The Bridge

This is the 7th installment in Robert Parker's old west series featuring Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch; the series has been take over by Robert Knott since Parker died a few years ago. I have read Robert Parker for decades, including almost all of his Spenser series. He is a master character builder and uses dialogue to create really interesting and often quirky actors. Virgil is a man of few words--one would call him laconic--but he is smart and very good with a gun. Everett was educated at West Point and talks a bit more than Virgil, who frequently consults Everett when he can't think of the right word he wants. The relationships between characters, as is true in the Spenser novels, are so engaging, that you feel like you could walk into their lives.
After years of various law enforcement gigs in various small towns, they are back in Appaloosa where they started, only now Virgil is the Territorial Marshall and Everett is his deputy. When a traveling theater troupe comes to town, Virgil's significant other, Allie, rolls out the welcome mat. Arriving right behind them is a huge snow storm, which is going to complicate matters. The theater show is postponed due to weather and Everett gets involved with a beautiful woman fortune teller who says she sees mortal danger in his future. A telegram arrives saying the Rio Blanco train bridge--a day's ride from Appaloosa--has been blown up. The local sheriff and his deputies go to investigate but disappear, causing Virgil and Cole to go in search of them, accompanied by the architect of the bridge. Just as they are leaving town, a slovenly group of soldiers or pretenders arrive. With this cast of characters, the trick is for Cole and Hitch to figure out who had the most to gain from destroying the bridge, and leaving a trail of human bodies as an aftermath. Knott has done a commendable job of continuing the development of these characters and the story lines.