It’s ages since I’ve read a western. The synopsis of this one piqued my interest because of my love of the Napoleonic era and anything associated with it. What? This is a western. What has it to do with Napoleon? As the title suggests - a cannon. A cannon, with a history dating back to the Napoleonic Wars, that ended up in the hands of Santa Anna, taken across the Mexican border into Texas to protect white settlers from the Comanches and then abandoned, supposedly spiked to prevent it being used again.

Texan, Careless O’Connor, from the United States Federal Bureau, is assigned to find the Santa Anna cannon before it falls into the hands of the Comanches. Major Abigay claims that the cannon was spiked and is now useless, but O’Connor needs to see for himself even if it means travelling into Indian territory. Others are also after the cannon, making O’Connor’s assignment all the more dangerous. Why is this cannon so important? Is it made of gold as some suspect? Only O’Connor knows the secret of the cannon.

This is a very traditional western and has all the elements associated with that particular genre: an enigmatic loner who makes women’s hearts flutter, the U.S. Army, Comanches, good guys, bad guys and even a little romance thrown in too.


Secret of the Cannon is a good, old fashioned adventure story, entertaining from the start to the action packed ending. At 102 pages it is short, but the perfect length for a lazy afternoon or evening read.

This is just one of several novels featuring Careless O’Connor. I’m looking forward to reading more of his exploits and also some of Gordon Landsborough’s other westerns that are being re-issued with eye catching covers.