Shaft by Ernest Tidyman

Shaft began to pick up its vibrations as he waited for the WALK sign to flash green permission for the crossing. All that up Broadway a few blocks had become a part of him and was waiting for him. He stepped off the curb and moved easily around the grill of a battered Dodge truck, rolling with the contained grace of a solid, muscular man who stays in balance, who can land running or at a halt, poised to run again.

This might seem an odd choice to feature on a western blog, but I was struck by the tone that is reminiscent of both Spaghetti Westerns and Elmore Leonard’s early work.

Private Detective John Shaft is caught in the middle of three warring factions: the police, the mob, and militant black revolutionaries. It feels vey much as if Eastwood’s “Man With No Name” stepped into a modern incarnation of the faction-divided town in A Fistful of Dollars. [Tidyman would go on to become an Award-Winning screenwriter and contribute High Plains Drifter for Eastwood himself.]

Those who only know the character of John Shaft from the films [which do not do much for me] may be surprised at the level of writing in the novel. I am struck that the successful film may have overshadowed how entertaining and well-done the novel is.

Fans of Leonard, Brian Garfield, and perhaps even George Gilman should find much to enjoy in this urban-Western.