Blue-Eyed Devil

This is the 4th in the Virgil Cole/ Everett Hitch series from Robert B. Parker (follows Appaloosa, Resolution, and Brimstone). I read this online while in New Zealand and although I enjoyed it, I don't feel it added anything new to my understanding of any of the characters, nor was the plot very original. Virgil and Everett have returned to the house Virgil built for Allie in Appaloosa and now they and Laurel are all temporarily living there. Laurel continues to be mute after her rescue from Indian kidnappers, with everyone except Virgil. Pony Flores, who also helped rescue Laurel, does reappear in this episode as do fellow gun slingers Cato and Rose, who are now "keeping the peace" in Resolution after Virgil and Everett's departure. Appaloosa is now being run by a man with big political ambitions, which require a lot of money and so he is extorting most of the saloon owners for protection. Of course Virgil can't abide that, so he and Everett take on the job of protecting the saloons, and then the whole town which a band of Indians decide to attack. So what is new is that Laurel leaves town with Pony after the "Indian troubles" are settled, Virgil becomes a land owner and immediately relinquishes the land, giving it to Laurel and Pony. The dialog is still humorously laconic. Everett is still correcting Virgil's vocabulary. Allie hasn't learned a damned thing and Virgil still loves her in spite of it. Good but not outstanding. There is one more book in the series--not written by Parker but by Robert Knott-- that I will probably still read, Iron Horse.