An Evans Novel of the West
3 total works
Leo Guild, sometime bounty hunter, has spent the previous three weeks riding shotgun for one of the last stage lines remaining in the Midwest. But jobs were few and far between and Guild was nearly broke.
So it was foolish for Guild to contemplate refusing the simple job he’s asked to take—finding a missing prizefighter. Guild had always hated boxing; he considered it primitive and repellant. Now he finds himself taking an even more intense dislike to John T. Stoddard, the boxing promoter who wants to hire him. Still, the money is good for a few hours’ work, and Guild decides to take the job.
Guild quickly finds the fighter holed up in the home of his Mexican girlfriend, but the fighter has some grievances with Stoddard and he takes them out on Guild. After getting soundly beaten by the angry fighter, Guild should have called it a day. He never anticipated the trouble he signed up for when he foolishly agreed to guard the fighter and the purse.
So it was foolish for Guild to contemplate refusing the simple job he’s asked to take—finding a missing prizefighter. Guild had always hated boxing; he considered it primitive and repellant. Now he finds himself taking an even more intense dislike to John T. Stoddard, the boxing promoter who wants to hire him. Still, the money is good for a few hours’ work, and Guild decides to take the job.
Guild quickly finds the fighter holed up in the home of his Mexican girlfriend, but the fighter has some grievances with Stoddard and he takes them out on Guild. After getting soundly beaten by the angry fighter, Guild should have called it a day. He never anticipated the trouble he signed up for when he foolishly agreed to guard the fighter and the purse.
Leo Guild didn’t figure on running into his former wife Sarah again. Years earlier she’d left him for a gunfighter named Frank Evans. Guild is putting up in a river town, and hears Sarah is staying in a local hotel—she’s been looking for him. Leo’s heart soars, until she tells him that Frank Evans has left her for a younger woman, Beth. Unfortunately for Frank, Beth’s former lover is also a gunfighter who has sworn to kill Evans.
Sarah has forgiven Frank, and she wants Guild to broker a peace between the gunfighters so Frank can return to her, unharmed.
At the same time, a rich man named Adair has caught wind of the conflict and he invites both gunfighters to his ranch for a birthday celebration—their gunfight will be the main attraction for the guests who are arriving from all over the country. The winner will get $10,000 and Beth, the loser…
Guild reluctantly gets pulled into trying to stop the fight—but matters of the heart are never resolved simply and Guild has a foreboding sense that a tragic ending will be unavoidable.
Sarah has forgiven Frank, and she wants Guild to broker a peace between the gunfighters so Frank can return to her, unharmed.
At the same time, a rich man named Adair has caught wind of the conflict and he invites both gunfighters to his ranch for a birthday celebration—their gunfight will be the main attraction for the guests who are arriving from all over the country. The winner will get $10,000 and Beth, the loser…
Guild reluctantly gets pulled into trying to stop the fight—but matters of the heart are never resolved simply and Guild has a foreboding sense that a tragic ending will be unavoidable.
After his young daughter is killed during a bank robbery, Septemus Ryan is out of his mind with grief. Her voice haunts him from the grave, urging him to seek justice above the law.
In August 1898, James Hogan celebrates his birthday by accompanying his uncle Septemus on a trip to the agricultural fair. But early on in the trip it becomes apparent to young James that his uncle has other plans in mind. This is no regular trip to the fair, but a journey of revenge against the three men who killed Clarice. James witnesses his uncle plunge deeper and deeper into despair and madness while encountering more than his share of gunslingers, executioners, and ladies of the night in this taut, powerful tale of grief and vengeance, and coming of age.
In August 1898, James Hogan celebrates his birthday by accompanying his uncle Septemus on a trip to the agricultural fair. But early on in the trip it becomes apparent to young James that his uncle has other plans in mind. This is no regular trip to the fair, but a journey of revenge against the three men who killed Clarice. James witnesses his uncle plunge deeper and deeper into despair and madness while encountering more than his share of gunslingers, executioners, and ladies of the night in this taut, powerful tale of grief and vengeance, and coming of age.