THE SHADOW MAN

An American trapper joins the cause of Spanish-American ranchers against expansionist Texans in old New Mexico--western action set in the 1840's from the author of The Far Battleground. When marauding Arapaho slay his pal and trapping business partner, mountain man Jacob Tamarron decides it's time to ease into a quieter life. Pausing only to wipe out the Indians, Jacob packs up the furs and moves to Santa Fe--where he falls for and marries the voluptuous but badly scarred Petra Solis, whose vast family lands were granted by the Spanish King. The Solis clan takes some convincing, but when they see what a hard worker Jacob is and how much he loves Petra, they take him into the clan. Their blissful life is blasted, however, by a pack of murderous invaders from Texas--lowlifes hired by a ruthless senator who wants the whole Pecos Valley, including the Solis spread, for his very own. Jacob, who believes the varmints have murdered Petra, sets out after the gang of bounty-hunters and scalpers, intent on wiping them out singlehandedly--although he eventually teams up with High Walking, a Comanche who has lost three wives to the same gang. Fueled by peyote and revenge, the two men close in on their quarry and track them into Texas--right up to the Senator's mansion, where everything comes to a head. An entertaining but violent western based on historic events.