Showdown at Deer Creek by DJ Bishop    Books by DJ Bishop · Luke Ludd · Sheriff Luke Ludd                 >> View all
Category:	Western	Publisher:	Avalon Books	ISBN-10:	0803497717	Type:
Pages:	218	Copyright:	Feb, 2006			Fiction

Sheriff Lane Tipton had only been gone two days when all hell broke loose, just before daybreak on the third morning Blackie’s gang rode into town and just moment’s later Tom Walker lay dead and Blackie Getts was once again a free man. By nightfall three more men, Lamar Tuggle, Evret McNare and Red the bar keeper had been shot dead, and Blackie had given the order to roundup all the people in town and move them into the saloon where he could keep an eye on them while he waited on the sheriff to get back, because Blackie was going to kill Lane Tipton for locking him up and if he could find the other witness to the murder in the saloon that he’d been locked up for, an old cowboy by the name of Mushy Crabtree he would kill him too. For now with the folks moved into the saloon Blackie and his gang of killers had taken over the little Texas town of Deer Creek. Buy your copy! Showdown at Deer Creek A very fast beat read with strong characters. Interesting story line that keeps pulling you towards the end. A nice twist at the end of the story. Showdown at Deer Creek is proof that the good, clean western is not dead. Excerpt Early one morning Sheriff Lane Tipton rode out from Deer Creek, Texas with one of his two prisoners, Tater Rankin in tow. He was transporting Rankin to Fort Worth to stand trial for robbery. Leaving his deputy behind to watch the town and the other prisoner, notorious killer named Blackie Getts, Tiption ride out intending to be gone just a few days, expecting no trouble. Two days later Blackie's gang rides into town, kills the deputy and three other influential men in town then set up camp waiting for the sheriff to return. Getts fully intends to kill the sheriff for locking him up. As they are waiting, they capture Tipton's fiance and debate about ransoming her off to her father or waiting for the reaction of the sheriff. Meanwhile, Tipton and Rankin stumble across a family deserted in the middle of nowhere after being robbed. They set out to find the thieves but find themselves in a heap of trouble: Getts decides to take off after Tipton and the two parties will soon meet back in Deer Creek with in hours of each other for a brutal showdown.

Jodelle Greiner Gainesville Register
Blackie Getts is the baddest of the bad. When it comes to outlaws, but Sheriff Lane Tipton doesn’t know that when he leaves his deputy Tom Walker to look after Getts – in jail on murder – while he takes Tater Rankin to Fort Worth to stand trial for robbery. Lane also doesn’t know that Getts’ gang is out there, just waiting for a chance to bust him out. When they do, they take over the town of Deer Creek, taking hostage those they don’t kill. Getts intends to wait until Lane comes back so he can kill Lane and Mushy Crabtree, the one witness left alive to testify against him at his trial. Becky Townsend sets out from her father, Bear Townsend’s ranch into Deer Creek to get fitted for her wedding dress, because in less than 2 months, she’ll be marrying lane Tipton. What she doesn’t know is that Getts and his gang have taken over the town – and they intend to kill everyone in it. Bishop juggles the three threads of the story quite well, holding the action in each section to the same level. He also holds to the same strain with his characters in “Sheriff Luke Ludd” – the bad ones are as ad as you can get and I mean stomach-turning bad. These are some sick outlaws: one is psychotically violent toward women. Some folks may not care for the behaviors that Bishop gives his bad guys, but at least there’s no doubt which side of the law they’re riding. Bishop fleshed out his good guys better than he did in “Sheriff Luke Ludd”, I thought. You get the background on Bear Townsend and his family and you feel you know them pretty well by the end of Chapter 2. He’s included an interesting background for Sheriff Lane Tipton, too, and ties it up neatly. Any father who’s married off a daughter will understand Bear’s reluctance to accept the fact that his little girl isn’t his little girl anymore and is about to marry. Once again, Bishop puts his knowledge of horses and of traveling across rough territory on four hooves to good use. He can also describe Texas weather quite well, too, and it plays a part in the storyline. He use both to keep the story moving along in his 218 page hard-cover. What Bishop does in “Showdown at Deer Creek” that he didn’t in “Sheriff Luke Ludd”, was add some women folk to the mix. And these women are the strong, capable type. Yes, Becky is in danger, but she’s not helpless. She teams up with one of the town’s men to try to save everyone from the outlaws. Bishop doesn’t portray her as an Amazon warrior, but her background of growing up on a ranch as the only girl with three boys lends credence to her abilities and what Bishop has her do. Yes, this is a Western, so it’s no surprise it ends in a shoot-out, but Bishop adds urgency by having the good guys fight a deadline and the weather. He also manages to add a unique twist that I don’t think you’ll see coming. I liked it – it adds it add to the story. What didn’t add to the story was the lack of editing and proofreading. As someone who does that for living, it is extremely distraction when I’m reading along and a word is spelled wrong or the punctuation is messed up. Avalon has a good writer here and they need to showcase his work better. If you can handle the blood and depravity, D. J. Bishop can tell a pretty good tale.


H. E. Groves
Showdown At Deer Creek - D. J. Bishop tells the story of a gang of outlaws, a sheriff taking a prisoner to Fort Worth, and a young woman who gets caught in the cross-fire of revenge in this fast pace, action packed Western Novel. If you miss the stories of the Old West the way they were once told don't miss this book.

Western Writers of America Roundup Magazine
This is a traditional Western story that pits good versus evil and boy, does it ever.

While Sheriff Lane Tipton is away, killer Blackie Getts’s gang breaks him out of the Deer Creek jail. Getts refuses to flee for the Mexican border, because he has a grudge against Tipton and means to get even. Consequently, the gang hangs around town, takes the entire population prisoner, and kills some innocent bystander whenever the notion strikes.

Into this dangerous brouhaha steps Rebecca Townsend, daughter of the richest rancher in the territory, and Sheriff Tipton’s fiancée. Taking Becky unaware, Getts holds her for ransom. Becky being a spunky, outspoken kind of girl, her monetary value is all that keeps her alive as they wait for Tipton to return to town and Getts’s planned ambush.

But Bear Townsend, wise to his daughter’s danger, is also on his way to town, and in the middle of a first class storm, Tipton and Townsend meet up to bring rough justice to Getts’s gang. They’re just a little too late for Becky, however, who challenges Getts to a showdown–and wins. An exciting story with which to while away a few hours.