Max McCoy Index Page

NOVEL FEATURES OZARK SERIAL KILLER ALF BOLIN

A hundred and forty-five years after a slingblade came down on Alf Bolin's wicked head, the notorious outlaw lives again in the Spur Award-winning novel by author Max McCoy. Hellfire Canyon, McCoy's fourteenth novel, was named Best Paperback Original by the Western Writers of America.

It was released in 2007 by Pinnacle Books.

In the story, Bolin – a real-life killer who terrorized this neck of the Ozarks from a fortress-like limestone formation called Murder Rocks – plays mentor to a budding fiddler and outlaw named Jacob Gamble.

"McCoy spins quite a tale of Civil War-era Missouri featuring one of America's first serial killers who terrorized an area of southern Taney County near the Arkansas state line," says Thomas Garrett of The Baxter Bulletin of Mountain Home, Arkansas. "The novel focuses on 12-year-old Jacob Gamble's trek across Missouri and the Ozarks to his ultimate encounter with outlaw and killer Alf Bolin…. McCoy includes vivid details in his story that breathe life into it. Violence comes quickly, often unexpectedly and sometimes in graphic detail."

The character of the precocious Jacob Gamble first appeared in an award-winning short story about the 1862 Palmyra Massacre, "Spoils of War," published in the 1990s by Louis L'Amour Western Magazine. HELLFIRE CANYON follows Jacob and his mother, Eliza, from northeastern Missouri to the wilds of Taney County, where he befriends the red-headed, literature-quoting Bolin.

"The title of the book refers not to a location in the Ozarks but to a fictional motion picture that is released in Joplin, Missouri, in the 1930s," McCoy said. "The film is supposedly the life story of Jacob Gamble, the outlaw fiddler. I came up with the idea after the publisher changed the title, as a bit of fun – after all, canyon is not an Ozark word, but it is something Hollywood would use."

The novel's original title was Murder Rock.

The real Alf Bolin was so mean, McCoy said, that he murdered his own step-father. He and his gang ambushed scores of travelers from their hideout at Murder Rocks, which overlooked the stagecoach road to Arkansas. The location, which is on private property just off JJ Highway near Kirbyville, is just a few miles from downtown Branson.

"At one time, Bolin was the most feared man in the Ozarks," McCoy said. "Now, about the only time his name is heard around Branson is at Silver Dollar City, where a dim-witted character named Alfie Bolin is regularly and comedically foiled in his attempts to rob the tourists riding the park's steam train."

The real Bolin's killing spree came to an end on Feb. 2, 1863, when a Union soldier named Zach Thomas, posing as a sick Confederate on his way home, struck Bolin over the head with a slingblade while the outlaw was kneeling to light his pipe from a cabin hearth. After death, Bolin's head was hacked from body and put on a spike in front of the Christian County Courthouse at Ozark.

Hellfire Canyon follows another historical novel that McCoy set in the region, A Breed Apart, a novel of Wild Bill Hickok's days as a Union spy and gunslinger, and his famous 1865 fight with Dave Tutt on the Springfield Square. A Breed Apart was released in November by Signet.

McCoy, an award-winning author and investigative reporter, often sets many of his novels in Missouri, including the 2004 thriller, The Moon Pool. His other books include four original Indiana Jones adventures for Bantam/LucasFilm and the novelization of Steven Spielberg's epic miniseries, Into the West.

McCoy is an assistant professor of journalism at Emporia (Kansas) State University. His next novel, to be released in May 2008 by Signet, is about the last days of William Clarke Quantrill, the notorious guerilla chieftain. It is called I, Quantrill.

Praise for Hellfire Canyon:

"A good example of a great modern western is Max McCoy’s Hellfire Canyon... Hellfire Canyon is the story of Jacob Gamble: outlaw, renegade and general hell-raiser. He is the archetypal western outlaw, with one exception: He is likable, and rather than the antagonist, he is the hero... Hellfire Canyon is not the typical. There is violence and even gun play, but there is more—a yearning and understanding of history, legend, and even folklore... Hellfire Canyon is a campfire story. It is raw, tender, and fresh, but we are left knowing it isn’t the real story. It is the story the witness—Jacob Gamble—wants us to know, or perhaps more accurately thinks we want to know. It is more folklore and legend than anything else, and I loved every word."

-- Benjamin Boulden, the Gravetapping books blog. Read the review.

"In Hellfire Canyon, Max McCoy spins quite a tale of Civil War-era Missouri featuring one of America's first serial killers who terrorized an area of southern Taney County near the Arkansas state line...While billed as a Western, Hellfire Canyon is an interesting historical novel, an engrossing, intriguing, well-told story."

-- Thomas Garrett, the Baxter Bulletin.

Hellfire Canyon, which features Ozark serial killer Alf Bolin, was released in February 2007 by Kensington.

—————————————————————————————————————————

Praise for A Breed Apart:

"McCoy at his best, proving himself once again as a master of his craft."

-- Ralph Cotton, USA Today bestselling author.

"This is a fast moving story that is easily told with fascinating characters. McCoy is a veteran western writer and his shows both in his settings and dialogue. The people are so believable, it is easy to imagine this is truly how it was in a much unsettled and untamed country. This is a terrific book and I hope McCoy comes back to tell more stories about the legendary Wild Bill. There’s lots more to tell."

-- Ron Fortier, Pulp Fiction Reviews. Read the review.

"McCoy blends fact and fiction in A Breed Apart, creating a Wild Bill Hickok as full of self-doubt and uncertainty as a frontier Hamlet... McCoy's style is crisp, his language and description is colorful, all quite suited for his book's setting."

-- Thomas Garrett, the Baxter Bulletin.

A Breed Apart was released in November 2006 by Signet. The novel covers the early life of Wild Bill, up to his showdown with Dave Tutt on the Springfield, Missouri, square on July 21, 1865.

—————————————————————————————————————————

Praise for The Moon Pool:

"Mystery and mythology collide in this intelligent thriller, which is set largely in the uncharted depths of an underwater mining city beneath Bonne Terre, Mo. McCoy (who has written several Indiana Jones novels) draws on his experiences as an investigative journalist and an Advanced Open Water scuba diver to tell the tale of a serial killer bent on reenacting the abduction of the Greek mythological figure Persephone.... Tightly drawn characters, a vile villain and a satisfying, thought-provoking conclusion make this a compelling read." -- Publishers Weekly.

"An absolutely thrilling read. The language is spare, the timing impeccable, and the characters drawn so well that I cared about each one. I nearly got a papercut turning the pages. A damn fine job." -- Loren D. Estleman, author of the Amos Walker mystery series.

"Max McCoy plunges the reader into the darkest underwater cave, straight to death's door. Then, McCoy opens that door with stunning precision and electrifying prose. You may suffer from chills and claustrophobia while reading this book, and you will certainly feel a tightening in your throat as you struggle for air while his divers breathe a mixture of gases that would be fatal to most of us, in or out of deep water. McCoy's vivid descriptions and impeccable research, provide a rich background for his well-drawn characters who play out a dramatic story that is both intense and engaging. The characters seem very real and the dangers they face, not only with nature's obstacles but with each, makes this novel rise above all others in its exotic category. The Moon Pool would not only make a fascinating movie, but in McCoy's hands, it is a movie that flashes through the mind in stark, compelling images." -- Jory Sherman, author of The Baron Honor.

For more about The Moon Pool, go here.

—————————————————————————————————————————

Max McCoy contributes to Open Range: Poetry of the Reimagined West

"This formidible collection of contempory poetry embraces the West of personal conviction. W.C. Jameson and Laurie Wagner Buyer have assembled the work of twenty writers, whose poems compellingly and memorably represent the modern West." Available May 2007 from Ghost Road Press.

In the May 2005 issue of Fortean Times:

"The Return of BTK." One of America’s most notorious serial killers made a return last year after almost 30 years of silence. Max McCoy enters the disturbing world of the “Bind Torture Kill” murders. Note: FT is a British magazine, but is available in the U.S. through subscription and from better news dealers.

Max McCoy writes the foreword for Billy the Kid: Beyond the Grave.

In 1948, an old man named William Henry Roberts was confronted with evidence that he was Billy the Kid. Based largely on taped interviews with Roberts, sophisticated forensic photo technology used by the FBI, and new evidence uncovered in the 1990s, author W.C. Jameson suggests that Roberts may indeed have been the famous desperado. Taylor Trade Publishing, 2005.

On the cover of the November 2004 Fortean Times:

"White Noise." Max McCoy reports on a gang of racist bank robbers who hit at least 22 banks across the Midwest in the mid-1990s in an attempt to fund an all-out race war -- and who may have been part of the Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy. Note: FT is a British magazine, but is available in the U.S. through subscription and from better news dealers. To read "White Noise" in its entirety, click on the magazine cover at left to go to the FT website, then

look under Article Archive.

In the September 2004 True West:

"Baptism of Fire: The Apprenticeship of Jesse James" by Max McCoy
In his famous photograph, he’s a punkish-looking teenager with a snub nose and piercing eyes. He’s wearing a slouch hat and a loose-fitting guerrilla shirt and a piece of ribbon for a tie. In one hand he’s clutching a loaded percussion revolver. Two more are tucked into his belt...