Shadow on the Land
A Western Story
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Central Oregon—the last frontier. Transportation is still by stagecoach and freight wagon. There is a movement afoot for a people’s railroad, paid for by the state, to bring the benefits of rails to the area, to make it easier to ship livestock and produce, and to encourage settlement. For years the competing railroad barons, James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman, have done nothing toward building a line in central Oregon, but now, under the impetus of the people’s railroad bill, they both set out to do just that.
Lee Dawes, a front man buying rights-of-way for the Hill interests, is charged with besting Mike Quinn, who is acquiring rights-of-way for the Harriman line. Dawes and Quinn have competed in this kind of work for years, as they have competed for women. An essential property on the way to Bend is owned by Hanna Racine, and both Dawes and Quinn want the right-of-way across her land. The two vie to come up with a strategy to seduce her into committing to the interest they represent, while an unknown third party is intent on frustrating them both through brutal violence.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Western bad boy Lee Dawes is a railroad fixer who uses his gun, fists, guile and charm to obtain hard-to-get rights-of-way, settle labor disputes, outfox his competitors and seduce women. In Overholser's action-packed latest, Dawes is up to his gunbelt in trouble. Dawes is the perfect man for railroad tycoon James J. Hill's plan to beat rival tycoon Edward H. Harriman's effort to build a railroad in Oregon. However, Dawes must contend with opposition from an old pal, the refusal of a rancher who won't sell to Dawes, his lust for a bad news woman and the murderous work of an interloper bent on destroying both Hill and Harriman. As Dawes and Quinn try to outmaneuver and sabotage each other-in work and in love-Dawes and his sidekick, Highpockets Magoon, get sucked deeper into a railroad war where bullets, beatings and explosives nearly settle everyone's hash. Though Overholser reveals too early the mysterious villain and his motive, the railroad lore and fast-paced plot keep the reader involved.
