A Wanted Man (2007) (edit title/settings)

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

• Lark Morgan: Teacher, 27, originally fair-haired but now dyed dark chestnut, brown eyes, small. Beautiful singing voice.
• Rowdy Rhodes: Town marshall, blond hair and blue eyes, handsome, originally from Iowa. Had acted as Deputy in Haven. Payton's son, Rob, but took a new name.
• Jolene Bell: An aging madam with pockmarked skin, three visible teeth and a bustle the size of the Sonoran Desert. She ran a whorehouse where, for a dime, hot bath water could be bought - as well as other things, for a price.
• Ellie Lou Porter: Owner of Mrs. Porter's Rooming House; tiny, frail-looking and plain but shrewd and smart. Knew everything that went on in Stone Creek. Perceptive. Her deceased husband was still a part of her life.
• Willie Moran and Harlan Speeks: Drifters who'd come to Jolene's place. Willie was shorter than Harlan.
• Pardner: Rowdy's yellow dog, much loved and treated very well, but aging.
• Mai Lee: Small woman, Chinese cook at Mrs. Porter's; married to Hon Sing, who knew acupuncture. They'd gone through a lot to save to buy a small house and a piece of land.
• Pappy: Jack Payton, also Payton Yarbro; ice-blue eyes. A man with six sons: Wyatt 35, Nicholas, Ethan, Levi, Robert, Gideon 16, all wanted by the law except Gideon. Once married to Miranda, the boys' mother, who died giving birth to Gideon. Now, Payton has been with Ruby Hollister for years.
• Ruby Hollister: Owner of Ruby's Saloon & Poker House in Flagstaff. Former madam, beautiful, mother of Payton's deceased 4-yr. old daughter Rose. Ruby had dark auburn hair, had never married Payton.
• Sam O'Ballivan: Arizona Ranger, partner with Major Blackstone in a large ranch. Fast gun, trusted.
• Major John Blackstone: Arizona Ranger, tall, broad-shouldered, white hair and deep voice. Legendary in Arizona Territory and has two terms in US Senate in his background.
• Gideon Payton: Jack Payton's youngest, 16, wants to be a railroad engineer. Butternut-colored hair and blue eyes.
• Maddie O'Ballivan: Sam's wife, mother of his infant son and Terran (older). Thick chestnut hair, brandy-colored eyes, ran the general store in Haven; played piano.
• Ben Blackstone: Major's adopted son; blond hair.
• Beaver Franks (Roland): Only in third grade of school but 22 yrs. old and a big man; bothering Lydia. Freckles, red hair, small eyes and large front teeth.
• Lydia Fairmont: Young student at Stone Creek school; daughter of Stone Creek's doctor (Mabel is her stepmother). They lived in a clapboard house on 2nd Street.
• Mabel Fairmont: Stepmother to Lydia, uncaring. Skinny with dark hair and shrewd, greedy eyes.
• Autry Whitman: Lark's former husband, 70, now divorced by her. A tall man, owner of a railroad. He'd bought Lark from a dance hall owner, felt her owned her now.
• Robert Reston: An Arizona Ranger, tall and spare with weather-beaten features. wotj a gray-streaked handlebar mustache and bushy eyebrows. His hair was limp and collar-length and he had brown luminous eyes. He was sharp and intelligent.
• Esau: Whitman's butler, portly and slow, an aging black man.
• Nell Baker: Lydia's aunt, who came to take her home to live. She was plain, with quick, dark eyes and hair pulled severly away from her face. She was a fairly wealthy woman.
• Evans: Nell Baker's carraige driver, a kindly man who was tall and slender.
• Train robber: Vivid blue eyes, rode a black gelding, was leanly built and agile-looking.
• Levi: Straw-gold hair with a dimple in his cheek when he smiled and ice-blue eyes.

Quotes edit see section history

• “I copied the words off the blackboard. Will you tell me if all my letters are headed whence they ought to go, please?”

  Lydia Fairmont, a young pupil, to Lark Morgan, her teacher

• “When somebody presents a puzzle, I have to figure it out. It's part of my nature, I guess.”

  Rowdy to Lark

• “She and her man can't plant anything for a couple of months anyway, and the shack isn't fit to live in. She just got a little excited when I told her I'd rent the property for a dollar down and a dollar a month, that's all.”

  Rowdy to Lark

• “When I need a law, I usually just make one up.”

  Rowdy to Lark

• “Knowledge is valuable everywhere.”

  Lark to Rowdy

• “Bad companions. Now that's almost funny, Pa, coming from you.”

  Rowdy to his father, Jack Payton

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Mrs. Porter's Rooming House: Where people rented a room. It had a homey kitchen with a black cookstove with shiny trim, a round oak table. A large room behind the kitchen was for male boarders, but Lark wanted it. It had its own entrance, a brick fireplace, a desk and a small sitting area. The house was cold; although there were fireplaces in the dining room and parlor, they were seldom lit.
• Ruby's Saloon: In Flagstaff, where Rowdy (Rob) met with his father. Two hours; ride from Stone Creek.
• Stone Creek jail and cabin: Jailhouse in front had one cell, a potbelly stove with a coffee pot on top.The cabin in back had three rooms, a good fireplace, a great cookstove and a table with three chairs. There were hardwood floors, sound windows and a feather mattress on the bed with plenty of blankets. There was also a porcelain pedestal sink with only one spigot, a working pump, an indoor toilet and a stationary copper bathtub. This had a water tank with a wood-burning boiler under it. (The last Marshall had a wife!). Behind the cabin was about an acre of land enclosed by a chicken wire fence. An old, leaning small house had a cardboard For Sale sign on the door. Inside the house was a crumbling stone fireplace, half the floorboards were missing; the vegetable garden was overgrown and there were a teetering privy and well.
• Stone Creek schoolhouse: Bright red building with a belfry; a heavy schoolbell hung there. A well was near the front door and an outhouse was off to the side. A whitewashed fence enclosed the area.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Man from Stone Creek, and followed by The Rustler.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Linda Lael Miller (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.54

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Romance › Authors, A-Z › ( M ) › Miller, Linda Lael
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Westerns
• Books › Romance › Historical
• Books › Romance › Western