The Gringo Bandit by William Hopson (1947)

Ed Lash, an American supporting the Revolution, is assigned along with lawyer Jim Abernathy to deliver a message from Pancho Villa to General Gonzales: Colonel Holden's cattle have been held in Sonora and the order being sent is to move the cattle to Arizona.
But things are incredibly complicated by a love triangle he was involved in. He had shot down Rufe Stinson in a gunfight over Gloria, Colonel Holden's daughter, who is said to have caused it. Of course, she didn't intentionally cause it, but apparently she's to blame anyway.
Rufe's brother Buck, who was masquerading as an Orozquista, "Fuentes", and was working with Abel Ortiz Argumedo, comes looking for revenge and plots with Abernathy to kill Lash. However, Abernathy is in love with Gloria and wants to marry her, and a girl named Maria Elena Chacon is in love with Lash, having been a nurse for him.

The book deals a little with race and cultural identity: Lash is derogatorily called a "greaser lover", and feels almost more Mexican in some ways than American. He speaks fluent Spanish, is personal friends with Villa and feels comfortable socialising with Villa's other soldiers.
On the other hand the Chinese people are faceless, "scurrying" servants. Their boss, Stelle Bleeker, doesn't even bother to speak their language or learn their names, even though she knows the story of one of them.
Plus, the novel generalises all Americans to be civilised people. When Buck Stinson assaults Ed Lash, Hopson writes, "This was no longer an American or even a sane man." This implies that although Mexicans like Villa can be and are sensitively drawn, apparently they are not sensible or "civilised" the way Jim Abernathy or even Ed Lash are.

Gloria Holden is an ideal "pure" woman always seen in Hollywood Western movies, the prim and proper lady whose life always revolves around men.
Maria Elena Chacon is in love with Lash, but turns him down just so he could be with Gloria (whom he claims to hate but doesn't). But why would she leave him to be with Gloria if she's going with Gloria to Arizona after the Revolution anyway? I understand that she doesn't want to be where she is anymore since her family is dead, so there's nothing more for her in the country. That gives her a better motivation than just demure romantic sacrifice.

Predictably, Maria is killed off after she leaves Lash on his own, which is part of a plot to get Lash out of the way so Abernathy can have Gloria for himself. And probably racist misogyny on the author's part. 

It's interesting that Lash sees her as a symbol of Mexico. It's as though he tries to find himself through her, or that she defines the country for him.
Still, he ends up with Gloria, which feels awfully contrived.
The most charismatic woman in the book is Stelle Bleeker, but she's a fat innkeeper and somehow her weight and unattractiveness give her more proactivity, since apparently she's not acceptable to be anyone's property.

Abernathy is not a particularly gifted lawyer. Most of the time I forget he is one. When he tries to cover up his murder attempt of Lash, he can't keep track of his own lie. He stated that Lash was killed at a hotel, and then changed it almost immediately, claiming that he died fighting in the Revolution.

As for Ed Lash himself, some things about himself are interesting, such as feeling more Mexican than American, but not enough to distinguish himself as a unique character.

There were typos throughout the novel, evidence that it was likely written and published in a haste. That's why the English isn't "ferfect". Even the grammar could be awkward at times. There is one point where Gloria says to her father, "Did you and Jim force Ed to go to Chihuahua to see Villa on pain of death by hanging?" What exactly did she mean by that? When Lash and Abernathy were in Chihuahua, the only one they saw with a rope around their neck was a horse that Villa took for his army.

There are so many plot threads in this one that don't all fit together. The love triangle, the revolution and the cattle drive. The revolution storyline interests me the most, as we have this man integrating into a social group he feels at home with. The battle is vividly realised, and probably the best thing about the whole book.
There was a romance plot, too, in The Wonderful Country, but it doesn't interfere with the story's central theme of cultural identity.

Overall, this is a clumsy mess. The dialogue can be a bit banal, and it doesn't quite fit together as a whole. Reading more about the Mexican revolution has been fun, though.