Longarm and the Ks Jailbird

Rating:
Summary: Story is good but audio adaptation leaves something out
Review: Deputy marshal Custis Long (Longarm) is the toughest, fastest and smartest of lawmen back in the old west, able to puzzle out the most convoluted scheme, shoot it out withthe fastest gunmen and bed the most beautiful women.

In this story, Longarms mentor is in jail. As soon as he finds out he drops everything and races to his assistance because Longarm knows the old lawman is innocent. When he gets there the whole story keeps getting more and more convoluted as people and events start piling up, there are murder attempts and arson but none of it makes any sense.

The Longarm series has had its ups and downs, back in the high 100's the stories were not terribly good, but by the mid 200's things are much better and they are fun to read again. This is a good example, the story has you guessing and trying to figure out who the bad guys are and why they are doing what they are doing. Its a bit slow moving for a Longarm story, with an occasional murder attempt thrown in to try and keep it exciting but its mostly a whodunnit with lots of sex!

The reason I gave the audio version only 3 stars is not because of the narrator. Kit Cameron does a fine job, different voices for the characters and inflections reflecting the tone of the person speaking, he also handles the description of the sex scenes without any hesitation or embarassment.

My biggest complaint is with the audio adaptation, obviously things must be cut out to abridge the story for audio but it seems that the sex scenes were left in at the expense of the storyline. Perhaps whoever makes the decision was trying to punch up the "adult appeal" and I have nothing against sex scenes, however at the end when the big finale happens and the motives and whodunnit are all revealed, its almost all cut out! The audio version doesn't explain why Dinky tried to shoot Longarm, who set the fire in the courthouse or to Normans house and why. The basci motivation was established, but I remember a lot of loose ends tied up in the paperback that you were left guessing about in the audio version. I think the story would have been better with a bit less sex scenes to leave more room at the end for wrapping up the story.