Black Hats: A Novel of Wyatt Earp and Al Capone (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: diamond stickpin, milk wagon, liquor supply, Wyatt Earp, Little John, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The pseudonymous Culhane (aka Max Allen Collins) once again shows himself a master at the historical thriller. In 1920, 70-year-old Wyatt Earp, who's working as a PI in Los Angeles, is hired by "Big Nosed Kate" Elder, the widow of his best friend, Doc Holliday. Kate wants Wyatt to go to New York and help her speakeasy-owning son, John (fathered by Doc as he was dying), who has fallen afoul of a local tough guy, the young Alphonse Capone. In New York, Wyatt teams with another old pal, Morning Telegraph sportswriter Bat Masterson. It's a fabulous setup, and Culhane has all the skills and experience to bring these great characters leaping off the page. The bad guys may have organized gangs and tommy guns, but in the end these whippersnappers are no match for Wyatt's cunning and 10-inch-long-barreled .45. The exigencies of historical fact force Culhane into a tamer ending than some readers might like, but the sheer fun of riding along with the two old lawmen and their memories will run roughshod over any quibbles or complaints. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Patrick Culhane pits storied lawman Wyatt Earp against crime's greatest gangster, Al Capone, in this engaging flight of fancy. The premise is not as outlandish as it initially sounds, as Earp was in fact a detective of sorts in Los Angeles in the early 1920s, where this story begins. Doc Holliday's widow commissions the spry 70-year-old to head east to New York, where Doc's son, Johnny, owns a speakeasy. Along with his old pal Bat Masterson, Earp finds in Holliday's lucrative speak the promise of a gold rush and figures to cash in himself, until a gang of Brooklyn bootleggers issues a promising young thug named Capone to muscle in on the works. Earp and Capone are ultimately both fortune hunters, neither afraid to work some lead into the air to get what they want. The legendary heat these marquee names come packing provides most of the enjoyment here. The rest comes from picturing an anachronism with a 12-inch .45 and a broad-brimmed Stetson walking the streets of freshly Prohibited New York. Ian Chipman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (March 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060892536
• ISBN-13: 978-0060892531
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,098,268 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Old time west goes east and meets Al Capone!, May 8, 2008

By	Cy B. Hilterman "Cy. Hilterman" (Cherry Tree, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am sure many of us have read or heard about famous characters from the "old west" era. Wyatt Earp, "Doc" Holliday, Bat Masterson, Kate Elder, and Al Capone! Yes, Al Capone. I had never associated a connection between those famous western legends and a gangster such as Al Capone! Black Hats is a terrifically well researched book that weaves a lot of fact with some fiction to create a great read, and will tell of that connection between the prohibition times, old west characters, and Al Capone.

Wyatt Earp was no longer a legitimate lawman in his aging years but he had a badge that his buddies at the LAPD had given him for when he assisted them on a few cases. Wyatt felt this gave him all the authority he needed to go east when Doc Holliday's common law widow asked him to find her son, Johnny Holliday, in the New York City area. Wyatt's wife, Sadie, was not very happy that he was traveling by himself to do a favor for Doc's wife Kate Elder, especially since Kate and Wyatt once had a fling or two. Kate was worried that Johnny was getting in over his head in New York and that the gangsters would give him many problems and Wyatt was the best person to check on him. So Wyatt started on his long train trip east seeing many things he never knew existed other than reading about them.

Since prohibition had started, "speakeasies" had started all over the nation but were exceptionally frequent in big eastern cities such as New York. Speakeasies stayed in business by payoffs to those that threatened them and were run as a private club with admittance only to those known by the doormen of these prohibition era drinking places. Some, like Johnny's place, were high class but a few were very low on the totem pole.

Yes indeed, Johnny did own a good speakeasy that served as a place where men could drink alcohol, beer, meet their lady friends and join them in their areas of prostitution, and gamble in some of the clubs. Johnny's place did not have card gambling but eventually it came to fruition when Wyatt and Bat talked Johnny into it. The girls and women roamed freely as they danced, put on shows, and stopped and talked to the men. A few of the girls were well liked and loved by Johnny and some of his workers.

In a card game some time ago, Johnny had won a five to six years supply of whiskey and a few months supply of beer, all of which he had hidden so no one could steal it. When Capone and his buddies decided they wanted that supply, things came to a deadly and brutal type of war. Wyatt and Bat stuck around Johnny almost all the time with their big guns at their side ready and able to assist if trouble broke out. It seems that Capone was not the boss in New York but had to report to Frankie Yale. Capone just pulled the strings for Yale. And Yale wanted that supply of whiskey and beer and would do anything to get it.

The story goes back in time occasionally giving history of Wyatt, Bat, Doc, and all their friends with whom they had fought many battles and generally won. I found these tidbits very interesting. They did not interrupt the flow of the book but rather added to the color. Black Hats is thoroughly enjoyable having its killing, sex, fighting, gun battles, and tells much about what went on in the days of prohibition. The author has written a gem and unless you don't like suspense and tales of the "old west" you will love reading this book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read the book -- don't wait for the movie, April 23, 2007

By	T. E. Vaughn (Chattanooga, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is without question one of the most entertaining and engaging books I've read in a long while. Frequently blending historical characters, particularly ones with multiple biographies about them, doesn't work. The "what if" school of writing requires lots of research, speculation and educated guesses. Culhane, aka Max Allan Collins, manages to not only pull it off but sets the table for a movie made from the book.

To posit that Doc Holliday had a son by Big Nose Kate and that Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson would be around to help him out of trouble with the New York mob and up-and-coming gangster Alphonse Capone in 1920 is nothing short of brilliant fancy. And believable fancy at that! The period details are excellent and there's enough action and twists to keep you wanting more. The ending is perhaps a bit contrived, but who cares since it's been such a fun read. Wyatt and Bat are wonderfully drawn and they amply prove the old saw about age and experience beating youth and impetuousness.

Well done, "Patrick!" One thing this book has done, and it was the Wyatt Earp tie-in that got me to pick it up to begin with, is to encourage me to read other work by Max Allan Collins. Now, if Hollywood will just option this book and cast it properly...

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wyatt Earp vs. Al Capone? It works!, April 30, 2007

By	John Daley (Attica, MI United States) - See all my reviews

Okay, a book that pits Wyatt Earp against Al Capone? How the heck is that going to work? And is it even possible to make it into a readable book? The answer to both questions is a huge YES!
Max Allan Collins, writing as Patrick Culhane, has written one helluva historical novel. He manages to make you believe that a 70 year old Wyatt Earp could beat a 20 year old Al Capone. He does this by using all real historical figures as his main characters. As far as I could tell only two of the characters were fictional. Doc Holiday's son and his girlfriend.
The only minor complaint I have is the ending, which after all the action that takes place earlier in the book, is a bit of a letdown. But given the constraints of history, the ending actually makes a lot of sense. As I think back on it now it was a pretty good way to end the book.