Robert Knott continues the saga of Hitch & Cole
started by the late Robert B Parker. BULL RIVER is the
fifth book in the series and each book builds on the main
characters, Territorial Marshall Virgil Cole and Deputy
Everett Hitch. Hitch narrators the stories with an unique
in-person prospective.
In this, the latest installment, the Marshall and his Deputy
have just returned from Mexico with a murder suspect when
they find out the Comstock Bank was robbed. The robbers
beat the bank president close to death and took his
beautiful wife as a hostage. She's also happens to be the
daughter of one of the richest men in the west. The bank
robbers head for Mexico with their hostage the close to
death bank president in hot pursuit.
Alejandro Vasquez, the murder suspect, claims he acted in
self-defense and he's willing to help with tracking the bank
robbers. Vasquez claims to know the leader of the gang of
thieves and is willing to assist in the apprehension, for
his freedom. Hitch and Cole head back to Mexico with
Alejandro leading the way. On the trip, a group of Mexican
Federales offer to assist the recovery of the hostage, since
a $50,000 reward has been offered for her safe return.
Lots of slow talking and fast gun play keep the action
flowing. Hidden identities and pleasure palaces give this
western mystery plenty of suspense. Of course, a Marshall
from the United States has no authority in Mexico, so there
is excitement at every stop along the way.
After hunting down the notorious desperado Alejandro
Vasquez, Territorial Marshal Virgil Cole and Deputy Everett
Hitch return him to San Cristóbal to stand trial. No sooner
do they remand him into custody than a major bank robbery
occurs and the lawmen find themselves tasked with another
job: investigating the robbery of the Comstock Bank,
recovering the loot, and bringing the criminals to justice.
But when their primary suspect is found severely beaten
outside a high-class brothel and turns out to be using a
false identity to escape a torrid past, it is Alejandro who
becomes the key to their investigation. Cole and Hitch are
soon on the trail of the money, two calculating brothers,
and the daughter of St. Louis’s most prominent millionaire
in a Cain and Abel story that brings revenge to a whole new
level.