Long ago I read two Hoyt Merion (one “r”) westerns and decided they were amusing enough to warrant reading some more, these published now as Hoyt Merrion (two “r”s). Given that the double “r” appears on all of the Wells Gardner Darton & Co paperbacks, I have to assume this was the correct spelling.
What’s unclear to me is whether all of the HM titles were actually written by the same person or not. Hoyt is definitely a fake name. Was it an alias for one author, or, a house name created by the publisher? Were they penned by an Englishman or reprints of American pulp stories?
Valley of Lost Brands (1947) features cover art by Reginald Mills and has a handful of tiny internal illustrations that have nothing to do with the story. Purely filler art, and no clue who created them. Priced at one shilling, story text spans 7 to page 94. Inside are listed 3 other titels: El Fuego’s Line, When Chance Horns In, and Unlucky Win.
Essentially, Valley of Lost Brands features the old plot: rustlers. The story takes place during an era in which automobiles already exist. Our hero is Paddy Lynch, while the romantic interest is Kitty Leaver. Later in the novel Paddy solves the mystery of how Leaver’s cows are rustled; people are murdered, and there is enough action to keep me reading along to see how the plot unwinds. Plus I wanted to know who the actual villain was.
Unlucky Win (1947) must have been released the same time, as it lists the same titles inside along with the aforementioned, but with a silhouette-esque cover of a cowboy aboard a horse. This same cover would appear on other WGD westerns. The story text spans pages 7 to 94.
I was expecting yet another crime-western, but nonplussed to find a comedy. Couple drunken cowpunchers…one gets a fancy for the lady cook. He enlists his buddy to speak on his behalf, build him up as a tough hombre. Only, she isn’t a lady, and she sure isn’t stupid. In fact, she may well be the highlight of the entire novel as she creates havoc…each time in a seemingly innocent manner. And we eventually learn she has her eyes locked onto the man doing all the talking on his friend’s behalf! She tricks the man into marriage, feigning she has no choice! See, she saves his friend from a lynch-mob after he falsely rustles cows only to ride them back to the ranch and pretend to be a hero. The sheriff and posse catch him and discover our lady and her unwitting lover on the range watching the man ride the beeves back to the ranch. She laughs at the sheriff, and dismisses his claims, embarrassing him in front of the posse. Then states that the man proposed, she accepted, and that he must bear witness and marry them. He’s trapped, roped as you will, and can’t figure what went wrong. We know he eventually gets used to the idea, though he had never in his life kissed a girl before! But he learns real fast…while losing his best friend in the process. It’s an amusing cowboy yarn that would have been a far sight more enjoyable had just one of the characters spoken clear, unbroken English!
I haven’t settled down yet to whether or not I’ll read more novels by “Hoyt Merrion.” Part of me would certainly like to, but hell…!!! Has anyone else out there ever read any of the Hoyt books? I’m fairly certain they are not all written by the same author.
THE SPECTRE LIBRARY PRESENTS: The Pulp and Paperback Fiction Reader 