To Hell on a Fast Horse

February 15, 2017
This volume contains two novels featuring bounty hunter Lou Prophet and his sidekick, Louisa Bonaventure, the Vengeance Queen. In The Devil's Ambush, treachery, deception, and a nighttime raid by strangers leave Louisa seriously wounded and Lou wondering how to get her safely out of the bleak, southeast corner of Colorado. Lou's search for a doctor and the raiders who ambushed them leads him to Box Elder Ford, a small settlement on the Arkansas River. A beautiful woman who lives alone on the edge of town and who welcomes evening visitors complicates Lou's life. Treachery from an unexpected direction provides some understanding for the man-hunting duo, but it requires daring and gun smoke to bring real clarity. In Bring Me the Head of Chaz Savidge, the two are back at work cleansing the frontier of rapists, robbers, and killers. The Chaz Savidge gang fits the description of the worst of these, and the $2,000 bounty on the gang has drawn bounty hunters and poachers from all over the West. When Lou and Louisa take Chaz prisoner, they find themselves hunted by others eager for the bounty. It's a long ride from Dakota to Denver, where the law has a cell waiting for Chaz, and getting their captive delivered presents Lou and Louisa with challenges they haven't faced before. The melting winter's snow in Dakota will wash the blood from the grass, but the graves, ravaged bodies, and shell casings will still be there to give startling testimony to any who happen to pass that way. This double-feature western is a fast-moving, high-action read for those who like their stories a bit raw.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)