Reviews for No Badge, No Gun

The average rating for No Badge, No Gun based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-04-24 00:00:00 Becky Ruechel 1930's South Dakota: rural, hard scrabble, dusty, small towns. I love Harold Adams and forgot just how compelling his writing is, how realistic, how human and how place-based. He's blurbed as spare and laconic and these are appropriate descriptors, but inadequate really when you read him. Physically, the Walker hard back is a delight to read. A lovely, evocative cover, dusty browns and cream colors that reflect the great plains in the heat of summer. The page and print give a great contrast and the font is easy to read. The binding is tight, but because the print doesn't run to the gutter, the book is comfortable to hold and easy to read. I had all of Adam's Carl Wilcox mysteries at one time. I hope I still have them, somewhere, but who knows where.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-02-03 00:00:00 Louis Obrien Maybe 3.5. I liked a lot about this book -- Depression-era South Dakota and the characterization. Sign painter, ex-con, and unlicensed PI Carl Wilcox is an appealing figure. He gets involved with a spirited librarian, Hazel Warford, and their relationship crackles along. The detecting and the mystery seem a little thin -- and the stakes seem somehow low. I thought Adams might go after small town sanctimony and secrets a bit more, but he has a light tough (which is preferred to a heavy hand). I may backtrack and read another Carl Wilcox book -- since Adams was already up to #15 by the time this one came out in 1998. (Adams died in 2014 at the age of 91.)