Cavalry Man: Powder Keg -- Ed Gorman

As you can see, the cover of this book has a nice explosion on it. Too bad there's no explosion in the book. The title refers to the town where the story's set. It's a powder keg ready to explode, and it does, into a series of murders.

One thing Ed Gorman does better than just about anybody, in fact, is bring the small-town setting into his westerns. The book's never about just the main characters. It's about everybody who's affected by what happens, and in Powder Keg we get to see them all.

Another thing you can be sure of is that nobody's going to be all bad or all good (well, except for Pepper and Connelly in this one, and maybe the killer). Everyone's troubled; everyone's motives are mixed.

Something a little different this time is that the setting is the dead of winter. The cold and wind and snow play a big part in the story, and you can feel them all.

I'd better warn you, too, that this book isn't for the faint of heart. There are some disturbing scenes that will probably stick with you for a while. And of course it's a mystery. The murders aren't what they seem, and Noah Ford, the Cavalry Man, has to figure out what's really going on. You'll get more than your money's worth from Powder Keg. Check it out.