Bullets and Silver (Caleb Marlowe Series, 2)
Colorado, July 1878. Twenty-nine-year-old Caleb Marlowe yearns to build out and settle down on a ranch he recently purchased. But his reputation as a lawman, expert tracker and crack shot won’t let him. First, the local judge wants Marlowe to take over as sheriff in the town of Elkhorn. Next, the judge would have been shot dead on the street, but Marlowe, walking next to him, spots the shooters just in time and guns them down. The attempted assassination is part of a larger scheme to tie up land rights in the path of a planned railroad line. Wealthy faraway businessmen hire locals for their dirty work.
Interesting secondary characters confound Marlowe’s quest for justice. He learns his flesh-and-blood father is the lead hired gun and terrorizes farmers and ranchers to sell cheap. The feisty daughter of the town doctor has fled New York and an arranged marriage. Marlowe and she begin to bond. A family of Chinese immigrants flees race riots in San Francisco and treks on foot to Denver via backcountry trails to avoid white men. They help Marlowe recover from a snake bite, but in turn plea for him to guide them through the harsh land to their destination.
This is the second novel in a new series by Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick, prolific award-winning authors writing together under one pen name. Their skill shows. Page-turning action is balanced by heart-tugging quiet interludes. The land, its people, and animals all come across as real. The gunfights and other dangers are well-done. Though not overly complex or literary, this story will engage and send readers to the next in the series. Highly recommended.
