National Network for Equitable Library Service

High on a mountain above Albuquerque lives a man who's a throwback to the outlaw heroes of the Old West. Rainbow Porter lives on the edge, watches his back, and occasionally drops into the valley below to lend a hand to those in trouble. To his door comes lovely Eurasian April Bow, adopted daughter of one of his Vietnam buddies, to appeal for help: her father has been blasted to bits in his California home by a mine, leaving her orphaned, broke, and scared to death. Responding, Rainbow begins a quest that turns into a journey back into his own past, where he and a very select few did very well profiteering out of the war, to find out why accounts, literal and figurative, appear to have been reopened. This first mystery combines appealing characters with a well-paced adventure staged in New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexco with a sidetrip to the Philippines. Recommended to fans of John D. MacDonald and Randy Wayne White, whose stubborn Travis McGee and Doc Ford would be pleased to figure in Rainbow's story.