Twilight Trail

By Lance Howard

Hale, May 2012

When manhunter Teel Barsom brought in notorious outlaw Slade Heath he made a fateful mistake, one with tragic consequences that would destroy the new life he’d built with his young bride, and riddle his nightmares with guilt and loss.

Trapped in a world of whiskey and shame, Teel wants nothing more than to sink deeper into despair when a mysterious young woman abducts him from the saloon and offers him redemption – redemption he wants no part of.

But with salvation comes a price, one that may cost him and his kidnapper their lives.

Lance Howard’s thirty-third Black Horse Western is as strong as anything he wrote before, perhaps not quite a dark in tone, yet it still delves into the nightmare world of guilt. Much of the first part of this story shows how Teel Barsom becomes a hopeless drunk, seeing this as the only way to escape the consequences of his decisions.

The book is fast paced, building through a series of questions, mainly revolving around just who the young woman is that is eager to see Barsom sober up and why? What plans does she have for him? Barsom is also surprised to discover her excellent ability with a gun.

Barsom isn’t through making mistakes though and a couple of these lead to Slade Heath bringing forward his plans to finish off Teel. The story then moves up a gear and races towards an exciting and savage gunfight that ties up all the plot threads neatly.

Unless Hale have another book waiting to be published then this will be Lance Howard’s final western due to his passing earlier this year. The book includes a moving page of remembrance from his family.

Twilight Trail is officially released on May 31st, but can be ordered now from the usual Internet bookstores.