23 h 59 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A rider crosses the Texas plains on a black horse—and he has no head.
Near the Leona River, Maurice Gerald catches and tames wild horses. When he helps Louise Poindexter and her family cross a burned prairie, love takes root. But Louise's cousin, Cassius Calhoun, wants to marry her himself. His hatred of Maurice turns their rivalry into open conflict.
In Mayne Reid's The Headless Horseman, a baffling murder draws suspicion toward Maurice, whose black mustang links him to the mystery. Louise refuses to believe the accusations. As the search unfolds, the prairie becomes a place of clues, danger and doubt, while frontier justice threatens the man she loves.
What you’ll discover
- A haunting central mystery Follow the questions surrounding a headless rider and a murder that nobody can explain.
- Love against fierce rivalry Meet a spirited woman whose choice of Maurice provokes her proud cousin's hatred.
- The wide Texas prairie Cross burned ground and open plains where wild horses shape Maurice's daily life.
- Clues beneath your feet Watch loyal tracker Zeb Stump read the ground as suspicion gathers around his friend.
- Honor put to the test Explore the clash between personal pride and justice in the frontier court of the Regulators.
Is it for you?
This is for readers who like old-fashioned adventure, frontier settings and a mystery that unfolds slowly. It suits anyone who enjoys vivid landscapes and dueling rivals. If you want a modern, restrained style or a gentle pace, you may find it less suited.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A planter's family settles on the plains
- An Irish mustanger crosses the plains
- Love and hatred take root together
- A quarrel and a missing brother
- Suspicion falls on an innocent man
- Honor, prejudice and how the story is told
Who’s who
- Maurice GeraldAn Irish mustanger who catches wild horses in Texas, loves Louise Poindexter and wants only to live honestly and freely.
- Louise PoindexterThe spirited daughter of a planter, she loves Maurice and refuses to believe the accusations that rise against him.
- Cassius CalhounLouise's proud and hot-tempered cousin, a former officer who wants to marry her and hates Maurice for being her choice.
- Woodley PoindexterA planter from Louisiana who has moved his family to the hacienda of Casa del Corvo on the Texas plains.
- Zeb StumpAn old backwoods hunter and tracker, rough and honest, who becomes Maurice's loyal friend and reads clues on the ground.
- Isidora Covarubio de los LlanosA proud and passionate Mexican woman of the district who has her own strong feelings for Maurice.
- Phelim O'NealMaurice's cheerful Irish servant, whose loyalty and humor stay with his master through every trouble.
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- Audiobook
- 23 h 59 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Headless Horseman
by Mayne Reid· 1866
Love, rivalry and murder surround a headless rider in Texas.
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Language: English
“Captain Mayne Reid now finally sheathed his sword, once more took up the pen, and began those marvellous tales of adventure which have made his name famous.”
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A planter's family settles on the plains
The story opens in Texas, in the years before the Civil War, on the wide prairies near Fort Inge. Here stands Casa del Corvo, a grand hacienda that has been bought by Woodley Poindexter, a planter who has left Louisiana to start again. He brings his household, his slaves and his two grown children. Louise is his daughter, and Henry is his young son.
Reid takes his time with the setting. He describes the grass sea of the prairie, the chaparral thickets, the rivers and the hot sky, and he makes the land feel like a character of its own. The house is a place of wealth in the middle of wild country, and that contrast matters. Out here the rules of the old South meet the rules of the frontier, and neither fits comfortably.
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The author
Mayne Reid
1818–1883 · Irish-American adventure novelist
Thomas Mayne Reid was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1818. He lived in the United States and England and died in London in 1883. He wrote adventure novels, including The Rifle Rangers, published in 1850, and The Headless Horseman, published in 1865. He also served in the Mexican-American War.
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What is The Headless Horseman by Mayne Reid about?
It is a frontier adventure set in Texas. An Irish horse hunter falls in love with a planter's daughter, makes an enemy of her cousin, and is then caught up in a murder mystery involving a rider with no head.
Who is the headless horseman in the book?
He is a strange rider seen on a black horse across the Texas prairie, and his identity is the central mystery. The story builds suspense around who he is and why the horse looks so familiar.
Is The Headless Horseman by Mayne Reid a true story?
No, it is fiction. Mayne Reid wrote it in the 1860s and set it in Texas before the Civil War, drawing on his own knowledge of the frontier, its animals and its landscape.
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