Before Christmas we told you all that we were going to see the return of a character we didn't think we'd be seeing again. At the time we couldn't offer any more clues than that. Now the truth can be revealed ...
Beginning in April 2014, PP is proud to begin publishing the four remaining books in the JOHN CUTLER series!
You'll recall that the series was created by John Benteen, but cancelled prematurely when his editor decided that it was impossible to get a great western series out of a character who hunts rogue animals for a living (how wrong he was!) In 1978 the publisher had a change of heart, but by that time Ben Haas (Benteen himself) has passed away at the ridiculously young age of 52.
Enter novelist Vernon Hinkle ...
"The editor for all of the Tower books was Milburn Smith, and—since it was only yesterday, so to speak—I remember sitting in Milburn’s office discussing one of my mystery novels (to be published under my own name), when he informed me that John Benteen had passed away after starting the Cutler series with just two novels. He wondered if I’d be interested in taking it over. After I got on board, he told me the only problem was my name didn’t sound western, so I came up with "H. V. Elkin" an anagram of "V. Hinkle", which, having an “elk” in it, somehow sounded western to me. I enjoyed writing under my new name; it gave me a great sense of freedom and, with that, a different style. But after completing four manuscripts, fulfilling my contract, I felt like I’d run out of rogue animals. Nevertheless, I am delighted to see you given them a new lease of life through Piccadilly Publishing!"
The series continues with # 3: EAGLE MAN. Meantime, here are the covers for # 4: TIGER'S CHANCE and # 5: MUSTANG
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