Longarm #288: Longarm and the Amorous Amazon

This episode of Longarm,from November,2002 has a little bit of everything.Some of it takes place in Denver,some in Pueblo,and some in Leadville;but all in Colorado. This author throws in a lot of trivia about the Old West and it keeps a story that is not the usual with a lot of shootouts and manhunts in the mountains,deserts and canyons;an interesting page turner to any reader of this series. The jist of the story being the 6 foot 6 inch sister of the famous Cotton Younger who has just gotten out of prison and is intent on killing Longarm in revenge for killing Cotton. She decides to engage The Fargo Kid,who in in jail and slated to hang,to do the deed for her because she is so identifiable. She sets up an escape for the Fargo Kid,makes the deal with him and anounces to Billy Vail that she's coming after Longarm. Vail sends Longarm out of town on an assignment,and things get interesting. Complicating the case,Longarm has never seen either Increase Younger or the Fargo Kid. Longarm meets up with several interesting characters and experiences along the way. Throughout the saga,the author works in interesting things like the exagerrated writings of Ned Buntline and the fact that he had created the legend about "Wild Bill" Hichok,that resulted in him getting shot in the back in Deadwood by Cockeyed Jack McCall who was trying to make a name for himself.Throughout the story,the author continually tells us the brand and type of guns being used.Though most of the characters we read about in these Old West tales are of Irish descent,we learn that Billy Vail was a Scotchman. He also informs us about details such as the manufacturer of those daisy head windmills being of the Aermotor Brand.Rutherford Hayes is President,so the date is between 1877 and 1881.He explains the term "bucking the tiger" which we often come across. Why, we even hear Longarm singing an Old West song to himself as he travels throughout the country; "I ain't made a dollar,I ain't made a cent. All the grubstake I had has been spent. Our cow has gone dry and my pony's gone lame, And I'm starving to death on my government claim." As expected ,Longarm survives ,the outlaws are dead,and Longarm didn't have to do it. "As Longarm looks at the Fargo Kid sprawled,limp like a rag doll on his back,smiling up at the cloudless sky as if it was an old pal.Nobody looked that dead unless they felt sincere about it."