Cowboy With the Tiffany Gun [Paperback]

Aaron Latham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2004

Inspired by Sir Perceval's quest for the Holy Grail, this is a classic adventure story set in the American West at the turn of the 19th Century. Loving - one of the heroes of CODE OF THE WEST is close to death - and when Percy York Goodnight 'Pyg' accompanies his mother to his bedside he discovers that the legendary axe which had been embedded in the gravestone of his presumed father, Jimmy Goodnight, has disappeared - together with the tombstone. Pyg vows to recover the axe, but before he can locate it he has to face trials and calamities on a biblical scale: flood, fire, gunfights, and the devastating pestilence that changed the course of frontier history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though it features characters from 2001's Code of the West, a rollicking Arthurian tale set in 1880s Texas, Latham's latest novel has little of its predecessor's excitement, suspense or humor. Instead, a posse of colorful characters wander around within a lackluster, loosely woven plot. Revelie Goodnight (read Guinevere), the widow of Texas cattle baron Jimmy Goodnight (King Arthur), is raising her son, Percy, aka Pyg, to be a proper gentleman in Boston. When Revelie learns her lover, Jack Loving (Lancelot), has been shot, she and Percy return to the sprawling Home Ranch (Camelot) in Texas. En route, a tough, sassy farm girl named Jesse attaches herself to the pair, to Revelie's disgust and 17-year-old Percy's licentious delight. Once back at Home Ranch, Revelie realizes she has secrets to hide-one from the Texas law and two others from her son. While Revelie nurses Jack Loving, and Pyg and Jesse get busy in the barn, somebody steals Jimmy Goodnight's tombstone, in which the "ax that had made [him] a Texas legend" (Excalibur) is imbedded. Pyg, determined to recover the tombstone to see if he can pull the ax from the stone, rides off with a posse of loyal cowboys and Jesse, after outlaws, scofflaws and other undesirables. Flood, fire, cattle fever, locusts, snake bites and gangs of killers are in the way, but Pyg and the cowboys are bold and audacious saddle pals determined to win their prize. Despite a lot of action and banter, and a very funny scene in a Texas brothel, this shoot 'em up misses its mark.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

for CODE OF THE WEST: 'This is one of the best books I've read in recent years. Once again Mr Latham shines as a beautiful writer and master storyteller' Patricia Cornwell 'A stirring saga of American spirit ... a brilliant and original telling of a classic theme, which entertains and inspires.' Linda Fairstein 'Latham has pulled off the seemingly impossible.' James M McPherson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Time Warner Paperbacks; paperback / softback edition (August 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751535869
• ISBN-13: 978-0751535860
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Man Called Pyg, September 11, 2003

By 

Douglas L. Jones (BLOOMINGTON, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cowboy with the Tiffany Gun : A Novel (Hardcover)

Anyone who thinks this book is well-written hasn't read many books.

It's full of sentences so awkward that the reader has to stop and stare. This one, for example: "Like Big Sal's foot, a worry kept growing inside Pyg." Now, I'm not a medical person, but I'd say that if you had someone else's foot growing inside you, being worried would pretty much go without saying.

"He was as heavy, as motionless, as death, but he was still breathing." Was death really heavy back then? And how clever those cowboys must have been-breathing while being motionless is a tough act. No one can do that today.

The hero of this tale is a prancing Bostonian who yells "Mumsy! Mumsy help!" when anything goes wrong. Although he has never fired a gun before, within a few months he is the greatest marksman the world has ever known. When a badman aims a rifle at him from 75 yards away, our hero shoots first, sending his bullet right straight down the barrel of the other man's gun, disabling it. It was no fluke shot, either-our hero is that darn good. Right.

The story is packed with other events so unlikely as to be laughable. The hero and friends sneak up on the evil-doer's camp, planning to kidnap one of them to bring him to justice. The badmen are sleeping on the ground around a smoldering fire. The very man they're after, a cold-blooded killer, gets up to urinate. Does he just take a few steps away from the group to do his business in the tall grass? Oh, no. He wanders around until he's far from camp, searching for "the perfect place to take a leak." This moonlight quest, presumably for a rock formation in the shape of a urinal, makes him really easy to kidnap. Right.

The hero and friends come to a town to ask about the badmen they are chasing. That night, a terrible flood destroys the town. The hero is trapped in a hotel room! He barely escapes with his life! The cowboys stay and help rebuild the town, because that's their code. As soon as it's done, a terrible fire destroys the town. Oh no! The hero is trapped in a hotel room! He barely escapes with his life! Then the cowboys ride away, figuring they'd spent enough time in that town (so much for the code).

I believe a good writer could convey a sense of the haunting isolation one feels when alone on a great plain, without flogging the whole idea until it begs for mercy. Listen to Latham try to do it:

"Pyg was lonesome. He had insisted on going alone, but now he was lonely. He looked ahead of him and saw nothing but flat nothing. This landscape of rippling grass reminded him of Boston's rippling ocean, but this sea bore no ships. Lonesome. Once this land would have offered herds of buffalo to keep Pyg company, but no more. This sea was fished out. Anyway all the big fish were gone. The only life left was small and creeping and hidden from sight. He couldn't even find a prairie dog or a horned frog to keep him company. Lonely."

Save your money.

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time or money!, April 7, 2009

By 

pookie (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cowboy with the Tiffany Gun (Paperback)

Poor writing and evidently doesn't know too much about Texas history. Had to force my way to the end. Don't waste your time or money.

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly A Western Read!, December 15, 2004

By 

Shirley Priscilla Johnson "Author/Reviewer -... (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Cowboy with the Tiffany Gun (Mass Market Paperback)

We are introduced in the beginning of this read to Revelie Goodnight and her 17 year old son Percy. Revelie is the widow of cattle baron Jimmy Goodnight from Texas. Revelie, now residing in Boston is trying desperately to raise her son as a proper gentleman, when news hits that her lover Jack has been shot. Revelie and her son travel back to Texas and the ranch that her son now owns. Hiding, not just from the law, but from her past, this trip has many misgivings for Revelie.
During this trip Percy exercises for the first time his manhood when he meets Jesse, a young woman his mother does not approve of, and to the dismay of his mother continues this action throughout the read. I must admit Percy's disrespect for his mother frayed my nerves to some degree, and I certainly hope in future stories he returns to being more respectful.
Upon arriving in Texas, they find that Jimmy Goodnight's tombstone has been stolen and with it the axe that made him a Texas legend.
Percy, or Pyg as he is now named, heads off with his loyal cowboys to find it so he may see if he can pull the ax from the stone, truly making him his father's son.
Our story now begins as we are taken across the land with this pack of colorful characters, and share their adventures of flood, fires,snake bits gangs of killers and romance, as they continue on their quest. I'm not a particular fan of Western reads but this one was entertaining and the ending quite good. Those who love a 'ride-um-cowboy' story will love this one. Just your cup of tea.
Shirley Johnson