Mystery Western Historical Fiction

When Andrew Apperley visits his brother David in the East, he brings along an unexpected companion. Andrew's giant wolf dog, Comanche, is so wild that he has to be chained up for the safety of others. However, when the Apperley brothers come across a man drowning in the East River, Comanche breaks loose from his chains and swims to the man's rescue.

A dying man, Hank Peyton, tells his son Jerry Peyton that, after a lifetime of evil deeds, his only gift to his son will be his extremely valuable gun called The Voice of La Paloma. When Jerry is wrongfully accused of horse thievery, a cunning sheriff blackmails Jerry into stealing the gun from his father in exchange for a clean slate, even though the sheriff has already found the real horse thief.

In 1946 a young couple is brutally murdered in the East Texas town of Cold Springs. Now—34 years later—rumor has it that the sole suspect in these murders has returned. While the response to this report ranges from giddy excitement to vile loathing, another dead body turns up.

It's 1867 in the Wyoming Territory. Chance Creager and his brothers have built their small, isolated ranch in the uninhabited valley near the Greybull River. While hunting, Chance stumbles upon a decaying wagon sunk in mud, near it the grisly remains of an Indian sacrifice. Nothing about the eerie scene makes sense. The mountains have secrets. Chance finds himself pulled deeper into the mystery when he finds a beautiful fugitive named Raven while hunting a deadly mountain lion.

There'd been several killings in Melville. Unusual killings, no witnesses, no clues, and no suspects. Sheriff Jim Bonner was having a time trying to narrow his search down. He had no idea where to look, or what he might be looking for. The murder was so gruesome, so unexpected, neither him nor his deputy, Smitty Younger, knew where to start looking. Whoever was doing this to his peaceful town was clever and covered his tracks. So Jim set about setting a trap for the villain.

Victor Frank is no ordinary killer. For one, he kills women with his bare hands. When he kills John T.'s mother and tells him he's "better off without her," John T. swears he'll track him down someday and kill him. Wesley Collins is a Texas Ranger, who's already had a run-in with Victor in his earlier days. He's bound to find him once the Rangers retire him before he does any more damage. Rascal Mills' wife was killed by Victor. He's got three kids left without a mother.

With outlaws wrecking havoc left and right, a cow town in Texas is on the brink of becoming a ghost town. That's when it's time to call in Chicago-based Pinkerton agent Ash Tallman and his partner Vivian Valentine. Going undercover as a handsome, charming drifter, Ash is always ready with his gun and popular with the ladies. And the lovely, vivacious Viv plays the role of a fervent evangelist, offering salvation with the promise of a sweeter reward to any sinner who can give her clues.

This book is a work of fiction that tells the story of the first gold strike in the Montana Territory along Willow Creek in 1862. The gold camp grew to over 10,000 people, and Bannack became the first capitol of the Territory of Montana. My story tells about the lives of the four gold miners that made the strike, and it recounts the many hardships endured by the men and women living in a gold camp in the high mountains.

Ranger Burrack and Federal Marshal Summers must battle Arizona regulator Morgan Waite and his band of vigilantes. When Burrack and Summers apprehend Cold Devil's saloon owner Jack Spain, Spain offers $10,000 to anyone who frees him. Getting wind of Spain's reward, Waite and his posse bushwhack the lawmen and leave them for dead in a terrifying landslide. But blazing gunfire will soon heat up the town of Cold Devil.

An Indian family is brutally murdered. Greenhorn Deputy US Marshal Jubal Smoak figures he knows the killer: the renegade Crow Redhand. In pursuit of the outlaw, the lawman rides deep into the tribal lands of the Quapaw and encounters a legend. A legend where the stirring of an ancient demon terrorizes the land. Smoak's pursuit of the killer winds him deeper into the Indian lore, on a trail that can only end in death....

After being run out of Arizona on a trumped-up murder charge, the Rio Kid spent three years in Mexico, learning how to shoot quicker than any man on the range. Now he's headed home to clear his name. But before he reaches Arizona, the Kid will have to pass through the deadliest border region in the West. Nestled snugly in a bend of the Rio Grande, Hell's Half Acre is a lawless outpost claimed by both Mexico and the United States, and belonging to neither. There, justice comes from the barrel of a six-gun, and the only sentence is death.

When their wagon breaks down in the desert, Reverend Jon Keyes and his ailing wife, Lorna, find themselves at the mercy of blistering heat, punishing thirst, and circling buzzards. On the brink of death, they are rescued by Caleb Hobbs and his beguiling daughter, Deliverance, who take them to their home in San Melas. It's a strange little town, built to resemble the New England village they left behind.

Before the Civil War, Argyle Dollarhyde had everything a man could ever want: a beautiful wife, three strong sons, and a prosperous stake in the booming cotton industry. But now Union troops have left the South in ruins - and Dollarhyde's life is in shambles. Refusing to fall prey to carpetbaggers, Dollarhyde gathers up his family and sets out for the one place a man can still live free: Texas. Where the natives are as dangerous as the land itself.

They ride after sundown. Black robed figures with skulls for faces, terrorizing the town of Recoil like the horsemen of the Apocalypse. If the sheriff hopes to defeat this hellish band of outlaws, he'll need back-up. Enter Colonel Shamus O'Brien. The seasoned ranch hand and patriarch has fought off more than his share of horse thieves and marauders. But he's never seen anything like these ornery devils.

Civil war devastated the country and left Rachel Sawyer stranded in a dead-end job as a seamstress with no prospects for marriage. Men are thin on the ground in Massachusetts, so Rachel and her best friend travel west, to Seattle, with the handsome Talbot brothers. Jason Talbot, the eldest brother and wealthy owner of a lumber company, is so far beyond her reach that falling in love with him is the most non-sensical thing she could do. So, of course, she does. But after one sensual midnight encounter, Jason pushes her away.

It is 1838. The first wagon train to Oregon country moves slowly across the Great Plains, reaching the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in early autumn. Led by wagon scout “Whip” Holt, the 500-strong community of courageous men, women, and children prepare for the bitter winter ahead. Among them are dreamers and drifters, foreigners and natives, friends and enemies.

In the town of 34 Corners, Colorado, Matt Jensen rides into a savage blood feud. Thirty years ago two friends came West and built a thriving cattle business. Now, their families have become kill-crazy enemies and the town is awash in a frenzy of killing. Add in hired gunmen on both sides of the fight, and two lovers crossing the dividing line, and the terror will never end. Eager to put as many miles between himself and 34 Corners, Matt Jensen just can't bring himself to leave without trying to stop the bloodshed.

The Man Who Moiled for Gold draws its title from the Robert W. Service poem: "The Cremation of Sam McGee". The poem tells of suffering, loneliness, frustration, and ultimately death. Charley Martin experienced all of these emotions along with love and success while becoming the man who moiled for gold. Charley Martin, in 1912, is found mining the hard rock of Butte, Montana. Years of breathing the fine quartz dust in the pits have given Charley silicosis. Discovery of this incurable condition, by the mine super, brought an abrupt change to the 69-year old miner's life.

The Lovely Bones meets the wild, Wild West in this haunting tale inspired by a true story. Pregnant out of wedlock, 16-year-old Annie Moore is sent to live at a convent for fallen women. When the nuns take her baby, Annie escapes, determined to find a way to be reunited with her daughter. But few rights or opportunities are available to a woman in the 1860s, and after failing to find a respectable job, she resorts to prostitution in order to survive.

When Santa Claus enters a Texas bank just before Christmas in 1927, no one expects him to pull a gun. The fake white beard hides his identity from his neighbors while he and three others take everything. But their easy heist goes sideways fast when armed lawmen and citizens assemble to claim a new reward for dead bank robbers. Taking hostages, the gang forces a path through a frenzied and bloody shootout, setting the whole Lone Star state on their trail. One bandit dies in the getaway.