Rio Matanza - Wayne D. Dundee

Bounty hunter Bodie Kendrick returns in RIO MATANZA, the second in the series by Wayne D. Dundee after HARD TRAIL TO SOCORRO. In this one, when two outlaw gangs team up, Kendrick joins forces with another bounty hunter, Doc Turpin, to bring in all of the owlhoots. But following the successful conclusion of that job, Doc suddenly disappears with a beautiful, mysterious señorita before he and Kendrick can collect the money that's owed to them. Even though Kendrick and Doc aren't actually partners, Kendrick feels enough loyalty to his comrade in arms to want to find out what happened to him. The trail leads Kendrick below the border and right into the middle of a rebel uprising against the corrupt, brutal Rurales who rule northern Mexico.

As usual with Dundee's Westerns, the protagonist is tough and likable, the villains are suitably evil (and stubborn about dying), the setting is rendered in vivid prose, and there are plenty of great action scenes. The Bodie Kendrick novels are classic hardboiled Western adventure yarns that would have been right at home as Gold Medal paperbacks in the 60s and 70s. Highly recommended.