Ex-Pinkerton detective Joshua Dillard, gun for hire, supposes troubleshooting for a French theater company touring the West will be routine bodyguarding … till he meets the amazing Gisèle Bourdette, a publicity-hungry superstar ahead of her time, choking the 1880s New World puritans on their censorious piety.

But Joshua commits the blunder of intimate liaison with an eager Gisèle, falling foul of her leading man and lover, Henri Rabier-Roget — a talentless hunk scourged by jealousy and the morphine habit.

Meanwhile, ruthless Borderland bandit "Loco Louey" Velarde is after the actress' unbanked takings, transported at her quaint insistence in gold coins. And sensitive Lorena, daughter of domineering rancher and cow-town opera house founder Bennett Maxwell, must resist an unwelcome suitor.

"Chap O'Keefe is a fine storyteller and keeps the action moving along at a very nice pace … Joshua Dillard's adventures always play a bit like hardboiled detective yarns set in the Old West, and this one is no exception. The author throws in a number of plot twists and brings everything to a suitably rousing climax." —New York Times bestselling author James Reasoner