“Outrage at Blanco” by Bill Crider is a western with a twist; the central character is a woman. Ellie Taine is her name and the author did not make her just another fair prairie rose to be rescued. When she is brutally raped by two outlaws in the first pages, Ellie morphs from victim to pursuer by sheer strength of will. Her pursuit of her assailants is thoughtfully written, with an underlying humanity that is unexpected. She questions her decisions, reconsiders her pursuit and finds mercy for the rapists tugging at her conscience.

Some details could use adjustment: A garden in its final days would be more likely to have corn, peas and beans ready for harvest and storage for the coming winter - not tomatoes; Animals being left alone for an indefinite period would be let out to pasture where they can look out for themselves, not put in a barn; The Colt Navy .36 Caliber Revolver belonging to Ellie’s husband is a cap and ball weapon that was used during the Civil War which ended 22 years prior to the story–– a man who owned his own farm would be unlikely to carry such a weapon given the violent times he lived in; Why would the picture on the cover be of a man wearing modern aviator style sunglasses if the story is set in 1887?

Western carnage aficionados will find plenty to enjoy in this story of the old west while being treated to a new kind of heroine. “Outrage at Blanco” is a ripping read in just 192 pages, and I hope to see more from Ellie Taine in the future.

I was given an eARC of “Outrage at Blanco” by NetGalley and Brash Books in exchange for this review.

This review was posted to Book Chase on November 26, 2014. It will also be posted to Amazon.com, GoodReads, and LibraryThing. This is the Book Chase link to the review: http://bookchase.blogspot.com/2014/11/outrage-at-blanco.html
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When I was growing up, Roy Rodgers was still “King of the Cowboys” and Gene Autry’s “Melody Ranch” was winding down a long run on CBS radio. Roy and Gene were, of course, the good guys and they always handled black-hatted scoundrels with relative ease. Well, I’m here to tell you that even Roy and Gene would have had their hands full with villains like those in Bill Crider’s western novel Outrage at Blanco.

Set in the small-town Texas of 1887, Outrage at Blanco begins with a kick directly to the reader’s gut. Ellie Taine, on her way back to the farm with a wagonload of groceries, encounters two cowboy psychopaths only a mile out of town where she is brutally raped and beaten by the men. The cowboys plan to be in Blanco only as long as it takes to rob the town’s one bank, and not being at all worried about being called to account for the rape, they allow Ellie to live. Bad mistake, that.

Ellie Taine has had enough, and after her husband fails in his own efforts to hold the men accountable for what they did to her, Ellie goes after them herself. But she does not plan to bring these guys back to the sheriff when she finds them – she has other plans for their immediate future. Outrage in Blanco, though, is more than just a shoot-‘em-up western. Crider has populated little Blanco, Texas, with a whole cast of characters who get involved in everything from bank-robbing to incompetent attempts at heroism to living life at the fullest before it is forever too late to do so. Some of them deserve a book all their own.

Crider pulls no punches (this is an adult western, for sure) in Outrage in Blanco but, in the end, this is a bit of a feel-good story with a lesson or two to teach along the way. The body-count is high, and as opposed to the movies I grew up on, not just among the bad guys, but it is largely a character driven novel, so readers get the best of both worlds. Fans of western novels need to check out this one.

(There is also a second Ellie Taine novel titled Texas Vigilante.)

Enjoyed this book, although it was in need of some editing with the arc copy I received. Nice to have a female as the main character in a western, kept me interested throughout.

Outrage at Blanco – Bill Crider 4 stars

Thank you Bill Crider for taking me back to my childhood!

I couldn’t believe my luck when I came across this Western waiting for me to read and take me back to a time as a child when I’d just learnt to read and my father would hand over the latest Western he’d just finished. (I doubt whether this one would have been handed over as it starts with a brutal rape!).

Ellie Taine is on her way back to her farm when she’s overpowered by two men, Jink and Ben. They rape her and leave her to pick up her badly broken and hurt body and return to the farm that she and her husband Burt run. Burt will not let his wife’s attack remain unpunished, so sets off into the town of Blanco to find and kill her attackers.

Gerald Crossland knows that his father’s will is going to leave him penniless, something he cannot and will not accept. After crossing paths with Jink and Ben while in Mexico, he sets up an elaborate plan for them to help him rob the local bank (in Blanco) where his father’s money is kept.

The story becomes intense once Ellie, Burt, Jonathan Crossland (Gerald’s father) and the local sheriff try to stop these very out of control thugs from succeeding.

This is a relatively quick read and if like me, you enjoy Westerns (all things cowboys, horses, guns and Indians) then this will certainly be just what you want to get your hands on. Although it’s short, Bill Crider has managed to tell a good story with real people. I’ll definitely be eagerly awaiting the next book by this author. Treebeard

Ellie was coming home from picking up supplies at Blanco. She and her husband had a small ranch and while they weren't making much, they were doing okay. These supplies would carry them through for several months. When the cowboys stopped to ask how far away town was, she stopped her wagon and told them. There wasn't much else she could do but she didn't know how evil they were. They didn't care about who they hurt or killed and she became a victim.

Brash Books and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It has been published, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.

When Ellie comes home late and won't talk to her husband, he knows something happened. When he finally gets her to speak, he gets his gun belt and goes to town. He's going after the men that assaulted her. All they do is kill him as they are coming out of a bank robbery. Now Ellie has even less.

Ellie is no spring chicken, no beauty, and wanted only to be left in peace. However, when those men raped her and killed her husband, the same inner strength that helped her work the farm makes her go after them.

This is a tale of murder and grief on all sides. The only shining star is Ellie which is a bit unusual in a western. Mr. Crider does a good job of depicting life in that era and talking about the struggles everyone was going through. I'll be watching for another book in this series. Ellie is no victim anymore.

A Western? I stopped reading Westerns before I was a teenager. Living in the real world of cars and telephones deleted all thoughts of cattle drives and chuck wagons. With some trepidation I started Outrage at Blanco and was quickly hooked. The script is of the modern world style, the plot is equal to many current day adventures, and the whole story allows the mind to be easily transported to days of yore. America is still a very young country and many of us are of the age when television was a new introduction and the word technology was not an everyday statement. If one was fortunate enough to have a TV it is likely each of the three channels was showing a Western. Advance to more modern times and note how Western stories keep popping up in the entertainment world. Outrage at Blanco quickly revives old memories as it follows a trail of realistic people in an easily believable environment caught up in a life of good guys (or gals) versus bad guys. A most pleasing taste of the early life style in the semi wilderness of America. I look forward to more works from Bill Crider.

Strange. Very well written, but kind of a disconnect when writing the female character. Mr Crider could benefit from spending some time volunteering with the Office of Victim Services. I mean, that's a tough subject for men (and most women, too) to even wrap their head around. Solid lead-in to Book II

I have read and enjoyed several books in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mysteries series by Bill Crider, so I was interested to read his take on the traditional western novel. I mention traditional western, but this one is somewhat non-traditional in that it features a female protagonist. This is no “cozy” western; it contains plenty of blood and brutality but all in service of the story. A well told tale and a good way to revisit the western genre. My review was posted on Goodreads.

Outrage at Blanco, is a western story that did not start off as any old fashion western book that I used to read. Ellie Taine, on her way back to her ranch, farm to see her husband Burt, was stopped by two men and then taken advantage of. She fought like the devil and bit one of them but was knocked out. When she come to they were done and riding off. When she got back to the ranch her husband knew something had happened and asked her what the men looked like and then rode into town. Not knowing that they were meeting up with another man planning to robe the bank. When he got to town the delivery stable was on fire and the three men were on their horses riding towards him when he pulled on the rains his horse bucked because of the rain and one of the men shot him dead. Ellie did not find out until the next morning and then over hearing everything that went on in town buried her husband and rode out to the Crossland ranch where she overheard people talk in about Crossland son Gerald. When she got there the son was dead along with the Marshall from town. She told Mr. Crossland she was going after the two men who harmed her and killed her husband. He ends up going with her and actually helps her in tracking and giving her the fortitude to continue. The story goes back and forth between the robbers and Ellie and sometimes the town people. I am not going to tell you how it ends but I will say that over all it is a good story and probably more true to life than we would like to think and for that reason I am saying this is an outstanding book and true to life book. A very good read and the characters are hard when they need to be and in their mind wondering if it is the right thing. A very good book.

Synopsis/blurb………

Crider’s prose slices through conventions and expectations,” –Booklist OUTRAGE AT BLANCO

It’s True Grit meets Gran Torino in a blazingly original crime novel from Bill Crider, an Edgar and Shamus finalist and a two-time winner of the Anthony Award

On a bloody day in 1887, death came to Blanco, Texas.

Before the sun went down, the livery stable was torched, an outlaw gang robbed the bank, two men were killed, and young newlywed Ellie Taine was raped. One of the dead was the man who planned the robbery – the son of dying, legendary Texas Ranger Jonathan Crossland – the other was Ellie’s husband, an innocent bystander.

The dead don’t know fear.

Ellie is dead inside. She takes a gun and rides out after the desperadoes, cold-blooded and fearless, determined to kill the men who ruined her life. She’s joined by Jonathan Crossland, who only has days left to live… but would rather die in his saddle making amends for his son than rot in his bed. Together, Ellie and Jonathan set out on a mission of vengeance and justice, one that neither of them expects nor hopes to survive.

“In the hands of Bill Crider, noir seems as atmospheric and doomful as ever,” Publisher’s Weekly

"Bill Crider is one of the most unpretentious and versatile pure entertainers in the mystery field." Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

A 1998 book from Bill Crider and an absolute blast. A dark Western-cum-crime novel that starts ferociously with an attack and rape of Ellie Taine and never really lets up throughout.

Naively and ill-equipped for the task in hand, Ellie’s husband sets out after the culprits and soon perishes whilst they are in the middle of a bank robbery. Something inside Ellie has broken and she decides to pursue the gang herself and get herself a bit of frontier justice.

Great time frame and setting for this, interesting plot which soon sees Ellie teaming up with Jonathan Crossland – a man with more than foot in the grave already – on their chase, an interesting bunch of characters, not the least of which is Irish villain, Daniel O’Grady. O’Grady is the most likeable of our bunch of desperadoes and didn't have any involvement in the earlier rape. Moments of humour as well, especially when our thieves fall out and cross paths again.

Whilst empathising with Ellie Taine and wanting her to achieve closure, I had a hankering for O’Grady to live to fight another day. A satisfactory ending that ticked all the boxes for me.

5 from 5 and a scratch of the head, where has Bill Crider been all my reading life?

Crider originally had this published back in 1998. He released a follow up – Texas Vigilante in 1999. One to keep an eye out for I think.

Bill Crider has been a fairly prolific author over the years with a 20 plus book series starring Sheriff Dan Rhodes, as well as many others. I do wish I had discovered him 10 years ago though.

His website is here.

I got hold of Outrage at Blanco via Net Galley. One of my favourite publishers - Brash Books have brought this and Texas Vigilante back into print.

Great author ... Love the heroine , strong bad ass lady