City of Widows (25 page)

“I still prefer the odds.”

She fixed the hat to her hair with a pin long enough to picket a horse and gathered up her reticule. The pocket pistol inside made it hang crooked when she slid the loop over her wrist. “It's a pity. I like you, Page. We could have enjoyed each other.”

“You liked Junior.”

She glared briefly at my reflection in the mirror. Then she lowered her veil over an expression of trackless purity and went out to join the other widows.

By Loren D. Estleman from Tom Doherty Associates

City of Widows

The High Rocks

Billy Gashade

Stamping Ground

Journey of the Dead

Aces & Eights

Jitterbug

The Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association

Thunder City

Praise for the Page Murdock novels of Loren D. Estleman

“This is the perfect novel for a dude ranch vacation or a little quiet time by the campfire this summer.…
White Desert
is a psychological novel as well as a mystery and a Western. That's a tall drink of water in any book.”

—
The Rocky Mountain News

“Given Estleman's skill in evoking a sense of place, I would advise the reader to wrap up in a blanket and settle down close to the fireplace before opening a book that makes the weather real.… I don't often drink hot chocolate during a heat wave, but it might be a useful potion against frostbite induced by reading
White Desert.…
All of Estleman's characters are so well-drawn, no character is minor.”

—
Amarillo Globe-News

“Enough action in this Western novel to satisfy any reader.”

—
The Dallas Morning News
on
White Desert

“Murdock is a classic hero, tough as nails and twice as rusty. He may be the only Western hero who dislikes horses.… Estleman writes with a straightforward savagery … [and] will keep you turning pages compulsively.”

—
The Post Courier
on
White Desert

“[Estleman] has a genius for re-creating a past era with a clear and unsentimental eye.”

—
The Poisoned Pen
on
White Desert

“This is a Western novel that also is a work of literature.… Eloquent.… Evocative.… Estleman also evokes the pace, speech and violence of those days.… Right on target.”

—
San Antonio Express-News
on
Journey of the Dead

“Prose as picturesque as the Painted Desert. When Page Murdock shuffles the words, deal me in.”

—
The New York Times Book Review
on
City of Widows

“Estleman's prose and ability to set a mood are always first-rate.”

—
The Chicago Sun-Times
on
City of Widows

“Estleman could rewrite the Ann Arbor phone book and I'd pay to take a peek.”

—
Chicago Sunday Tribune

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

CITY OF WIDOWS

Copyright © 1994 by Loren D. Estleman

All rights reserved.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN: 0-812-53538-3

First edition: April 1994

First mass market edition: March 1995

eISBN 9781466851832

First eBook edition: July 2013