The Adventures of Johnny Vermillion

By Loren D. Estleman

Book Overview

Johnny Vermillion's theater troupe brings masterpieces to the Wild West. The four actors are versatile enough to wear many costumes and play many roles. A few props, a little makeup, a costume and--"voila"--applause on the rugged frontier. Johnny also arranges a special attraction for each town. While his actors bustle in and out of costumes, on and off the stage in many roles, one plays the villain in the bank. Then the actors take their curtain calls and railroad away. Who? Us? Rob a bank? But you saw all of us on stage. When could we have done that? A Pinkerton man becomes the troupe's severest critic: He notices the news reports of stage performances one day and bank robberies the next. He follows the troupe, packing his suspicions. Finally, he sets a clever trap. Johnny Vermillion is one of the most entertaining rogues ever to turn a dishonest dollar. Any audience will love a troupe that can transform "A Midsummer Night's Dream" into grand larceny.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765309149
• ISBN13: 9780765309143
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Forge Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 0.9" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

"You've a touch of stage fright,that's all.You haven't trod the boards in months.'

This is a totally different Western in all respects. If your forte is shoot-outs on main street,posses hunting down owlhoots,ending in a gun battle,stagecoach robberies,ambushes of and by Indians,cattle drives or ranches,and all those sorts of things;you won't find much of that in this novel. However;if you are interested in historical aspects of the Old West,particularly life in and around the show business of the plays that travelled throughout the frontier and were basically the main form of entertainment of the day;then you are really going to like what Estleman has put together about Johnny Vermillion for us. A performing company of actors who stage plays ,but also use their talents to rob banks .The same actors who are putting on a play,slip into different roles and disguises and carry out well planned robbery,slip back into their stage roles,and the townsfolk are wondering who robbed them.Things are so well staged and carried out;this form of banditry resorts to deception rather than blatent force;thus violent confrontation is not necessary. There are lots of interesting,well developed characters.Description of people and events pretty well replaces the fast-action and violence so common in Westerns.When you get right down to it,these actors (robbers) only want the money to finance their life styles,and they wouldn't hurt a fly to accomplish their goals. We often come across names like Ned Buntline,Lily Langtree,Eddie Foy,Sarah Bernhart and others who are travelling the Old West putting on shows,writing books and entertaining;but robbing banks and businesses at the same time---well that is something else all together. Overall,a great and different type of Western.

Swashbuckling western excitement

From the first page you will be caught up in this fast paced novel with good characters. The only swashbuckling western I've ever read. People who don't even usually like fiction will like it if they like westerns. Mr. Estleman is a prolific author who writes in several styles. None are as much sheer fun as Johnny Vermillion but are worth checking out.

Another Great Estleman Novel

Loren Estleman is one of the busiest writers out there - sixty novels (with more, no doubt, on the way) and hundreds of articles and short stories. He's won numerous awards, including five Spur Awards and three Western Heritage Awards - and that's not counting all the awards for his writing in the mystery genre. In short, if you haven't heard of him, either in the Western or Mystery genre sometime in the past twenty or so years, you've been sleeping. I've read a great many of Mr. Estleman's books over the years, and they've always been sort of a literary equivalent of the famous Will Rogers saying, "I never met a man I didn't like." This is true of Estleman's books - I never read one I didn't like. The Adventures of Johnny Vermillion is no exception, and received quite positive reviews from Publisher's Weekly and a starred review from Booklist. In this title, Estleman does what he does best: create an engaging cast of characters in the West and with humor, action, an eye for plot twists and historic detail, he takes the reader on an unforgettable adventure. Led by the charming rogue Johnny Vermillion, the Prairie Rose Repertory Company travels the west putting on abridged performances of Shakespeare and other classic works as a cover for their real work: robbing banks. A clever and sharp-eyed Pinkerton agent is their primary nemesis, but they also run afoul of another villain, Black Jack Brixton when they inadvertently steal money he wanted to steal himself. This is not a straight Western by any means, but Estleman rarely delivers one these days. Instead, he's writing the story he wants to write, which means that there's action, suspense, mystery, western, humor and numerous other writing tropes all rolled into a single story. It's a fine approach and one that more Western authors should employ if for no other reason than it allows a much wider audience net to be cast. If I have any complaint about this novel at all, it's a tiny one, and that would be when the Vermillion and another of the cast members (the leading lady) spends a significant portion of time in Europe during the off-season. While the action that takes place there lends itself to the rest of the story, and certainly made sense for the plot, I almost felt like maybe it was too much away from the core story. Other readers may well feel differently, and no doubt will. As always, Estleman delivers a rousing good yarn and Vermillion is a truly memorable character. Much like his other books, his mastery of the craft of writing is undeniable, but having read this (and so many other of his titles) leads me to ask two questions. First, why isn't Estleman on the NY Times Bestseller List? Second... when's the next book coming out? Russell Davis

How the West was really won!

What a fun read! Loren Estleman, no stranger to fiction, seems to have had a fantastic time writing a very clever take on traditional Western literary fare! In "The Adventures of Johnny Vermillion," Estelman takes just about every cliché, expression, description, and atmosphere for which the genre has been exploited, both in pulp fiction and in the movies, and creates a real "tour de force" that is difficult to put down. Johnny Vermillion, son of a Chicago wheeler-dealer, wastes none of his young adult life in making a name for himself. Brilliant, ravagingly handsome, terrifically clever, Johnny decides a life of crime is for him--a life wherein crime actually pays. But none of the boring, every-day crime, but life with elan, with style, with an esprit de corps par excellence. He forms the Prairie Rose Repertory Company, a band of thespians, all with their own stories to tell, who travel about the 19th century West. They set about robbing banks at the same time entertaining their audiences with delightful theatre with dramatic results. It's Shakespeare on the stage and nefarious antics off (like breaking the law!). But this is not just a story of Johnny and his fellow actors (and each certainly is a "character"!). Estelman underscores his titled "hero" by bringing in two other elements: the law (in the form of a Pinkerton detective) and some really bad guys, the Ace-in-the-Hole Gang. Estleman's characters are ingenious and disingenuous at the same time, and like well-written stories, these three "plots" are on a collision course, just waiting for the final curtain. The plots are, of course, secondary to Estelman, who seems to find it a riot to portray his characters in a most readable fashion, and he relies on the stereotypical, clichéd "rules" to do so. Indeed, it was a "West that should have been," as it goes, "but never was." Part "Butch Cassidy," part Sergio Leone, part Louis L'Amour, part B movies, the book moves like a thundering locomotive and clouds of dust (after all, it HAS to have some mystery!) swirling in the hot Utah sunshine. What does it mean? Who cares. It's such a fun read--and a good spoof . And what's not to like about Johnny Vermillion! Clever bloke, him. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)