{The Sunday Post} — Gunsmoke & Grit

**April 26, 2025** - Guess who’s back! I’m hoping to hit publish at the stroke of midnight this week—let’s keep our fingers crossed that technology is on my side! This past week hasn’t been a whirlwind of excitement, but hey, the Kansas City Royals have been on a winning streak, so that’s something! As a proud cord-cutter, I’ve found myself tuning into baseball games through an app. Currently, the Royals are sitting at a decent 13-14, not too shabby, right?

Now for some thrilling news—I’ve launched a new blog, Gunsmoke & Grit (https://gunsmokeandgrit.blogspot.com/)! I wanted to dive into the Western genre, knowing that many of my readers might not share that interest, so I created a space dedicated solely to Western Fiction. I’m starting from scratch on a free Blogger site, and while it’s a work in progress, it just went live yesterday with my review of Hanging Justice by Jake Logan, the old paperback I mentioned in last week's post. It’s a bit lonely there with zero followers, so if you’re intrigued, I’d love your support!

I’ve been on a reading spree lately. I just finished Mark Greaney’s Midnight Black—stay tuned for my review, coming soon! I then picked up The Gunsmith Giant Edition: Red Mountain by J.R. Roberts from my dresser (yes, it’s a mountain of unread books!). I’ve got about 60% of that one under my belt already—should wrap it up before this post goes live.

I also swung by the local library and couldn’t resist checking out two enticing titles: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, a horror-thriller, and Sugar on the Bones by Joe R. Lansdale, a gripping mystery thriller. I’ll dive into Victorian Psycho first since it’s a quick read, right after I finish Red Mountain. Exciting reading days are ahead, my friends!

Song of the Week

Hanging Justice

by Jake Logan

★★★★✰

Bellevue

by Robin Cook

★★★✰✰

Into the Gray Zone

by Brad Taylor

★★★★✰

And now, let’s talk about my latest book hauls—because who doesn’t love a good bragging session?

First up are my fabulous finds from the Salvation Army: Tom Clancy's Op-Center by Jeff Rovin, The Shadow Warriors by Cameron Judd, and The Buck Passes Flynn by Gregory McDonald—all for just 10 cents each! I also couldn’t resist snagging a 9-disc audiobook of The Storm by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown. Fingers crossed that the “discontinued title—Final Sale” label isn’t a bad sign!

Additionally, I picked up nine mini Doctor Who fairy tale books. The titles are The Scruffy Piper, The Three Little Sontarans, Frozen Beauty, The Twins in the Wood, The Garden of Statues, The Grief Collector, The Brother Fruff, Andiba and the Four Slitheen and Jack and the Wormhole.

Then there’s an exciting batch of Westerns I picked up on eBay for a steal: Longarm: Deputy U.S. Marshal (Double Edition #1), Longarm: Frontier Justice (Double Edition #2), Longarm: Legend with a Six-Gun (Double Edition #4), Longarm and the Lone Star Trackdown (Giant Edition), and Longarm/Lone Star Omnibus: Sweet Revenge. The Longarm series is penned under the pseudonym Tabor Evans, while the Lone Star stories are crafted by Wesley Ellis, also a pen name.

Lastly, I couldn’t pass up James Patterson’s latest release, Sisters Murder Investigations, co-authored with Candice Fox. I have a considerable stack of unread Patterson thrillers waiting for me. I keep promising myself to hold off on buying more, but there’s just something about his stories that draws me in—maybe I’ll tackle them this summer, which is just around the corner! 

Happy reading, everyone!

Billy / Coffee-Addicted Writer