Death Comes for the Archbishop is a novel by American author Willa Cather, published in 1927. The narrative is based on the real-life figures of Jean-Baptiste Lamy, the first Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Roman Catholic missionary Joseph Projectus Machebeuf. It is told in a stylized and tangential style with third-person narration. The primary character, Bishop Jean Marie Latour, travels with his friend and vicar Joseph Vaillant from Sandusky, Ohio to New Mexico, encountering villainous landowner Buck Scales, who tries to murder them. They are saved from Scales by his wife Magdalena who goes on to serve the European nuns later brought to Santa Fe. The establishment of the clergy in New Mexico involves Latour leveraging his political strength against some of the incumbent priests, as well as engaging in dubious practices to raise donations. Death Comes for the Archbishop was one of Time's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.