Raider/Gulf Pirates

by J.D. Hardin

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425107027
• ISBN13: 9780425107027
• Release Date: March 1988
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Cowboy Goes to Sea

It's sometime in the late 1800s and in this modern day and age actual pirates are commandeering Harwig ships off the Gulf Coast. The Gulf Insurance has paid old Jon Harwig for five of his stolen vessels and they don't want to have to shell out the cash for any more, so they hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency to get to the bottom of it. Raider, we're never given a first name, is the man the Pinks send. He wears a beat up scruffy leather coat, boots that could do with heals and faded jeans, about the only thing not sad about his attire is the Remington revolver that hangs at his waist. Raider is a cowboy, but to solve this case, he is going to have to book passage on one of Harwig's ships and this he does. However the pirates take them by surprise, take the ship and send the crew, Raider included, home in a small sailing vessel. Now Raider is determind as all get out to catch the so called pirates. He teams up with Henry Thomas Tillman, a short, slight Texas Ranger called Tall Man, who is slow on the draw, but deadly once he starts shooting and together they try to solve the mystery. They have no clues, only questions. Why are only Harwig ships stolen? Why are the pirates so polite, so insistant on not harming any of the crew? What can they possibly be doing with the ships? Of course, as in all good westerns, there is a lady and it doesn't take long for Raider to become involved with Lucy Barnes and that raises another question. Why is a high class woman like her so interested in Raider? It's not like he's the most desirable guy on the waterfront. He asks himself this question early on, but after enjoying her charms he's convinced she sees something special in him, but does she really? As a sailor I particulary liked this western. Hardin not only got the feel of a Gulf Coastal town down pat, but he got the sailing stuff right too. And fortunately he didn't plant so many clues that I figured it out too early, though he put enough in there that I got it before he intended, still I like westerns, I like stories about the water, this book had both, so I was a happy reader.