizona frontier, dust caking my throat. The characters develop nicely and have detailed backstories. Thinking back on it, I wonder if he actually used any real people for inspiration. The plots are complex and intriguing. I won’t spoil anything, but I can say that he is good at taking several plot strings and tying them together with one or two elements. The dialogue and vocabulary, while oddly Shakespearean at times, add another touch of authenticity to the whole package.
If Raine has any weaknesses, it’s that he doesn’t always provide context for unfamiliar terms. I had to look up certain things. In my opinion, it’s not a bad thing to familiarize oneself with such things, but still, I wouldn’t want to do it every five seconds. Another failing is that there are splashes of racism in his books. For example, I’ve noticed a couple of uses of the n-word, and characters (if not the author himself) refer to Mexicans as “greasers”. Still, that’s just par for the course of the time, but even so, these works are VERY TAME compared to “Mein Kampf”.
Overall, I really enjoy William MacLeod Raine, and I definitely think he needs more exposure. If you’re looking for some dang good western stories, look no further than this man. Short on cash? Don’t worry! All his works from before 1923 are available to download for free at Project Gutenberg. You know, I might do an adaptation of one of his works...