The Gunman and the Actress

<p>Ex-Pinkerton detective Joshua Dillard gun for hire took on the job of troubleshooter for a French theater company touring the West. Just routine bodyguarding he supposed ... till he met the amazing Gisèle Bourdette a publicity-hungry superstar ahead of her time choking the 1880s New World puritans on their censorious piety.</p><p>Joshua committed 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.</p><p>Meanwhile ruthless Borderland bandit Loco Louey Velarde was after the actress' unbanked takings transported at her quaint insistence in gold coins.</p><p>And sensitive Lorena daughter of domineering rancher and cow-town opera house founder Bennett Maxwell resisted an unwelcome suitor.</p>