A Western
Jake Hollander is a gambler with a past in law enforcement. He was settled in San Francisco but is now headed by stagecoach to El Paso, Texas. At one of the stops along the way, in various improble ways, he ends up in charge of two orphan Hispanic kids. Their mom was taking them to a boom town in New Mexico but she died on the journey. Jake is told to take the kids to the New Mexican town and deliver them to the address on an envelope found in the woman's luggage.
When the three arrive, the address turns out to be a whore house and then the stagecoach leaves without Jake and another stage to El Paso isn't due for a month. Jake gets a temporary job as town sheriff, talked into it by an acquaintance from his days as a lawman and noted gun in Kansas.
As Jake spends time in the tiny town, he renews his friendship with the Kansas acquaintance and his sister who are publishing the local newspaper. He also starts to build a relationship with the two kids, one of whom, the boy, Paco, has become very fond of Jake. In the process, Jake becomes embroiled in his old friends' problems and in trying to locate any family for the two orphans and in the various troubles plaguing the town. On top of all that, Jake's assaulted and robbed of his money belt containing his life savings. Things go from bad to worse when the orphans' father shows up and the only thing he cares about is the stolen money he left in the dead woman's possession.
I did enjoy this story very much. I did not like that the author kills off one of the orphans. I also thought that the strategies the author uses to tie Jake to the town and the two kids were rather contrived. And I found Jake's love interests in the story rather disappointing. But overall it was a good story, well worth reading.
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