The Doctor and the Kid

Resnick follows the first Weird West Tale, 2010’s The Buntline Special, with another dime-novel adventure featuring famous gunslinger Doc Holliday. Holliday is all set to retire to the sanatorium and die of consumption until a desire to impress Oscar Wilde leads him to make a terrible mistake at the gambling table. Broke, Holliday must recoup his funds with his guns. Seeking the bounty on Billy the Kid, the self-deprecating Holliday teams up with Thomas Edison and Ned Buntline to pit their science against the magic of the Indians while avoiding feminine wiles and local law enforcement. Resnick has done his research, and fast guns, fast plotting, and a comfortably entertaining writing style make this novel a rollicking Western with a steampunk tweak. (Dec.)