After Texas won its independence, the Mexican people left stranded on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande continue to live as they have for centuries. Not even the Civil War and Reconstruction have changed their way of life. Politics and greed are about to put an end to all that, even if it means murder. Outraged at being treated like second class citizens, the Mexican people have a different outcome in mind. They outnumber the Anglo population by ten to one. If they are to be treated like dogs, it's time for the dogs to bite. As blood flows on both sides of the conflict, an undercover Texas Ranger is sent into El Paso County to investigate. In a region where life is cheap and crime and corruption are as common as dirt, can one man find a just solution and prevent a war, or will death and hell ride into the borderlands on a pale horse? The Fourth Horseman is another great book for fans of Dan Arnold’s Historical Fiction. The story is based on one of the worst chapters in the history of Texas, the San Elizario Salt War. Fans of Louis L’ Amour will love this Western which may also remind them of Robert B. Parker or Elmore Leonard, with a touch of Cormac McCarthy for good measure.

    The Apache Indians were apt to bolt from the reservation at any time and murders were commonplace. Every man went armed and bad whiskey was common, as was over-indulgence; in New Mexico, fights that might have involved fists in other times and places involved guns, and often enough the fight left one or more dead by the time it was over. Corruption was the norm. The Santa Fe Ring, an alliance of crooked lawyers, politicians, and land speculators, controlled the courts. Cattle theft, ‘rustling’, was for many a way of life. But it was a way of life that threatened the survival of the honest ranchers and herdsmen of the time. It was little wonder that the rustler often ended his life at the end of a rope! Liam Clancy, Irish immigrant and recently-discharged veteran of the Union Army, had lost his young wife and unborn child to cholera. Grieving, he sold his homestead and headed west. More by accident than design, he ended up in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. Crooked sheriffs and corrupt politicians, beware! This is as far as he will go. He will fight to protect himself, his property, and the young woman he intends to make his bride!