New Mexico Territory, 1882: two itinerant lawmen walk their horses down the long, shale-scattered slope into the frontier town of Appaloosa. Below them, lies rancher Randall Braggs' new fiefdom. Ever since he gunned down Appaloosa's marshal, Braggs and his men have owned the town, stealing, beating, murdering with impunity - living off it like coyotes feeding off a dead buffalo carcass. Summoned by Appaloosa's oppressed aldermen, Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are here to restore the rule of law. They've done it before, they know what to do only too well: shoot quick, shoot clean, reload. But they aren't the only new arrivals in town. The enigmatic Mrs Allison French has stepped off the train with only a dollar to her name, a keen sense of survival and a good eye for a strong man. Finding one isn't going to a problem - Appaloosa is full of them: Cole, Bragg, Hitch. The problem is that Allie French isn't afraid to hedge her bets - and that Virgil Cole's heart isn't as steady as his gun hand. Appaloosa is an intelligent, emotionally profound novel, told in bone-clean prose wryly leavened with whip-sharp dialogue. It's deeply satisfying on four levels: one, it's a well-told historical adventure and a modern re-interpretation of a classic theme; two, it's an ode to unassailable friendship; three, it's a subtle love story between two profoundly flawed people; and four, the way Parker writes, you'd swear the pages turn themselves.

1) United States

2) Switzerland

3) Japan

4) Czech Republic

Again, and always, for Joan.

It should be called First Appearances in this case. 

Everett Hitch 

Virgil Cole

Allie French - Virgil's love interest. 

Vince - a villian, we see him again in "Ironhorse".

Chapter 3

"Always know where you are, Cole used to say" - It's from Gertrude Stein's 1907 novella "Melanctha".

Chapter 6

"I’d never been to Paris, but I’d read about it, and I was pretty sure there were no cafés there like this one" - Hitch may be right. 

Chapter 7

"Town Tamers" - Gunsmoke episode; there was also a 1965 western movie called "Town Tamer".

Chapter 14

“I run off like a yellow dog,” - It's from Buffalo Bill "And here I thought you'd run off like a yellow dog."

Chapter 16

“What’s the difference,” Cole said. “You know it. I know it. You ever read this man Ralph Emerson?”

“Some sort of philosopher,” I said - Indeed. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a famous essayist, poet and philosopher. 

Chapter 24

Don’t matter what I think. You ever hear of this fella Clausewitz?”

“Who?” - Carl von Clausewitz, a german general and military theorist. Hitch read his work "Vom Kriege" at West Point.

Chapter 35

"Southern Cheyenne" - they are a federally recognized tribe in western Oklahoma.

Chapter 49

"Horses ain't too smart" - This shows up in other Cole / Hitch novels as well. I'm not sure, but was this from Gunsmoke? I've only found this quote in another book called "The Teacher and Puddin' Head" by Joe R. Tueller.

Chapter 1

“You quick with a handgun?” Cole asked. I said I could shoot, but what I was really good with was the eight-gauge. Cole smiled. “If she could pick it up,” Cole said, “my Aunt Liza could be good with an eight-gauge.”

Chapter 4

"Virgil,” I said. “I’m not minding it, but why are we up here, looking at these horses?”

“I like wild horses,” Cole said.

“Well, that’s nice, Virgil.”

Chapter 7 

“Might have a wife in Silver City,” I said. “Or Nogales, or Bisbee.”

Chapter 9

“‘Jurdiction’?” Cole said and looked at me.

“I believe he means jurisdiction,” I said

“Commiserate,” I said.

“Commiserate,” Cole said. “That’s the word. You and Bragg can commiserate each other.”

Chapter 11

“You got a lot of experience with women, Everett?”

“From Fort Worth to Cheyenne,” I said. “I got more notches on my pecker than a handsaw.”

Chapter 21

“I can cook, you know,” Allie said.

She had put her hand on my back and was beginning to move it up and down my spine. “I never thought you couldn’t,” I said.

Chapter 34

“The reason the above-named folks are better’n you,” Cole said, “is ’cause you got feelin’s.”

“Hell, Virgil, everybody got feelin’s.”

“Feelin’s get you killed,” Virgil said.

Chapter 37

“What’s that thing you always used to say, Virgil? Read it in some book?”

“Clausewitz,” Cole said. “Clausewitz says you gotta plan for what your enemy can do, not what you think he’ll do.”

“Fuck Clausewitz,” Bragg said.

Chapter 40

“She can play the piano, and she cooks nice, and she’s very clean.”

Cole’s voice was quiet in the near darkness. He was listing assets, I thought, deciding whether to buy.

“But,” Cole said, “it appears she’ll fuck anything ain’t gelded.”

Chapter 47

“And she reminded you how you saw her naked.”

“Yeah,” I said, “she did.”

“That was a kind of flirting, you dumb man.”

Chapter 58

“Goddamn it, Everett,” Cole said.

“Is this about something, or are you just trying to bore me to death?”

“Just musing,” I said.

“Well, muse about fucking or something,” Cole said.

“Sure,” I said.