THE LAST COWBOYS OF SAN GERONIMO by Ian Stansel in some ways is a western and in some
ways is a murder mystery, but mostly it is about the relationship between two brothers,
Frank and Silas Van Loy. They, along
with Frank’s wife, Lena, are horse people so there are plenty of tales of training
horses and riding, including competitions and a hunt. Perhaps different from your typical reading choices, but well worth checking out.
When the story opens, Frank has been killed and Lena decides
to track his murderer, brother Silas, who has fled on horseback. As they
travel, Lena and Silas separately reflect on their lives and thus recount the
story of events leading to such animosity between the brothers. With a contemporary setting in northern California's Marin County near Highway 101, the natural
vistas described are beautiful and all of that contrasts even more with the
ugly competitive rivalry, violence and ill feelings between the brothers. Since it is
only 208 pages, I plan to suggest THE LAST COWBOYS OF
SAN GERONIMO as a title for multiple levels of our
Senior English seminar on Good and Evil.
Ian Stansel’s short story collection (Everyone’s Irish) was a
finalist for the PEN/Bingham Prize and this debut novel received a starred review
from Library Journal.
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