Today, I’m unpacking The Familiar Stranger, a posthumous collaboration by Steve Kelton and John Bradshaw, which marks the fifth entry in the "Hewey Calloway" series started by the late Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) in 1978 with The Good Old Boys. This series has seen a gradual evolution over the years, with The Smiling Country following in 1998 and Six Bits a Day in 2005. Elmer's son, Steve, wrote the fourth entry, The Unlikely Lawman, pub. in 2022. Tragically, Steve Kelton was in the midst of writing The Familiar Stranger [*] when he passed in March 2022, and his wife, Karen, entrusted John Bradshaw with completing the manuscript.
The plot revolves around Hewey Calloway, who intended to breeze through Durango, Colorado, on his way to a friend’s place northeast of the city. A year out from his home range with a herd of young horses, he expected a straightforward journey: deliver the horses, pocket the payment, and head home. However, fate plays a different hand, and a year later, Hewey finds himself still in Durango, sensing the pull to explore new territory rather than returning south.
It isn't long before his path leads him to a cabin amidst a biting rain. Inside, he encounters a sickly young man who desperately tries to shoo him away. This man, battling smallpox, ends up caring for Hewey when he himself contracts the disease. Just as Hewey starts feeling better, the young man vanishes, and the next morning, a Pinkerton detective arrives with a posse on the hunt for a wanted bank robber.
