One of the newer series by the excellent Johnstones. The Chuckwagon series revolves around Mac, a trail cook who is also handy with a gun. As with their other excellent series, there's lots of action, adventure, humor and great western writing to keep even the most dedicated Louis L'Amour fan happy. Pick a series and jump in. You'll soon be a fan too.

Dewey "Mac" Mackenzie is cleared from the accusations of murder but in a time before technology it takes some time for everyone to find out that he is no longer wanted. Settling His Hash by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone is another great western in the Chuckwagon series. I love the fact that the hero is best at cooking and we learn a lot about the responsabilities of a trail cook in this series. It is always great when you can add something to a genre this old. I wonder however if Mac will ever settle down but I think not. I can really recommend this great western and thank Netgalley, Pinnacle and Kensington for letting me read this advance copy and the author for writing it.

A frustrating book. One of the few Johnstone Clan books in a series I've not read in order. Maybe that accounts for the confusion somewhat. So much so, this is the first of the 200+ I just wanted to get done with. Too many similar characters involving similarly named locations that shuffled about and hard to keep track of who goes to what or why. Didn't take long for me to care what was to happen.

Worse, I knew correctly how the book would end and the survivors. A ringer included is the most interesting character presented more than 60% through the book. The character was presented and hardly appeared again. Seems to me that character would make a good center of a Johnstone book.

This is the first johnstone book I also found to have a great lacking in character development. Making that worse was endless dialogue that was nearly the same for each character, whether male or female.

The constant introspection, I've recently found cluttering many a Johnstone book, was even worse as nearly every character is considering their spot in life as if each were about to graduate Oxford and considering life ahead. The inward considerations are far too sophisticated for the time being written of. What's written forgets these are dusty cowpokes involved with herds of cattle. Not well educated psychologists.

The pattern I'm finding of some of the recent Johnstone Clan of writers is a loss of what made the writings of the actual Johnstone successful. The current stable of ghost writers need to do a lot of early Johnstone excavation.

A good editor would've solved a great deal of the troubles. At various points throughout the book, I marked out excessive writing. After finding myself deleting many pages of the book, I gave up.

Overall, there are dozens of characters going after each other in one way or the other. It's confusing and a real drop in quality from the couple hundred I've read. My next Johnstone stop is another NetGalley offer, a Preacher entry. I've yet to find anything near the faults I've found in this book in the Preacher series and would be seriously disappointed if I did!

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 3 out of ten points.

In this book Mac although cleared of murder charges they still have wanted posters up and they still have those wanting to have a big payday at max expense in his last run-in with three no counts, hes had enough of California and decides to head to Texes. Before he even makes it out of the state though he runs in to a herd of Cowboys in need of someone to drive their chuckwagon. Mac feels like his luck couldn’t be better but when they hear the cry of damsels in distress Mac will make new enemies and will get him and his new outfit the men working on a California ranch and involved in not only if you’d with the neighbors but they’re old grub cook has signed up with a bunch of outlaws and now he regrets the secrets he told about his old outfit and knows he is in over his head. Oh yes and yet again MAC is interested in a lady she is one of the twin daughters of the owner of the California ranch and he is giving her cooking lessons and a few kisses every now and then. This book was really good but I found things in this book I haven’t found another Johnstone westerns like for example in the beginning of the book he is in this Podunk town close to the Mexican border and they have no telegraph but yet he access the Señorita for a cold beer. Most people didn’t even know beer could be cold back then and I found this incongruent with the great detail Mr. Johnstone usually has in his books but having said that this is still an awesome book and he is still far and above other western riders… At least to me he is. I know he has recently passed away and that’s sad it to be honest it seems as if this book was written by a whole Nother party but I still enjoyed it and still think it is worth four stars. I received this book from NetGalley and Kensington books but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This had what I enjoy about the western genre and from the Johnstone duo. It was a great western tale and worked great in the Chuck wagon trail western series. The characters were what I was expecting and I really enjoyed my time reading this.

"Otis Bradley was experiencing a curious mix of emotions. During the course of the day, as he’d helped Squint and the others with the branding and additional chores around the Box H, he’d actually found himself feeling reasonably comfortable and almost like he was fitting in a little bit. Certainly better than his previous fit, when he’d tried to pass himself off as a cook."

In Settling His Hash (Pinnacle Books 2022), fifth in the Chuckwagon Trail Westerns, Dewey 'Mac' Mackenzie has finished a job that took him to California where he’d always thought he wanted to settle. But after spending time there, he realizes it isn’t his dream home after all. Having finally been cleared of a murder he didn't commit, he heads back to Texas, unsure what he'll do next. He loves cooking for large groups so maybe he'll run the chuck wagon for a ranch. He's always been happy doing that. As he and his faithful horse make their way back to Texas, he stops to help a ranch crew who oddly is in need of a cook after theirs was fired for a lot of reasons, the least of which was poor cooking. Mac signs on to help them get home and is such a success, he entertains the idea of joining their brand when they reach their Texas home. As often happens to Mac, trouble finds him. In this case, it's the ambush of a small rancher and his two daughters. The entire crew decides to help get them back on their feet after a series of setbacks. One of them is an ongoing rustling problem involving not just this rancher but a lot of the locals. Mac ends up in the middle of tracking down the thieves and finds he is falling for one of the daughters.

Yes. That is a lot of action, but if you're familiar with the Mac Mackenzie series, you’ll expect no less than non-stop action, clever solutions, and Mac saving the day when it seems impossible. Highly recommended for Western genre fans.

Settling His Hash is a great addition to Johnstone's A Chuckwagon Trail Western series. I really enjoyed it. Four and a half stars.

Who doesn’t like a good western once in awhile? I realize they aren’t for everyone, but hitting the dusty trail with cowboys and outlaws can be appealing. I enjoyed Settling His Hash, even if it didn’t fully deliver for me. I lean towards the grittier style of Cormac McCarthy or Robert Olmstead, Hash is more of a made for TV western, with no foul language and moral values. The plot was predictable at times and seemed to be rushed to get to the end. If you in the mood for a light adventure into the old west I would recommend.

While the title might not be the most connected, “Settling His Hash” is a good story with good characters. They start with Dewey “Mac” Mackenzie who is an unusual character. He is in California after wanting to be there but being disappointed in the state.

He meets up with a group of Texas wranglers who have delivered a bunch of longhorns and are on the way back to Texas with over $20-thousand. While wetting their whistles in a local saloon one of them their supposed camp cook gets into a brawl and is arrested. The Texas boys decide to leave hi. And head on back east. This displeases Otis and he is out for revenge especially since he meets a real outlaw in jail who has a plan.

Enter Mac who is looking to go east and the group needing a line cook a job, where Mac excels. A few other intervening events like cattle rustling, attempted bank robbery, a pair of lovely twins -Sara and Tara and you have the makings of a rip snorting story!

A good read that takes the good guys group into Mexico after rustlers and after a run in with the corrupt Rurales as well as Mexican rustlers, they finally get back to the Box H in Arizona. But there are costs to be paid and the ending is not all great.

A worthwhile read and I highly recommend it. I enjoyed the not traditional Mac as a good cook, shooter, and cowboy.