West of the Pecos

Published: 1937

Filled with adventure, bandits, and the beautiful landscape of America in its formative years, West of the Pecos is a classic tale by one of the greatest novelists of the American west.

Templeton Lambeth had so desperately wanted a son— an heir to ride by his side through the vast, wild ranges just west of the Pecos River. But to his disappointment, his wife bore a girl. His hopes crushed and in denial, he decides to raise his daughter as if she were a boy. In honor of Lambeth’s more successful brother, they named her: Terrill. Upon the arrival of the Civil War, Lambeth enlists in Lee’s army, leaving behind his wife and tomboy daughter, with hopes to reconcile living in the shadow of his brother. By the time the war ends, Lambeth returns a colonel and his wife has passed. Tired of his old life as a cotton planter, he packs up with his tomboy daughter, Rill, and heads for the alluring western frontier to start anew. After they arrive in the West, the Colonel is brutally murdered. Rill, disguised as a youth of eighteen who rode with the toughest, is left to fend for herself in the Wild West swarming with outlaws. Enter the one they called Pecos Smith—a rugged desperado with a mysterious past and one bad reputation. Though, he may not be what he seems.