The Quest of Jubal Kane

Fifteen-year-old Texas farm boy Jubal Kane is the unwilling witness to the ""dastardly deed"" of his parents' murder at the hands of three wandering brigands in 1866. Powerless to stop the slaughter as he watches from the hay loft, Jubal is taken in by his kindly grandparents, who sell the farm and set up a trust fund in the boy's name. Now 22, Jubal has become a steely-eyed gunman who isn't afraid to shoot down would-be robbers over a funny look. Legacy in hand, he sets out to track down his folks' killers. After looking at inmate photos (an anachronism; photos were not taken at state prisons in this early era of photography), Jubal determines their names, then begins his Texas-wide search. Along the way, he meets a catalogue of spaghetti Western characters: painted ladies (whom he spurns), barflies and red-faced deputies whose use of dialect is unpredictable and not always consistent. Bowman (Gannon; The H&R Cattle Company) devotes a large portion of the book to Jubal's gastronomical desires and housing needs, and conducts a step-by-step tutorial on how Jubal shaves, builds a fire and makes coffee. Slim-hipped and righteous in his cause, Jubal is naturally irresistible to women and instantly wins the respect of honest men. Revenge is to be his, but two of the killers are, anticlimactically, rather easy to find, and conveniently still sitting around gloating about the murder and petty theft of seven years back. The obscure identity of the ""Third Man"" provides the one thread of narrative tension that does not slacken until the novel's final page. (May)