PEPPER TREE RIDER

Another western with the same dull tale of an indecisive woman losing the man she loves. Still needing a man to supervise and control her life, she falls for her dead husband's war buddy. Elizabeth was carried away from a life of luxury to live with the man of her dreams. After her husband is killed in the Civil War, she must fend for herself and her young son. Of course, it takes two chapters for the two of them to figure out that Harry isn't coming home. Cameron, indebted to Harry for saving his life during some obscure battle, promises to tend to Elizabeth and the ranch. The bandanna covering his severely deformed face (injured in that same battle) is supposed to make him a figure of fear and intrigue. The ever-present and forever loyal Mexican farmhand, Cisco, just can't handle the ranch work anymore, so Elizabeth invites Cameron to stay. The main plot twist revolves around Elizabeth's spoiled brother, Lance. In order to avoid the war and its devastating effects upon his rich family's plantation, Lance joins Elizabeth in Texas, but he is sickly and useless. Hoping to convince his sister of his worthiness, he conspires with the predictable bad guys from town to rustle cattle. When Lance tries to redeem himself by giving up the scheme, one of his dirty business partners shoots him in the back. It's no surprise when the mysterious Cameron comes to the rescue and kills all the bad guys. Boring stuff, as the characters stick to the ranch, never leaving it except to go to town to trade and shoot a few outlaws- -and as Curtis, in his hardcover debut, sticks to the traditional saga of mysterious man saving desperate woman.