Elmer Kelton

The Buckskin Line tells of Texas' chaotic early years, when a ragtag group of irregular volunteers fought to defend the far edges of settlement from incursion by Indians and frontier outlaws. In time, they would become known as the Texas Rangers. This is a story of the early days when... An...

The Time It Never Rained helped convince the Western Writers of America to declare seven-time Spur Award winner Elmer Kelton the greatest Western writer of all time. Forged from Kelton’s 1950s observations of drought-ravaged West Texas, this compelling novel tells the story of one rancher’s...

The Texas Frontier, 1865 The Civil War is over and Texas is reluctantly yielding to the Union soldiers spreading across the state, even into the dangerous Comanche country. David "Rusty" Shannon, proud member of a "ranging company" attempting to protect Texas settlers from Indian depredations...

Chosen by his peers as the best Western writer of all time and honored with an unprecedented seven Spur Awards, Elmer Kelton is “one of the giants of the Western genre” (Booklist). In Other Men’s Horses, a young 1880s Texas Ranger must track down a fugitive who gunned down a notorious...

Before he set down his pen, seven-time Spur Award winner Elmer Kelton—the Western Writers of America’s “Best Western Writer of All Time”—cut 50 notches on his gunbelt of classics. In this final novel of the Texas Rangers, a young lawman finds his mettle put to the test while bringing...

In the aftermath of a bitter and bloody war for independence, Texans have finally claimed their freedom from Mexico - but they don't have much else to brag about. Joshua Buckalew has left behind the deserted battlefields that claimed his brother Thomas. The war has cost him much, but it has also...

Elmer Kelton, author of over a dozen popular westerns, was named the Greatest Western Writer of All Time by the Western Writers of America. He has won multiple Golden Spur Awards. The Smiling Country, filled with pathos and humor, is set in the last days of the Old West. Hewey Calloway may be...

Spur-Award winning author Elmer Kelton delivers the sequel to his novel Slaughter with this powerful story of one man's search for peace on the war-stricken plains of the Wild West. In The Far Canyon, Kelton masterfully unveils for his listener the finality of the buffalo’s demise, the...

In the spring of 1874 the Ranger companies that protect settlers against Indian raids and outlaw bands are being reorganized and David "Rusty" Shannon is the most sought-after veteran for reenlistment. But Shannon has new goals for his life: He is in love with Josie Monahan, daughter of the...

When Texas Ranger private Andy Pickard is assigned to help patrol the Texas-Mexico border country he rides directly into a deadly feud.

When former cattle man Dundee wanders into the town of Titusville, he's broke, tired and itching for a fight. Instead, he gets a job offer...from none other than the top man in town, John Titus. Titus recruits Dundee to find out who's rustling his extensive herd of cattle. But for Titus, it...

Six-time Spur Award winner Elmer Kelton was named the greatest Western author of all time by the Western Writers of America. In this novel, 18-year-old farmer Trey McLean aspires to be a cattle rancher. He leaves East Texas with four cows and heads west, but a corrupt sheriff quickly steals the...

Here are 16 stories, where good meets bad, and everything in between, from the legendary author of the West, Elmer Kelton. Law of the Land chronicles some of his most exciting and dangerous tales of the Old West, collected together for the first time....

In Hard Trail to Follow, by seven-time Spur Award winner Elmer Kelton, young Texas Ranger Andy Pickard vows to track down the bank robber he thinks killed his friend and mentor. But as he traverses the rugged terrain, Andy's perplexed at the glowing reports of the felon's kindness and integrity...

Honored by the Western Writers of America (WWA) as one of history's 25 Best Westerns, and based on an actual 1883 Texas cowboys' strike, this Golden Spur Award-winning novel tells the gripping saga of veteran cowboys and upstart cattle lords vying for power and vainly resisting change. Recipient...

Daniel Provost is the son of a farmer. Living up to his father's high standards for the farm is very hard work, but his life is basically comfortable and a loving woman is waiting to become his wife. When a well-traveled stranger, bearing a story of Jim Bowie's legendary silver mine, appears at...

Elmer Kelton, beloved chronicler of the Old West and recipient of an unprecedented seven Spur Awards, recounts the story of Santa Anna's lesser known massacre through the eyes of a lone survivor. Even in his old age, Josh Buckalew sometimes awakens in a cold sweat as he relives those horrifying...

Rascally cowboy Hewey Calloway is heading north to Colorado on a horse drive for an old friend when he gets word that one of his hired hands is planning to rob him. After the plot is foiled, the fugitive horsehand is on the run and leaving bodies in his wake....

Winner of a record seven Spur Awards, Elmer Kelton pens fast-paced stories with well-developed characters and unbeatable excitement. In the midst of a long-standing family feud, three Rangers must fight to keep order in the tenuous state of post-Civil War Texas. Kelton's The Smiling Country is...

“Eyes of the Hawk was inspired by an old Texas legend about an embittered father who swore to kill the town that had killed his son, and let vengeance turn him into the man he hated most.” (Elmer Kelton) No one wants you to tamper with a legend, especially by telling the truth. So begins the...