Western Fiction

Crater City, New Mexico, is a bustling mining town brimming with the stench of men hungry to get rich the old fashioned way - by killing the competition. Dennis Conroy is the owner of the biggest saloon in town, and he needs a few good sharpshooters to help protect surveyors laying out a route for a spur line before his rival Hugh Thornton beats him to it. Joe Buckhorn's handy with a gun, so he takes the job. Against his best advice, he'll also take a liking to the boss's daughter. Worse, Buckhorn starts wondering exactly what kind of man he's working for.

More than any writer before or since, Louis L'Amour brought the American West to life. His action-packed stories deal with eternal themes: honor, deceit, passion, betrayal, loyalty, courage, love. His settings are historically accurate, his prose riveting, and his characters colorful: good guys, bad guys, toughs, roughs, sidekicks, and saints.

For outsiders, Painted Canyon, Montana might simply be a picturesque western town, but for rancher and horse trainer Cord Hollister, it's meant salvation. That's why he recognizes in newcomer Shallie Fletcher another lost soul looking for a fresh start. But can he convince her that Painted Canyon is the perfect place to put down roots-and that love awaits if she'll just take a chance?

A brutal attack on Emily Stanton's family has left her for dead...until she is found in the woods by a handsome stranger with a thick brogue who vows to protect her. There's only one problem: As a woman with a noble English background, she has no business keeping company with such a man. For Scotsman Iain MacEnroy, Emily's high-tone accent is a bitter reminder of the oppressive regime he left behind. The last thing he needs is to be burdened by the needs of a beautiful, blue-eyed Englishwoman.

When hunky rancher "Lucky Beau" Luckadeau accuses spitfire Milli Torres of stealing his prize bull, she promptly shoots at him, triggering a neighborly feud that only gets resolved when they discover they share a steamy hot memory from a night long ago. It was a night of passion that has haunted Lucky. The mysterious beauty he seduced at a cousin's wedding has disappeared. He's always been lucky at cards, lucky with cattle, and lucky with land, but he's never been lucky in love.

Nathan Barrett knows what his matchmaking sister is up to but as soon as he spots Emma Montgomery, the unwitting would-be bride, he just can't help himself. He goes along with his sister Leigh and gives Emma a job at his company along with a place to live for the summer - before she leaves to finish her degree. It won't be soon enough, though, since Leigh's put Emma into high gear to fall for this Texas charmer!

Navy SEAL Brian Lake is out of luck. Going rogue on his last mission landed him on a fast track out of the Navy - years too soon to have saved up enough money to buy the ranch he's always wanted. Without a career - or the cash to start over - Brian's options are few, until Army general Augustus Reed steps in with an intriguing new mission - a permanent one. Ignored by her absentee father, duped by thief he appointed to oversee her family's ranch, Cass Reed is done with men for good. From now on she's determined to run Two Willows herself.

Oklahoma ranch hand Tyler Jenkins is too young, too sexy, and too damn wild to be tied down by any single woman for more than a few steamy hours. Widowed rancher Janie Smithwick is too busy paying off her debts to play rodeo with a reckless young cowboy like Tyler - no matter how hot he gets her.

Marshal Will Fain and Deputy Marshal Isum Wood track an escaped murderer who has escaped from the Santa Angela jail with the help of his brothers. They defend the Fain Ranch against a vengeful posse from Fort Griffin intent on murdering Will and Isum, uncover a four-state counterfeiting operation headquartered in San Antonio, and track down one of Texas' most famous bank robbers, Jim Bob Winslow. Will and Isum refuse to recognize the border between Texas and Mexico, and go into Mexico to capture four of the toughest and most murderous outlaws ever known in Texas.

Blade Hamilton is the last of his line. He's never even heard of Crossroads, Texas, until he inherits land there. Riding in on his vintage Harley-Davidson, Blade finds a weathered ranch house, an empty prairie, and a dark river that cuts a decisive path between the Hamiltons' land and that of their estranged neighbors. When Dakota helps a stranger on the roadside, she isn't prepared for the charisma of the man on the motorbike - or for the last name he bears: Hamilton, of her family's sworn enemies.

In Pecos Valley, New Mexico, a cattle war has erupted, pitting rancher against rancher across a once-peaceful land. It has thrust McCallister into the dead-center of one of the most violent battles on record - and barrel to barrel with the greatest challenge he has ever faced. His name is William Bonney. His victims called him Billy the kid. McCallister calls him a bad risk. But in the deadly gamble of the Lincoln County War, placing your bet on an outlaw like the Kid is the only game in town.

Before he left for Afghanistan, Jake O'Reilly had everything - a beautiful wife, a baby on the way, a wonderful life. Three years later his wife is dead, and he is so haunted by his memories of war that he can't bring himself to go home. But when his wife's grandfather tracks him down and persuades him to come work on his ranch, where Jake's daughter is living, he agrees - even though he is reluctant to expose his little girl to the man he's become.

Paul Bäumer is just 19 years old when he and his classmates enlist. They are Germany’s Iron Youth who enter the war with high ideals and leave it disillusioned or dead. As Paul struggles with the realities of the man he has become, and the world to which he must return, he is led like a ghost of his former self into the war’s final hours. All Quiet is one of the greatest war novels of all time, an eloquent expression of the futility, hopelessness and irreparable losses of war.

After her father's death, Lizzy Brookstone, the star trick rider of the all-female Brookstone Wild West Extravaganza, loses interest in performing. Ella Fleming is fleeing a forced engagement when she stows away on the Brookstone train. Lizzy finds her and gives her a job in the costume department. When Mary Reichert, a former sharpshooter for the show, learns that her brother, August, has been killed at the Fleming farm, she returns to the show to find the truth, As the three women work together to discover how August died, Lizzy strives to hold the show together.

Grace Martindale has known more than her share of hardship. After her parents died, raising her two younger sisters became her responsibility. A hasty marriage to a minister who is heading to the untamed West seemed like an opportunity for a fresh start, but a cholera outbreak along the wagon trail has left Grace a widow in a very precarious position.

Duel McClain has lost everything he's ever loved: his wife, his son, his sense of self. But when a strange twist of fate - and a poker game he'll never forget - leaves an innocent little girl in his care, Duel vows to defend his new family to his very last breath. If only he knew a single thing about taking care of babies...Just as Duel swears his life can't get any more complicated, a beautiful woman stumbles into the light of his campfire, desperate for help. Jessie Foltry is hungry, tired, and running for her life.

Eldest son Colt Garrett is the biggest, strongest, and steadiest of the Garrett brothers. Colt accepts his responsibilities, knowing his future is tied to the land. Colt has stayed centered - but when he falls in love, he falls hard. He is mesmerized by Misty Dalton, the younger sister of one of his brother's friends.

Stetson Major and Curtis Traynor are about as opposite as two cowboys can get. Stetson is a rancher, tied to the land he loves in Taos, New Mexico, while Curtis is a rodeo cowboy whose wanderlust never could be tamed. But now Stetson's momma is dying of Alzheimer's, and she can't remember that Curtis hasn't been Stetson's boyfriend for a long time. Curtis's absence makes her cry, so Stetson swallows his pride and calls his ex-lover. To Curtis, Stetson is the one who got away, the love of his life. And Momma is his friend, so he's happy to help out. Yet returning to the ranch stirs up all sorts of feelings that, while buried, never really went away.

Shannon Wilde is the middle sister - and the one who loves animals. She's established her own homestead and is raising sheep for their wool. Things are going fine...until Shannon gets swept over a cliff by Matthew Tucker!

Matt Bodine and Sam Two Wolves were hard on a trail that led them deeper and deeper into Apache territory toward the Mexican border where a bunch of varmints, desperate men who hire out to most anybody to most anything, were operatin' two of the scummiest dodges in the west. Running guns to the Apache and white-slaving kidnapped children. Matt and Sam had hooked up with two companions along the way, a prideful mountain man who'd lost his granddaughter in an Indian raid and a miss searchin' for her brother, taken by the Apache a while back.