Written by Robert B. Parker
SUMMARY:
Released by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in 2001, this 290-page hardcover is novelist Robert B. Parker’s fictional take on Wyatt Earp and the circumstances relating to the ‘Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.’
Specifically, Parker explores Earp’s 1879-1882 stint in Tombstone, Arizona, and his half-century romance with Josephine Marcus. After staring down notorious Texas hardcase Clay Allison, Dodge City lawman Wyatt Earp’s epiphany has him joining his family’s journey to seek their fortunes in far-off Tombstone. Coming with him from Kansas is Mattie Blaylock, whom Wyatt deems more as an expendable housemaid rather than his common-law spouse using his surname.
Soon enchanted by a young actress, Josephine “Josie” Marcus – the fiancée of Tombstone political hustler Johnny Behan, Wyatt (and, by extension, his brothers) encounter the grim local repercussions of pursuing this romance. Once Wyatt and Josie’s extramarital relationship becomes public knowledge, it appears that, off-screen, a vengeful Sheriff Behan is subtly raising the town’s hot-as-hell temperatures by rallying the local rustlers to his side. Once push ultimately comes to shoot, the Earp Brothers and John Henry “Doc” Holliday reciprocate with October 1881’s deadly gunfight, in proximity to the O.K. Corral.
After Virgil and Morgan Earp are each targeted for cowardly assassination, the laconic gambler/lawman recruits his own posse to avenge his brother Morgan’s cold-blooded homicide to the very end. Even Josie, who had once prodded Wyatt into promising that he wouldn’t kill Behan, now urges him to make a definitive, and, if necessary, lethal stand. With once supposed friends now his sworn enemies, Wyatt Earp relentlessly pursues his personal form of justice.
Note: This title is also available in paperback and digital formats.
REVIEW:
While countless novelists have glamorized or debunked the Wyatt Earp myth, Robert B. Parker imagines Earp’s controversial stint in Tombstone as a deadly love triangle. Unlike Loren D. Estleman’s gritty sensory overload in 1987’s Bloody Season, Parker spends little time on Tombstone’s rival faction theory: the lawmen/gamblers vs. the local rustlers/frontier mobsters. Without ever showing Johnny Behan masterminding any criminal schemes from the shadows, Parker’s narrative is built around Wyatt and Behan’s feud over Josephine Marcus. Everything else essentially becomes collateral damage.
Short of placing the mythical, long-barreled Buntline Special in Wyatt’s hands, Parker imbues his monosyllabic Earp as an Old West super-vigilante (minus a mask and cape). Such a clichéd depiction – mirroring both Kevin Costner’s 1994 film and 1993’s Tombstone – is sufficient for Western action fare relying upon minimal character depth and generally superficial adherence to historical reality. The macho action-romance powering Gunman’s Rhapsody, therefore, is straight from the same genre playbook that Zane Grey, William W. Johnstone, & Louis L’Amour famously utilized.
Most impressively, Parker conveys perhaps the most plausible explanation (fiction or otherwise) as to Wyatt’s depressing relationship with Mattie Blaylock Earp. Suffice to say, Wyatt’s cold lack of compassion makes him an unsympathetic husband/protagonist – especially the multiple sex scenes Parker allots to Wyatt & Josie’s developing love story.
Readers, however, should first be aware of all who’s who, as Parker depicts several subplots (i.e. the pursuit of the Bisbee hold-up thieves) before dropping them, with little or no warning. Even for those already familiar with peripheral names (i.e. Ben Sippy, Dave Neagle, Billy Claiborne, Louisa Earp, etc.), it may seem odd how some of these historical participants are either briefly mentioned or otherwise ignored. For instance, Parker oddly omits Billy Claiborne’s cowardly presence at the O.K. Corral.
As to the famous gunfight, Parker spends less than two pages sparsely describing the actual shootout. Then, the novel’s final third accelerates through Virgil’s crippling injury, Morgan’s homicide, and Wyatt’s final showdowns several months later pitting him vs. “Curly” Bill Brocius and ultimately Johnny Ringo. Come the end, Parker’s single-page epilogue quickly spells out various historical fates. Yet, this last page is so lazily added on that it is actually his novel’s worst inclusion.
While Gunman’s Rhapsody concocts an entertaining read, it is by no means a game-changing account fictionalizing Wyatt Earp and his cronies against Tombstone’s conniving forces of evil. Yet, for those who desiring a spirited successor to Zane Grey & Louis L’Amour, then Parker’s novel hits its target almost dead on.
Note: As a suggestion, playing either the Tombstone or Wyatt Earp film soundtracks in the background adds some worthwhile mood enhancement.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
Along with a dedication to his wife, the author quotes Faust’s Marlowe as a prelude to the novel’s interpretation of the controversial Wyatt Earp/Josephine Marcus romance.
As sporadic interludes, Parker includes ‘news bulletins’ from the year in question to provide some historical context. It isn’t specified whether Parker is summarizing actual 19th Century newspaper accounts or even possibly that he quoting them verbatim.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6 Stars
