Looking for a funny tale set in the west? I may have just the book for you. Trouble in Taos: Or the Lowdown, Dirtiest, Boring Gunfighter is a story of the most famous gunslinger from Taos, New Mexico. Turns out the city is real, but the gunslinger is fictional.
And I should mention -- the main reason I chose this book in the first place is because I'm actually in this book -- or at least a fictionalized version of me. I'm in there, somewhere, proselytizing to the drunks in the bar, chasing them away from drink. The author, Headley Hauser, did not ask me to review this, nor has he given me any freebies. He probably doesn't even know that I picked up a copy of his book after so many years!
When I review books of friends, I tend to limit myself to 4 stars out of 5 to help offset any natural bias I may have. But this time, I just enjoyed this book greatly. As a self-published book, it really stands out among its peers. I would give it 4.5 stars, which rounds up to 5 on Amazon.
In a way, this book reminds me of the movie, The Life of Brian. After a series of misunderstandings and coincidences, Slimy Beach becomes a notorious gunslinger. But all he wants to do is to excel at his real job: an outhouse digger -- and he is very good at his job. He knows exactly where to dig such that the people can't smell it from their house, and won't pollute any of the water sources. But dagnabit -- people keep trying to kill him!
The story is told by his long-time friend Walter Bego, who is an artist of some type. He's really good at woodworking, and a funny character by himself. He tells the tale from his 80s. Along the way, he mentions the things he's doing in the early 1900s -- getting used to the newer technology. He picks up a book called "Slimy Beach, the Tornado of Taos," which is complete trash, but nonetheless, Walter reads to us some excerpts, and then corrects practically everything in there -- he tells what really happened with his friend Slimy.
Hauser also throws in some actual history in there as well. Some other famous gunslingers make appearances. Taos, and (I'm surprised to learn) even several of the places in Taos are real. So, while you get in a funny story, you'll get in some history, too.
The book has a good mixture of action, humor, story-telling, and plot. It comes to a satisfying conclusion -- and also make sure to catch the funny forewords and epilogue material. Plenty of laughing out loud. And I really loved their horse -- it was definitely messed up.
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