The Hide and Tallow Men

The Pilar Hide and Tallow Company were in trouble - their enormous profits looked like dropping if Colonel Charles Goodnight's scheme of driving cattle across country came to fruition. In order to protect their interests the five partners came to an agreement - an agreement that Mark Counter had to break. This was all very fine and dandy except that the hide and tallow men were ruthless, unscrupulous and had small regard for the sanctity of human life. Their women were even worse. And Mark Counter found himself in the middle of the conflict, with lead likely to be thrown his way from every side... John Thomas Edson was born February 17, 1928, in Worksop, Nottinghamshire the son of a miner who was killed in an accident when John was just nine. He left School at age 14 to work in a stone quarry and joined the Army four years later. Edson served as a sergeant in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, in Kenya and Hong Kong. He entered writing competitions investing some of his winnings in a typewriter. Edson left the Army after 12 years of service and with a wife and children to support continued writing, while running a small business and working in a factory. His book "Trail Boss" (1961) won second prize in a competition with a promise of publication and a 50 prize, he was also offered 25 for each subsequent book. Edson received additional income writing for the comic "Victor". When Corgi Books became his publisher he was encouraged to produce seven books a year and promised royalties for the first time. In 1974 he made his first visit to the United States, to which he was to return regularly in search of reference books. His heroes were often based on his favorite film stars, so that Dusty Fog resembled Audie Murphy, and the Ysabel Kid was an amalgam of Elvis Presley in Flaming Star and Jack Buetel in The Outlaw. JT's favorite boast was that Melton Mowbray was famous for three things: "The pie, Stilton


Genre: Western