In paperback this September from Otto Penzler Books at Harcourt: the final showdown between Private Investigator Scott Weiss and his long-time nemesis, the hired killer the newspapers call The Shadowman.

Weiss goes on a hunt through America 's western wilderness, trying to find Julie Wyant, the beautiful hooker who haunts his dreams. Every move he makes is dogged by the psychopathic hitman who wants Julie just as much as he does. In the end, both men know it will come down to gunfire, a face to face duel in the dead of night that will pit all Weiss's wisdom and instinct against the killer's cool and murderous intelligence.

Weiss's operative Jim Bishop knows what's coming and is racing to stop it before it's too late.

The only thing that's certain is: someone's going to take a bullet.