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James J. Griffin
While a native New Englander, Jim has been a student of the frontier West from a very young age. He has traveled extensively throughout the western United States, and has visited many of the famous Western frontier towns, such as Tombstone, Pecos, Deadwood, Cheyenne, and numerous others.
Jim became particularly interested in the Texas Rangers from the television series Tales of the Texas Rangers. His deep interest in the Texas Rangers led him to amass an extensive collection of Texas Ranger artifacts, which is now in the permanent collections of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco.
Jim has also been an avid horseman all of his life. He bought his first horse, a pinto, while he was a junior in college, and has owned several American Paint Horses, including his current mount, Yankee.
Jim's books are traditional Westerns in the best sense of the term, with strong heroes who have good moral values. Highly reminiscent of the pulp westerns of yesterday, the heroes and villains are clearly separated with few shades of gray. No anti-heroes to be found here.
Jim is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University. When not traveling out West, he currently divides his time between Branford, Connecticut and Keene, New Hampshire.
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Book Review
by Steve Shaw
Big Bend Death Trap is a traditional Western along the familiar lines of a Louis L'Amour novel. Family man and Texas Ranger Cody Havlicek is assigned by Captain James Blawcyzk to clear up several murders two other Rangers failed to solve - failed because they were killed in the line of duty. A number of individuals, including the two Texas Rangers and a prominent big cattle operator have been killed in Brewster County. And those murders remain a mystery. Ranger Havlicek is the only man for the job, a job that at first glance appears hopeless and even suicidal. As any Ranger would do, Havlicek readily takes the assignment.
Havlicek, on his trusty steed, a large chestnut paint gelding named Yankee, makes for Brewster County. Along the way, the Ranger comes across a young boy, left for dead by a miscreant that had stolen the boy's horse. Staying over in the town of Haggerty, it doesn't take long for Havlicek to find the stolen horse, ridden hard with bloody spur gouges on her flanks. In the saloon, Havlicek crosses paths with the horse thief and his friends.
"I'm lookin' for the hombre ridin' that brown mare out front."
"I'm the man who owns that mare. What of it?"
Of course, these are tall words for a horse thief backed by several gunslingers. The reader encounters Cody Havlicek's blazing six-guns, and it won't be the last time.
Whether Texas Ranger Cody Havlicek solves the murders or not is left up to the reader to discover. But his trials and tribulations along the way make for a good read.
James J. Griffin writes with a good knowledge about the Old West. This book has plenty of action, shooting, a strong hero, and several dangerous men, some of which come as a surprise, but a good twist always makes for a better story.
Like Louis L'Amour, Griffin does not use foul language, sex, or overly graphic violence in Big Bend Death Trap, making this suitable for all ages.
You can find more information on James J. Griffin and his book by going to
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