The Lady

A tightly written, flavorful story of New Mexico in the 1880s and 90s ranks with the best of Richter's novels and describes a place still more Mexican than American in mores, color and viewpoint. Dona Ellen, wife of Judge Sessions, is the dominant and magnetic figure and when she is suspected of killing a cattleman who drives his herd ruthlessly through her beloved garden, the act precipitates a local case culminating in the disappearance of her husband and her son. An original plot thread brings the story together as the competition between Dona Ellen and the sadistic Beasley, who owns the cattle, is brought to a melodramatic finale. An absorbing and beautifully detailed panel of the American frontier.


Genre: Western