First published 2010
Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch ride back into Appaloosa to discover their old territory now belongs to someone else. A chief of police named Amos runs the town with twelve officers, sporting a derby hat and pearl-handled Colt. This tall, heavy man dreams of the governor's mansion and maybe the White House. He wants the famous gunmen on his payroll, but Cole and Hitch refuse to be bought. Local merchants start getting squeezed for protection money by Amos, who calls himself Callico in this racket. The business owners who won't pay turn to Cole and Hitch for help. The partnership puts the duo directly against the chief's ambitions. When they shoot the son of a powerful landowner, Callico watches his political dreams start falling apart. The conflict builds toward a final confrontation where survival depends on who draws fastest.
Genres: american-fiction, adventure, crime, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: corruption, enemies-to-lovers
Setting: Appaloosa
Period: 19th-century
276 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: violence