The Copelands

A Kentucky family's journey to a new life in Texas after the Civil War fuels this multi-decade horse opera of the Copeland clan's adventures. Bowman's eighth novel (The Quest of Jubal Kane) promises reckless, Wild West adventures on the high plains and encounters with gunslingers and lawmen, but delivers a tepid saga hampered by clich d characters and burdened with ineffective dialogue and lackluster plotting. Seth Copeland, soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia, returns from the Civil War ""without a scratch,"" and takes his parents, his wife and six kids to Coryell County, Tex., in 1866, having heard there's money to be made in cattle ranching. On the family's journey they entertain themselves by shooting the occasional wildcat or thief, dreaming of Texas and quieting squabbling kids. Once established in Texas, the Copelands grow and prosper, and within two decades they own the largest and richest cattle ranch in the county. Everybody gets along fine until one Copeland son is murdered and two other Copeland boys take to drinking, gambling and law-breaking. Seth avenges his dead son, but seems strangely detached from the other two, who are soon wanted for bank robbery and murder. Oddly, Seth bows out of the story as a central figure, and is replaced by a young deputy sheriff who has a personal score to settle with the two Copeland bad boys. This is where readers' pulses will race; the deputy's pursuit and the expected showdown is the high point of the novel, but most fans of the western genre will surely want a little more giddyap in their ride. (Oct.)