The Friday 56: 'Six-Horse-Hitch'

Hello, fellow Friday 56ers! 

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I took a two-week hiatus from participating in the Friday 56 weekly bookish meme. There was a specific reason for it, but I won’t go into detail due to personal reasons. I initially planned not to participate this week either, but out of the blue, I received an email from an author thanking me for featuring her books in a past Friday 56 post. This inspired me to return.

For this week's Friday 56 pick, hosted by My Head is Full of Books, I am featuring Six-Horse Hitch by Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979). I'm not sure if I've featured this book before. For those who may not remember, I had a now-defunct, short-lived Western-themed blog where I might have highlighted this book. However, I don't have a photo of it, which makes me think I likely featured another title by the author instead. Taking a good shot of the cover with my phone was surprisingly difficult, but I managed to get one, which you can find below in this post.

I am featuring Six-Horse Hitch because it connects to my answer for the Book Blogger Hop prompt, which you can read here. Six-Horse Hitch is the only Western written by Janice Holt Giles, although she authored several other historical novels, many of which are linked to this one. It's one of my favorite books. I first read it at a local library about 20 years ago. I later found a first-edition hardcover at an oddities store in an old Walmart, but unfortunately, that store is no longer in business.

Now, here’s a paragraph from page 56:

Thieves didn't operate near Fort Kearney much because of the troops, so I had never seen Slade working a suspected thief over. But I had heard how he did it. The boys said he always collected up his facts ahead of time, before he showed up for business. Then he never said but one word to the thief, and that was, "Git!" Then he commenced shooting.

— Giles, Jance Holt. Six-Horse Hitch, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1969, p. 56.

My copy is an ex-library edition from the Kansas City Public Library, with due dates still stamped inside, ranging from August 26, 1969, to January 11, 1978. Unfortunately, Janice Holt Giles isn't well known outside of Kentucky, where her home is a historic attraction. Just to clarify, I'm not from Kentucky—I just wanted to mention that. My late grandmother read Mrs. Giles's books, primarily through library loans, with her favorites being Shady Grove (1967) and The Believers (1957). She was the one who introduced me to Janice Holt Giles's books.

Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough for now. I'll see everyone next week.

〜B.J. Burgess