Miles away in the desert furnace between Ruidoso and Roswell, nineteen-year-old Katie Callahan has troubles of her own. Her mother has died of tuberculosis, and her worthless stepfather has abandoned the family, leaving Katie with her younger sister and five-year-old stepbrother, a busted wagon, a blind mule, little water and food, and her motherβs body that needs to be buried. When the wounded MacKinnon rides into that camp, heβs faced with a choice.
Fate, however, still has a few other surprises in mind for the saddle tramp, the young woman, MacKinnonβs partners, and even that aging New Mexico lawman.
Inspired by PasΓ³ Por AquΓ, the classic 1926 novella written by Eugene Manlove RhodesββThe Bard of the Tularosaββand filmed as Four Faces West (1948), seven-time Spur Award winner Johnny D. Boggs tells a story of the detours, road blocks, and sidetracks along the journeys to justice, love, vengeance, and redemption.
Johnny D. Boggs has worked cattle, been bucked off horses, shot rapids in a canoe, hiked across mountains and deserts, traipsed around ghost towns, and spent hours poring over microfilm in library archivesβall in the name of finding a good story. He has won nine Spur Awards, making him the all-time leader in Western Writers of Americaβs history.