Comanche: A Novel

“Brett Riley’s COMANCHE is the best western-horror-thriller-ghost story-PI novel ever written."―Tod Goldberg, author of Gangsterland Like a cylinder in a six-shooter, what goes around, comes around.In 1887 near the tiny Texas town of Comanche, a posse finally ends the murderous career of The Piney Woods Kid in a hail of bullets. Still in the grip of blood-lust, the vigilantes hack the Kid’s corpse to bits in the dead house behind the train depot. The people of Comanche rejoice. Justice has been done. A long bloody chapter in the town’s history is over.The year is now 2016. Comanche police are stymied by a double murder at the train depot. Witnesses swear the killer was dressed like an old-time gunslinger. Rumors fly that it’s the ghost of The Piney Woods Kid, back to wreak revenge on the descendants of the vigilantes who killed him.Help arrives in the form of a team of investigators from New Orleans. Shunned by the local community and haunted by their own pasts, they’re nonetheless determined to unravel the mystery. They follow the evidence and soon find themselves in the crosshairs of the killer.

Si Dunn, Lone Star Literary Life

“A clever, imaginative blend of literary fiction, historical fiction, horror, dark humor, and detective procedural.”

David Pitt, Booklist

“Debut novelist Riley tells a quite deliciously twisted tale. The novel is a lot of fun, with a very entertaining story and a great cast of characters.”

Stephen Scott Whitaker, The Broadkill Review

“Brett Riley’s gothic ghost western, Comanche, will delight readers of both westerns and horror, (his) prose crackles, and at times reminds of Stephen King or even Zane Grey. Riley employs a quick pace, with a strong emphasis on the lead protagonist’s character development, private eye Turner, who spends the novel struggling with early sobriety."

Tod Goldberg, author of Gangsterland and Gangster Nation

"COMANCHE is the best western-horror-thriller-ghost story-PI novel ever written."

Laura McBride, author of We Are Called to Rise and In the Midnight Room.

“A small Texas town, a puffed-up mayor, a couple of down and out cops, an alluring psychic, and a murdering phantom: what could go possibly go wrong? ”

Douglas Unger, author of Leaving the Land and Voices from Silence.

"A classic Western for the here and now, delivering redemption through sacrifice, recovery through bravery and heart.”

BJ Hollars, author of Midwestern Strange.

“An atmospheric southern wonderland of guns, grit, bullets, blood and rip-roaring mystery. Riley’s cast of characters are all a little good, a little bad, and a little ugly―a perfect mirror for us all. Saddle up. Hold on tight. And expect no quarter in Comanche, Texas.”

About the Author

Brett Riley is professor of English at the College of Southern Nevada. He grew up in southeastern Arkansas and earned his Ph.D. in contemporary American fiction and film at Louisiana State University. The published author of a body of short fiction, Riley has also won numerous awards for screenwriting. Riley lives in Henderson, Nevada. Comanche is his debut novel.

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