#Blogtour-‘Base Cowboys’ by Mark Farrer

About the book…

BASE COWBOYS is a comic crime trilogy set in the Scottish Borders.

It is the sixth laugh-out-loud book in the CULLEN series written by Borders author Mark Farrer and will appeal to readers of Christopher Brookmyre, Carl Hiaasen, Nick Spalding or Tom Sharpe.

The book tells the stories of three amoral ne’er-do-wells, their unfortunate and accidental intrusion into Cullen’s life, and the imaginative ways he finds of ensuring (his) justice is done:

Dirty Barry

The first casualty of adultery is… the tooth!

Barry Sullivan is a sordid dentist who resorts to blackmail to keep his string of married women in line. But now Cullen has toothache – and a very different interpretation of the dental code of practice.

Bronchial Billy

Meet Billy – the fastest gun in a vest.

Billy is a geriatric slum landlord desperate to win first prize in a Country & Western gunfight competition. But his trigger-happy birthday celebrations provoke Cullen, and now Billy must pay. Will he meet his High Noon at the Grand Ole Opry or will he go out with a bang? Whatever happens, there’s sure to be fireworks.

Pale Ale Rider

There’s trouble brewing…

Tyler is a teenage tearaway with the eyes of a serial killer. But when he decides to rob Big Paul’s local pub, he gets more than he bargained for. Will Tyler lose his bottle, or just get smashed?

Cullen thinks he’s seen dead eyes like those before, and now he has a plan: he’s not bitter, he’s just a little twisted.

The main image that came into my mind whilst reading these novellas was a weird, twisted version of Trumpton.

As each of the charcters is introduced in turn, the author then places them in the midst of the town that he has created and let’s them run riot!
They are easy to read in that they are very visually created storylines and characters-Cullen as a Scots Dirty Harry , Barry as a second rate lothario, his wife Melinda, they all sprung to very vivid life off the page.

A Shameless-esque affair which had me roaring with laughter(especially at Big Paul, or Beep)this is written by a man with an uncanny ear for dialogue without over-egging the dialect. A fast and furious romp through lives of ne’er do wells and shenanigans aplenty, it is absolutely what it says on the tin. 3 novellas based on Clint Eastwood film titles with very Scottish sensibilities.

Cullen helping a cheese shop owner work out who was sabotaging his busines;Janine,Barry’s assistant who is outraged at his extra marital doings besmirching the name of dentistry;Stinky Pete who is definitely not named for the Toy Story character, all of this is lovingly rendered with a Scottish twist on Western tropes whether it is line dancing , avenging the wronged or Tracy and Tyler, would be Bonnie and Clydes.

Shot through with a racy and pun based sense of humour, this is clever, heartwarming, hilarious storytelling that is thoroughly enjoyable-I’m off to join the Cullen and BP fan club, hope to see you there!

Thanks as always go to Emma Welton of Damp Pebbles Blog Tours for having me on the blog tour-don’t forget to follow the other book bloggers on the tour for their insights into ‘Base Cowboys’

About the author…

Mark Farrer is the author of six comedy novels and novellas, each set in the Scottish Borders with a distinctive Scottish backdrop – whether salmon farming, textile mills, Rugby Sevens or the Scottish criminal justice system.

His books are multi-stranded storylines involving larger-than-life characters, whose plans and incompetence inevitably exceed their wits.

All feature an itinerant loner, Cullen, who lives off the grid and finds himself inadvertently drawn into someone’s crazy scheme, only for his own (very individual) sense of right and wrong to be offended. That’s generally when things start to go wronger.

Links-

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mark_farrer @mark_farrer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markjfarrer/

Website: http://markfarrer.com/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mark-Farrer/e/B074S4XMGL/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1