Western Fiction

They met in a bloodbath. Two demons in uniform caught in the middle of one hell of a war. Private Chaw, the Rebel, liked chewing tobacco and fighting blue-bellied Yanks. Private Trace, the Yankee, hated Southerners, especially ornery cusses like Chaw. But when the smoke cleared after the Battle of Deadeye Gap, the Blue and the Gray of their uniforms didn't matter anymore. Both were stained blood red. And both were the last men standing....

This incisive history upends the complacency that confines anti-Judaism to the ideological extremes in the Western tradition. With deep learning and elegance, David Nirenberg shows how foundational anti-Judaism is to the history of the West. Questions of how we are Jewish and, more critically, how and why we are not have been churning within the Western imagination throughout its history. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; Christians and Muslims of every period; even the secularists of modernity have used Judaism in constructing their visions of the world.

When Abby Proctor is kidnapped from a train in the middle of the desert halfway to her new life in California, she makes a promise to herself—she will escape. Because there's a reason Abby is leaving Iowa and all its oppressions behind, and she refuses to be someone's prisoner again. Especially when that someone is the infamous female outlaw Joey "JT London" Taylor, Abby's brash, brooding, and inconveniently beautiful captor.

One of the most viewed paintings in American history, Custer's Last Fight, copied and distributed by Anheuser-Busch at a rate of more than two million copies a year, was destroyed in a fire at the 7th Cavalry Headquarters in Fort Bliss, Texas, in 1946. Or was it? When Charley Lee Stillwater dies of an apparent heart attack at the Wyoming Home for Soldiers & Sailors, Walt Longmire is called in to try and make sense of a piece of a painting and a Florsheim shoebox containing a million dollars, sending the good sheriff on the trail of a dangerous art heist.

The days of unrelenting rain had kept the wagon train from moving for almost a week, and the folks were getting frustrated and angry. So, rather than try to cross the swollen Platte River, the wagon master had them rolling southwest hoping to cross when its level dropped. As Joe and Faith led their tent-cart ahead of the lead wagon, they didn’t allow the foul weather to affect their good mood. But it wasn’t Mother Nature who would soon cause them grief.

Elizabeth Thatcher is young, pretty, cultured, and educated. But when she journeys west to teach school in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, she's completely unprepared for the conditions she encounters. Still, she's determined to succeed at the formidable task of fitting in with the locals and shaping the hearts and minds of the schoolchildren in her care.

Driven by hope and vengeance, Carina Maria DiGratia leaves her idyllic home in Sonoma, California, for a new life in the mining town of Crystal, Colorado. Though the town has a rough element, Carina is determined that it will be the place where her dreams come true. Early on, two men vie for her trust - but neither is what he seems. Will Carina discern the truth in time to prevent tragedy?

Raised among the Blackfoot, John Hawk is a valuable asset to the US Army. As a military scout at Fort Ellis, he is able to cross the line between two worlds - and help keep the peace. But when he disobeys a direct order from his commander, Hawk is immediately dismissed from his post. That was the army’s first mistake. The second was losing track of a small mule train en route to Helena.

Sheriff Walt Longmire is enjoying a celebratory beer after a weapons certification at the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy when a younger sheriff confronts him with a photograph of 25 armed men standing in front of a Challenger steam locomotive. It takes him back to when, fresh from the battlefields of Vietnam, then-deputy Walt accompanied his mentor Lucian to the annual Wyoming Sheriff's Association junket held on the excursion train known as the Western Star, which ran the length of Wyoming from Cheyenne to Evanston and back.

When my best friend passes away, her twin brother finally comes home. Regardless of how Silas keeps pinning me with those eyes, or how I can’t breathe whenever he smiles, I won’t forgive how he amputated me from his life a decade ago. If I can make it through the will reading, I’ll never see him again. I’m certain of that. But when the will is read, I can’t believe my ears. Sophie left her daughter for me to raise. But, not just me. Silas too.

In Craig Johnson's latest mystery, Depth of Winter, an international hit man and the head of one of the most vicious drug cartels in Mexico has kidnapped Walt's beloved daughter, Cady, to auction her off to his worst enemies, of which there are many. The American government is of limited help and the Mexican one even less. Walt heads into the 110-degree heat of the Northern Mexican desert alone, one man against an army.

Sixteen-year-old Henry was ejected from the enormous St. Martin ranch and told never to return, or he would be shot on sight. He vowed to return and seek revenge against the entire family. When he finally returned, it wouldn’t be as Henry St. Martin, it would not be as a 16-year-old boy seeking justice for his mother, but as a hardened lawman with the name of Alex Paine.

Urgently needed, a gunslinger to protect a woman, her daughter, and her unborn babe. Newly widowed and with a baby on the way, Hannah Carson faces a chilling ultimatum—marry her evil brother-in-law or be forced off her land. As the town of Red Ridge is swayed against her, loyal but aging ranch hand, Gus, sends away for a gunslinger—the only man who might be able to protect them. Eli Jones takes the job, expecting a simple payday. But the situation is more complicated than he expected, and his presence brings additional risks to Hannah and to himself.

I abandoned our small town the moment I could, leaving my broken heart with my high school sweetheart. He and our best friend were my world growing up, but they had their reasons to stay, and I had mine to go. I tried to start over: a new city, new relationships, even a new name, but I couldn't resist going back home to celebrate my birthday before moving abroad with my fiancés. After all my hard work, I never expected to have the world I'd crafted pulled out from under me, or to come face to face with the man I still dreamed about, or for him to come with a pack that would sweep me away.

When Wyatt Foster returns to Restoration Ranch with a stranger in tow, the welcome is anything but warm—especially from Sophia Reign. As the de facto head of the widows and the heart of the ranch, Sophia is blindsided by Wyatt’s reappearance and the secrets he brings with him. Once the ranch’s trusted foreman, Wyatt has changed, and his quiet explanations only deepen the rift between them, especially when Sophia the depths of the cover-up are revealed. Tensions rise as they clash over leadership, trust, and the stranger caught in the middle, pushing Sophia to the edge of walking away for good.

Everyone knows my grandfather was a less-than-savoury human, but I didn't think he'd stick it to me in new ways after he died. I need a husband to claim my inheritance, and the sexy new lawyer in town volunteers to step in. A fake marriage is the easiest solution to my problem. Besides, it's only temporary, and it comes with perks. It's a simple business transaction. No feelings and no fuss. He's city and I'm country. He's Lexus and I'm a beat-up pickup truck. We couldn't be more different if we tried. So why does my chest hurt when I think of him leaving when our time is up?

Vance Brewster is a hardworking young cowboy. Stovepipe and Wilbur are two new ranch hands working at his side. And all three are caught up in a brewing, trigger-happy Montana range war between the Rafter M and Three Rivers. Then the fury suddenly explodes - in a hail of gunfire, the three men must show their hands: they’re all hiding their true identities. With Vance falling in love with the daughter of the Three Rivers manager, and Stovepipe and Wilbur paid by a tycoon who needs the violence to stop, all three are in mortal danger.

In this second installment of the Saddlebrook Falls series, Rhett Bennett is forced to white-knuckle new feelings he's definitely never had before for a girl he shouldn't care about while simultaneously trying to prove to his brothers he has his shit together.

Civil War is brewing. Everything is about to change. Based on true events. When Regis Royle dreams, he dreams big. And since everything’s bigger in Texas, his dream is to make the Royle Ranch the biggest cattle supplier in the country. Problem is, the country is splitting apart, people are taking sides, and everyone’s gearing up for a full-blown War Between the States. Regis’s kid brother, Shepley, has enlisted in the Army. His trusted foreman “Bone” McGraw has left to rejoin the Texas Rangers. And the rail lines have been rerouted for the war effort.

A new railroad line is coming to Hansen's Bend—and the Old West will never be the same. Especially for the Callahans. They've been running the local wagon train outfit for years. But now a pompous rail boss named Arbuckle wants to put them out of business. This big-city weasel mocks the Callahans' "slow-poke" wagons-and bets he can finish laying track all the way to the end of the line before Callahan's wagon train even makes it over the mountains. Callahan accepts the challenge—and gets gunned down before it even starts . . .