Customer Reviews

Black Hats: A Novel of Suspense

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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...

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.

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.

One of the things I love about Max Allan Collins's period-piece mysteries and suspense novels is the authenticity. If you read something in a Collins book, outside of the fictional spin he adds to and puts on things, you can bet it really existed at that time. He also delves deeply into the backgrounds of his historical "characters" and provides a good biography of them.

When I read that BLACK HATS was going to offer a confrontation between an elderly Wyatt Earp and a young, wet-behind-the-ears Al Capone, I was excited. I conjured up images of alley showdowns with six-guns and Thompson submachine guns. We almost got that here. The action was a little more downplayed that I would have wanted, but I was working off my own expectations. Collins stayed within the truth of what really happened in those days in 1920, with a little bit of what COULD have happened thrown in.

Collins gave us a fictional son of Doc Holliday and painted the Prohibition backdrop both eloquently and faithfully. His other "characters" like Texas Guinan, Jack Dempsey, and Damon Runyon were great and added a lot of color to the story.

But it's Wyatt and Bat Masterson who really seize the spotlight. Their friendship comes across clearly and believably, and it was fun seeing them in action together.

The plot was especially well done too. John Holliday had won a warehouse full of liquor in a poker game at a time when the rest of the city (and the state) were dry and having to import their liquor from Canada. It was a treasure trove on par with one of the acheological finds that would have sent Indiana Jones scampering for his fedora.

I was a little disappointed with the ending because it wasn't as BIG as I'd imagined. But it had neat little twists that made everything come together well.

BLACK HATS is a fast, fun read with plenty of history, atmosphere, and trivia to keep armchair historians and thrill-seekers turning the pages.

OK. What if Wyatt Earp spent his golden years working as a private detective in LA (he did) and what if "Big Nosed Kate Elder" widow of his best friend, the doomed Doc Holliday, visited him to reveal that she had had a son (Johnny) fathered by Doc while he was dying in Glenwood Springs? What if Kate asks Wyatt to travel to New York to help Doc's son out of a passel of trouble generated by the mob and a young henchman named Alphonse Capone? Such is the premise of this excellent historical thriller by Patrick Culhane (aka Max Allan Collins) which opens strongly and roars off on a rollicking wild ride only seemingly to run out of steam in the last few pages.

Johnny Holliday owns a speakeasy in New York but more importantly he owns over a 6 year supply of top label booze won in a poker game just as Prohibition was overtaking New York. The Mafia wants to muscle in on Johnny's success and, not coincidentally, gain control of his treasure trove of sought after hooch. Al Capone, an up and comer in the mob, becomes the point man for gaining control of Holliday's supply.

Wyatt ventures east where he enlists his old friend and ally, Bat Masterson, now a sports reporter for the "Morning Telegraph" in his efforts to fulfill his charge from Kate to straighten Johnny out and bring him home. However, Wyatt soon discovers that he respects young Holliday's independence and he discovers a financial gold mine operating a card game out of Johnny's speakeasy.

The rest of the novel is a fun, although oddly paced, romp pitting the modern thugs of NY with their machine guns against the old world peacemakers with their old style .45's. The correlations between the Clanton Gang and the NY mob are not to be overlooked....good vs. evil works in any era. Culhane populates his book with many real life characters (Tom Mix, Bill Hart, Damon Runyon), all accurately portrayed, even if a little literary license must be granted for generational "what ifs". This is a highly recommended quick fun read for anyone who might ever be intrigued by what if Wyatt Earp ever met up with Al Capone.

In 1920 in Los Angeles, the widow of Doc Holliday, "Big Nosed Kate" Elder, hires her late spouse's best friend private investigator Wyatt Earp to help her son John, a speakeasy owner, with problems caused by a small time thug Alphonse Capone. Wyatt agrees willing to do anything for Doc's widow.

In New York, Wyatt hooks up with another of his Old West pals, Morning Telegraph sportswriter Bat Masterson. They learn that Johnny is a chip off of the old Doc block as he refuses to cow tow to gangsters. Instead he sells his pre-Prohibition liquor at his joint while the tough guys demand he sell their watered down alcohol and pay protection or else. Wyatt and Bat may be senior citizens with .45s battling young punks using Tommy guns, but so what as bullets and booze battle in the Big Apple.

The tale starts off more like a historical thriller than a 1920s crime caper as Wyatt spends a lot of the early pages reminiscing about the good old bad days in the untamed Wild West with Big Nosed Kate and Bat. Once Wyatt moves past his well written nostalgia, the storyline turns into an exhilarating action-packed thriller as Al Capone vs. Earp and Masterton in a terrific High Noon showdown.

Harriet Klausner

I thought that the premise of the story was rather imaginative. I'm a big fan of historical fiction especially when the author weaves historical figures into the story alongside fictional characters. The plot moved along very quickly and the development of the characters was good as well. As I was making my way through the book I kept asking myself how the author would end the story I knew (as do many of us) that Capone eventually leaves NY to settle in Chicago but how would the author accomplish this within the context of his story? I thought the ending was just a bit too far fetched. The author wrapped it up in a nice neat package. Who wants that? I guess the author was limited to what he could do to most of the main characters if he wanted to keep it in line with reality. Still it was a huge letdown.

As a hudge Wyatt Earp fan and Living Historian who portrays Wyatt Earp, I found this novel to be most EXCELLENT and intertaining as well, it keep my wife and I on the edge of our seats, this made a great read! Mr. Collins brought Wyatt and the rest of the characters alive! As Doc would say...This is a daisy of a book!

Keep up the GREAT work Mr. Collins!

Wyatt Earp
aka Pat Ira Neff

This is good historical fiction. The premise is plausible, Wyatt Earp goes to help out the son of Doc Holliday, who is running a speakeasy in New York. The mob wants in on the son's setup. Violence ensues. Wyatt as drawn here is the sum of all the cowboy fiction we baby boomers were exposed to: taciturn, highly educated in the ways of men with guns no matter where those men are plying their trade, holding to his own code of honor even when it is out of sync with the times or the people he cares about. But this Wyatt isn't sad or pathetic or a loser, and he does just fine bringing his Old West smarts to the big city. He is what this story is about, all the other players are incompletely drawn and really just a backdrop for his bromance with his dead friend Doc. I picked up this book because I heard Harrison Ford was interested in a script based on this story. I can see why, even if I can't quite see Harrison in the lead role. Worth reading!

This somewhat historical novel is a unique blend of bringing together Wyatt Earp, the son of Doc. Holliday and also Bat Masterson with Al Capone. Just this should be enough to intrigue you and get you interested in the book. It is an interesting read and the characters are sketched out very well.

J. Robert Ewbank, author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"