Hachette India is delighted to bring back into print the original Sudden series by Oliver Strange as part of its revival of popular fiction. The first Sudden book were first published in the 1930's and was hugely popular because of the period details and the rather iconic character of the eponymous hero. So much so, that like hugely popular series of the day (like PG Wodehouse or the ‘yellowbacks’ on the crime-thriller side)...the books were written to a formula. These books about cowboys but written by British writers were called ‘Piccadilly Westerns’. The plots have repetitive elements and the characters too have a formulaic sameness, but the fast paced storytelling, the western landscape, the laconic one-liners and the ‘lightning draw’ gunfight sequences combine to create addictive page-turners.The books have been reprinted as is, with no bowdlerizing for political correctness. As one critic points out “The language used is a product of the times and if there is any message to Sudden it is one of anti-racism. The character is respectful to Indians, indeed he was brought up by one. In fact the books portray racism on the part of undesirable” any character as bad and undesirable . We’ve numbered the series in terms of the plot chronology, but The Range Robbers was actually the first book written, and the rest of the novels were back-story adventures. The series was so successful that after Strange’s death, they were continued by acclaimed western writer Fred Nolan (creator of the ‘Angel’ series) writing as Frederick H. Christian. Christian wrote five more books. SUDDEN OUTLAWED In every sun-wrapped cowtown, along hidden outlaw trails, saturnine man named James Green stopped to ask the same questions — and then moved on. A legacy of hatred left him by a dying man had sent him to search for two men...and a final reckoning. And as he rode, he earned a nickname that was whispered whenever men talked of gunfighting, whenever violence ran rampant in dusty streets. They called him ‘Sudden’ and his bitter quest was legend... . SUDDEN A trio of land-grabbing brothers...a crooked town marshal...a beautiful woman...between them, they had the town under their heel. Now they meant to take the whole range, their weapons terror and destruction and murder. Into this Arizona hell-town the Governor sent Sudden. His instructions were brief: ‘Clean it up,’ he said. ‘No loose ends.’ One man. A Texas outlaw with a badge. Sudden. The legendary gunfighter and bestselling series is back.... SUDDEN RIDES AGAIN He was a silent man. He wore two guns tied low, the butts worn as smooth as the leather they nestled in. He was a tall, capable man heading into Arizona badlands, moving towards trouble. He was James Green: gunfighter, killer, murderer — a man with the kind of reputation that made men flinch when his eyes met theirs, that stilled hands on their way to holstered Colts. He was an outlaw, heading for a deadly double-agent’s game in an outpost of hell itself... The legendary gunfighter and bestselling series is back.... SUDDEN — THE MARSHAL OF LAWLESS ‘Being Marshal of Lawless is plain suicide!’ That’s what they told the young fellow who applied for the job. They figured that anyone who had hacked his horse, his saddle and his guns to get money for liquor, was not the kind of man who could hold down one of the toughest towns in the West. But then the young stranger redeemed his guns and strapped them on. Lawless looked again. ‘Gentlemen, hush!’ said one inhabitant. ‘A man has come to town!’ The legendary gunfighter and bestselling series is back.... SUDDEN — GOLDSEEKER The gunman slouched against the bar, two guns hanging on his hips, the holsters tied. Tense moments ticked by, then he straightened up and raised his glass. ‘Here’s to yaller!’ he barked. ‘Yaller liquor, yaller metal, yaller-hoe gals, and to hell with green!’ The words struck the room to silence, which was broken shortly by the scrape of a chair. Then a man spoke. ‘My name is Green,’ Sudden said mildly. ‘You wouldn’t know, of course.’ ‘Shore I knew it, an’ I’m sayin’ it again: to hell with green.’ And his hands flashed towards his guns like outspread talons... The legendary gunfighter and bestselling series is back.... SUDDEN MAKES WAR Dan Dover’s outfit, the Circle Dot, was a target for bushwhackers and rustlers, so he figured he’d better get some help to run them off. The stranger from Texas looked like a good man to have around, so Dover hired him. Pretty soon, when the fires of a range war painted the prairies the colour of blood, he was sure glad he had taken him on — even though he found out there was a warrant for murder out for the lean, capable Jim Green, otherwise known as Sudden! The legendary gunfighter and bestselling series is back.... SUDDEN PLAYS A HAND. Nick Drait was being pushed off his range. His men were being shot at; one of them was bushwhacked fifty yards from the ranch house. He needed a good, capable replacement. When the s