Ghost of Sonora, Morgan Hill Mystery Series #1

In the veiled and shadowed history of the West there rides a mysterious horseman. His headless shoulders testify to his death at the hands of the law--in a state that forbade Mexicans like him to own property. A state that turned a deaf ear to the rape and murder of the horseman's beautiful young wife. This is the Ghost of Sonora. Was he man or myth? Was Joaquin Murieta the Napoleon of Banditry, as the California Rangers have charged, or El Patrio, the great liberator of the Mexicans of California? Here is his story. You make the decision.
Dead Man's Revenge
The poor and oppressed of old California cheer Joaquin Murieta as "El Patrio," the great liberator. The wealthy and powerful call him simply "the smiling bandit." Officials dispatch rangers to kill the popular outlaw and bring his head back to them as proof. But justice does not die so easily. Now out of the darkness there rides a mysterious horseman - a headless specter bent on taking his revenge.