In most tales of the West, the women are almost non-actors, minor figures in sun bonnets. Those are not the people in the latest book from New York Times bestselling author Chris Enss.

It’s called “Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous and Wayward Ladies of the Old West” and it’s filled with zippy, entertaining stories about people like Squirrel Tooth Alice, the Faro Bandit, and Big-Nosed Kate, all of them more handy with a gun than a bonnet.

Enss has a book launch and signing Saturday at noon at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum in Nevada City, and she’s in our studio.