Death Comes Riding

by Terrell L. Bowers
A Black Horse Western from Hale, September 2009

Lucas usually avoided contact with the Indians, but fate sometimes stepped in. When a simple job turns out to be a death ride, his relationship with one Indian in particular changes his life forever.

In the midst of an impending war between the assembled tribes of the Black Hills and the army, Lucas partners Daniel Books, a half-Cheyenne who doesn’t really belong on either side of the war. Daniel helps Lucas seek out the men who robbed and shot him, and left him for dead.

Then there is Iris Ducane, the girl who captured Lucas’s heart, already being courted by Captain Bagot, a suave Creole Frenchman from the nearby fort, who wants her for himself…and he is willing to kill Lucas to win her hand!

Set against a backdrop of the coming together of the tribes and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Terrell L. Bowers packs a lot into Death Comes Riding. His characters are well created and his dialogue is well written, including lots of grin inducing sarcasm, particularly when Iris and her uncle discuss the differences between men and women. There’s plenty of action as Lucas attempts to retrieve a stolen payroll and expose an insurance scam. The contrasts between Lucas and Captain Bagot provide some fascinating reading, which ends in an exciting duel between the two men.

I’m surprised I haven’t read anything by Terrell L. Bowers before as he’s been writing westerns for quite sometime having quite a long list of books published by Hale. More of his work has been published in America by Avalon (seemingly a series set in Broken Spoke, and one of these books has been published by Leisure too). Reckon it’s time to see what else I can find.

Death Comes Riding has an official release date of September 30th, and I’d suggest getting your order in soon, before this one sells-out, as it’s already on sale at the usual Internet booksellers.