Ironhorse

I am always a little leery of new authors being assigned, or choosing, to take on the continuation of a series after the original author has died. Robert Parker has been a long-time favorite of mine and I have read all the books he wrote in the Spenser series and all of his books in the relatively new Cole and Hitch series. Robert Knott has produced this new episode in that latter series and done a reasonably good job of it. Virgil Cole is the personification of laconic communication, although he appears to be a serious reader. Everett Hitch, his partner in law enforcement for over 20 years, is West Point educated and somewhat more fluent. It is one of the quirky and occasionally funny aspects of their relationship that Virgil turns to Everett occasionally for help with finding the right word to express himself.
Virgil and Everett are now U.S. Marshals and are returning from transporting some prisoners to the Mexican authorities. It is just their bad luck, and the passengers good luck, that they are on a train carrying the governor of Texas and his family and business associates and a whole lot of money. It is the target of a well-orchestrated robbery attempt by a large group of robbers, and even murderers. Cole and Hitch manage to kill several of the robbers and temporarily foil the theft of the money but are then out-played when the train cars carrying the governer's two adult daughters is detached from the rest of the train. When they make their way into town, they find that the governor and his wife are unharmed and soon receive a ransom demand. One of the governor's "business associates" is the traitor and he has disappeared. Cole and Hitch offer to deliver the money and try to get the young women back.
This is a fast read with an interesting plot and the characters as presented seem pretty consistent with Parker's original creations. If you have never seen the movie made from the first book in this series, Appaloosa, don't miss it. You will forever after see Ed Harris as Virgil and Vigo Mortenson as Everett