June TBR: June on the Range and more!

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Hello, I'm Ollie and this is Criminoly, where I talk about crime, pulp, horror, that kind of thing. Today, everything I'm going to read in June probably managed in May to have a relatively restrained TBR for the month. I think I had between eight and 10 books in there.

[00:00:27]I ended up reading more than that, but I didn't have that many at the start of the month. And I intended to do the same thing for June. Uh, and then just spent 15 minutes looking for a particular book and kept on finding other books along the way and thinking, "Oh, I should read that as well." So, I've ended up with quite a few things to read uh in June.

[00:00:45]Uh, I will go through those uh with you in this video, tell you a little bit about each one. June is of course the month of June on the Range, the fantastic annual event created by Michael K. Vaughn that celebrates the western genre, a genre which nobody really talks about anymore. Nobody really reads anymore that but which was absolutely massive at one point you know was the dominant genre in uh in paperback fiction certainly especially in the United States but over here in the UK as well Western's really popular and it's definitely one that is much less read nowadays. I think I reflected a little while ago on one of my library of forgotten books videos that the western is like the forgotten genre. So, it's an event I always really really enjoy. In previous years, I've been a co-host. I'm taking a bit of a step back from co-hosting things at the moment just because I've got a load of different things going on outside of the world of book uh which need a bit of my time to focus on. So, I am though, despite not being a co-host, definitely going to be reading some westerns and I'll go through those uh with you in this video. In fact, let's start with the westerns. And I've got I've kind of got a mix here of western and western adjacent because there are some things that are not technically westerns, uh, but which I think definitely work for the event. Um, so the first thing is definitely a western. This was is a book that was recommended by Mark Hodder, the author. He recommended last year that I read a book by the same author for June on the Range and it was fantastic. In fact, I think it was my favorite book of the month that that year um or that month, June of 2025. So, the book I'm going to be reading this year is by the same author who is I should tell you who it is, Elma Kelton. The book I read last year was uh The Time It Never Rain, which was a really fantastic book about a drought in Texas. Um, so definitely had the vibe of a western, the location of a western, but was not set during the western period. The book I'm going to be reading this year by Melton is The Good Old Boys, which I think is the first in a series um, and which I think is a more traditional western. I've deliberately not read anything about it because I want to go into it uh, you know, kind of fresh, but really looking forward to that because I loved um, I loved uh, The Time at Never Rain so much. It just had fantastic characters. Um, right. Let's do two traditional westerns and then I'll get into the less traditional ones.

[00:03:09]Um, so I've got uh Hot Lead by Elwood Flynn. So Elwood Flynn, I don't know if that's his real name because that's a great name for a western author. Uh, but he sent me this a little while ago.

[00:03:19]Fantastic cover. Love the cover. Um, it's a Robin Castle western. Uh, a so Robin Castle was a New York cop in 1871, but then goes goes out west to chase a wanted man. So, that looks very good indeed. Looking forward to that one. Um, and then I've got a book uh that was sent to me by Erie, one of my viewers a while ago. Uh, this is Mrs. Bad Gun by Peter Manas. Peter Managas, you may remember, you may well not remember, was the author of the Dragonard series of books that I've read the first couple of. Um, this sounds less problematic than the uh than the Dragonard books.

[00:03:56]It's about a Native American uh woman going on a well, it's a riveting novel of vengeance apparently. So that sounds really good. And it's a it's just the right size for a western as well, isn't it? A bit thick for a western, but I am looking forward to it because it's by possibly well or certainly one of the two one of the two best known authors of westerns. I guess you would say the other one will be Zayn Gray. Michael Kvornne would definitely say the other one is Zane Gray. Although I don't know that Zayn Gray is so well known nowadays, but definitely a really important writer of Westerns. The one who is probably better known um or certainly was you know hugely well known a couple of decades ago is Louis Lmore.

[00:04:38]So the book I'm going to be reading by him is one that isn't technically a western. So Louis Lmore, you know, really prolific writer of westerns, wrote dozens and dozens of them and I've read him in previous years for June on the Range. This year I'm going to be reading a Last of the Breed by him, which is a book that was suggested as a forgotten book a while ago. Um, and is a book about a a guy who is a Native American. He's a pilot in the US Air Force. Um, and he crash lands in somewhere in I think in like Siberia or somewhere like that in the Soviet Union anyway and has to use his his skills to escape. Uh, so this sounds really great.

[00:05:17]It's a bit it's quite thick. I'm worrying. I'm I'm worried it's going to be a little bit on the thick side. 366 pages, actually. That's not too bad. Oh, and it's got a I love it when books have this uh this bit in the middle, like a little advert in the middle for um the Louis Lmore collection. You get a handsome hard cover uh collector's edition for 15 days free. Uh if you sign up for the Louisore collection, which looks fantastic and Louis Lmore definitely looks like a western writer, doesn't he? So, yeah, looking forward to that one. And then I've also got another uh another western adjacent one. Uh so this was sent to me by Roy from the channel Roy reads Anything who is a co-host for June on the Range. This is the first book in the John Eagle Expeditor or Expeditor, I never know how you pronounce that word, series of books by Paul Edwards, uh Needles of Death. So John Eagle is half half Scottish, half Native American or Apache it says on the back. Um, and in this one he goes uh goes up against uh Chinese Communists in Mongolia. So that sounds uh very very entertaining. The second book in the series has the fantastic title of The Brain Scavengers. Uh the first book I forgot to say I think is Needles of Death. Right. So that is uh my June on the Range things out of the way. If I have time I will definitely pick up a few more westerns. I've got plenty of them on the Leaning Tower of Mass Markets next to me. Uh right. So, let's do some buddy reads and group reads next. So, two buddy reads. So, the first of those is um not a western, but I'm guessing it's going to have a similar vibe to a western in that it's a a thriller and it's about survival against the elements, which is often a a theme in western. So, this is the sanction by Travanian, uh which I'm going to be buddy readading with Randy Ray, the literate Texan, um who is another co-host of of June on the Range. I said erroneously in my May TBR that we were going to be buddy readading this in May and then Randy reminded me that actually it was June, but I'm really looking forward to this. I remember seeing the um the Clint Eastwood movie when I was a kid. I reflected uh a while ago in a library of forgotten books video uh not a while ago actually quite recently may even have been the last one that I remember watching the movie the Medusa touch at my grandparents house. I also remember watching the Aiger sanction at my grandparents house and I'm wondering now if they were slightly more relaxed in in what they let me watch on TV than my parents. Anyway, I remember the sanction being really good. It's a a kind of espionage novel um where somebody has to go up the AGA basically.

[00:07:54]So, thrilling stuff, no doubt. I'm looking forward to buddy readading that with with Randy. Um next up then another buddy read. So, this is buddy read I'm doing with MJ from the channel Reading This Life. Um, and also the channel Slow Stationary actually, which I've been watching more of recently because I've been getting into fountain pens, which is a a whole black hole of of expense.

[00:08:16]Um, anyway, so we have been reading the Sweet Valley High or books from the Sweet Valley High series. And then somebody, and apologies, I I've forgotten who it was, pointed out to me in a comment that Francine Pascal also wrote another series or created another series called the Fearless series. Uh I have got a whole box of those to go through with you in a book haul video at some point that I haven't fe I haven't haven't filmed yet. So the Fearless series, this is the first uh this is just called Fearless is a series of about 30 books about a a young girl called Guyia, well teenage girl called Guyia who was born without the gene for fear. I'm not sure if g if fear is actually a gene, but she was born without the fear gene and she goes on like spy missions and stuff like that, I think. So, I am really, really looking forward to reading these. And MJ and I will be buddy readading uh this one in June. Uh next up, I've got two group reads. So, the Criminally Book Club pick this month. So, that's the book club I run for my patrons and channel members where they pick a book each month. Uh this month's book is one I've read before, but I am going to read it again because I remember it being excellent.

[00:09:21]Uh it's The Only Good Indians by Steven Graham Jones, which I remember being very, very weird at times, but also fantastic. Uh, and then the 87th precinct, uh, series read through that I'm doing, which people are welcome to join in with. The next book in that is Lady Killer, uh, of course, by Ed McBain. And I've got this lovely Penguin Greenspine. Um, uh, and I remember the twist in this one. I remember the little trick he plays towards the end of the book that reveals who the um, who the murderer is. So, I'm really looking forward to rereading it, though. Right.

[00:09:55]So that gets me through um that gets me through like book club commitments. Uh oh, there's one more actually. Um so the other thing will be uh my local indie bookshop, chapter 34. As I said before, they have this book club where each of the book sellers books picks a book each month and you get to pick one of them. I don't know what the two books for June are yet. They haven't announced them. I am going into town later on today so I'm going to pop in and see, but they haven't sent out the email that they normally send out. So, there will be a book for that as well, which will probably be something completely different from everything else uh in my TBR for the month. Uh last month's book, May's book, was Heart of Lover by Lily King, which ended up really, really enjoying, which is definitely not the kind of thing I normally read. Anyway, let's get on to other things I'm going to read then. So, I've got two things that have been sent to me by authors. Uh the first of those uh is WZ by Drew Nellen Smith, which as I said before has this absolutely fantastic cover. I love this cover. Uh so this is about a uh a guy who is uh unemployed has got lots of guns. Uh and I don't really know much more about it than that, but I'm really looking forward to it. I read the first couple of pages um a little while ago and it it sounds definitely like my kind of thing. So looking forward to that.

[00:11:15]Uh, and then the other thing which I just got sent is the new book by Joshua Tralinsky. So Joshua Tlinsky wrote a book called Letters from the Surf. Was it letters to letters for I think it was letters for the purple sane killer. Um, which was a really great twist on kind of true crime. Um, like a fictionalized true crime, but it was a really excellent book. Um, I enjoyed it enormously. And he's got a new book coming out called The Man in the Watch Still Visits Me at Night. and his publicist ran this really weird like campaign for it where they just sent you very very strange emails basically um and in the end they sent you one with an attachment which was the PDF of the book so I'm really looking forward to to reading that and it reminded me that I still need to read um his excellently titled book Kenya West Reanimator um so I I've I think I've got a copy of that digitally so I need to dig that out and read it right moving on then so I've got a bunch of other things I'm hoping to get to this month then. Um, so let's go through those. So the first is um the second book in the Lone Wolf series by Mike Barry. So I read the first one, Night Prowler. The second one is called Was it called Night Prowler? I think it was called Night Prowler. Oh no, Night Raider was the first one. The second one is called Bay Prowler. So, I'm assuming that uh in this one, Bert Wolf uh who is the lone wolf who's going up against drug dealers who killed his girlfriend goes to San Francisco. The first one was set in New York. Um I've then also got uh The Book of Skulls uh by Robert Silverberg, which uh Mark Hodder again recommended to me and has been nudging me to read. So, I did see your nudges, Mark, and I will be uh I'll be trying to get this in in uh in June as well. Um, it's it's marketed as like a fantasy, but Mark said it was one of the most disturbing books he'd read for a while.

[00:13:11]So, I'm definitely intrigued by that.

[00:13:14]Um, another thing where I read the first book in uh May and I want to continue is uh the second book in the Liam Develin series by Jack Higgins. I think depending on how you count it, they can go in a different order. I think this is the second one that was published but not the second one chronologically if that makes sense. So Liam Develin is one of the characters in um the uh the eagle has landed by Jack Higgins which I read in May. He's just a really fantastic character. Uh this one I think is set later on in his life. So the eagle has landed set during the Second World War and he's I think he's 30 I think he's 35 in that one. Uh, this one I think I'm I'm assuming is set in like the 70s or 80s. Um, although the prologue is set in just flipping through, the prologue's set in Vietnam in 1968. So maybe it's set in the 60s. So he's going to be maybe he's in his 50s in this one. So anyway, this is Touch the Devil. There's certainly a direct sequel to The Eagle Has Landed as well. The Eagle has flown, which I'm guessing is chronologically the second book in the Devil series, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I'm looking forward to that. Uh, and weird that the uh the the prologue should be set in Vietnam in the 60s because another thing I'm going to be reading uh is Vietnam Ground Zero by Eric Helm.

[00:14:33]Eric Helm is a synonym for two people I think uh but I forget who. Um so I picked up a load of these um including some of the omnibuses a while ago off vintage. I'm really intrigued by this series. So I'm going to read the first one which is just called Vietnam Ground Zero. Um and then that brings me to the final book. So, back to Mark Hodder and again a book where I read the first book in the series in uh in May. That book was um The Strange Affair of Spring Hill Jack, the first book in the Burton and Swimburn series. The second and I enjoyed it enormously. The second one is The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man again by Mark Hodder. So, I will be reading uh I'll be reading that one in June. Um hopefully. It's quite long, 450 pages. So, I feel like I've got quite a few things to get through in June, but given how many things I managed to get through in May, I'm pretty confident I'll I'll manage all of them. So, I will leave things there. Let me know what you're going to be reading in June.

[00:15:30]Particularly, let me know if you're going to be taking part in June on the Range. It's a really, really great event, and it's lovely to to read a kind of book that many people don't read anymore. Um, and there are some really fantastic westerns out there. Anyway, I will leave things there and say, as always, thanks very much for watching.

[00:15:46]Hope you're safe and well out there.

[00:15:47]Hope you're reading good stuff and I'll speak to you again very soon. Cheerio.