Beecher Island Tim Champlin (Five Star, $29.95)

In Tim Champlin’s Beecher Island, Matt Talbot, itinerant typesetter and reporter, becomes embroiled in the 1868 siege of 50 army scouts by hostile Cheyenne on Beecher Island in Colorado’s Arikaree River.

The situation is desperate, so Talbot sneaks off to save his own life. He survives, yet he has to escape the charge of cowardice and betrayal. Despite the initial shallow portrayal of the Indians as ruthless savages, the novel draws us into Talbot’s redemption through a series of other adventures that demand his courage.