St. Agnes Stand

Communications executive Eidson turns from balance sheets to saddlebags in this lean first novel in the Western genre. Nat Swanson is on the run from a mob of Texas cowboys after having killed one of their friends. A bullet in his leg slows him down and threatens his life. The posse is closing in, and his chances of survival look dim. Trying desperately to get to sanctuary in California, he comes upon two freight wagons besieged by Apaches, and, against his better judgment, he stops to help. He kills one of the Indians with his grandfather's antique crossbow, buying time for whoever survives behind the wagons. Thinking he's done his good deed, he continues his flight. One of those trapped, however, is 76-year-old Sister Agnes, who prays to God for a man to deliver her, her fellow nuns and the seven orphans they are transporting. Once she utters her prayer, readers know that Swanson is the longed-for savior and that his path will cross theirs again. Eidson tells the tale of their subsequent salvation in taut, spare, visual prose reminiscent of Larry McMurtry, who in fact is writing the screenplay for the movie version, to be retitled The Standoff. Film rights to Universal; Readers Digest Condensed Book selection. (Apr.)