Western Indian Fiction

A Zuni Indian boy dies in a bizarre ritual slaying - and his best friend, a Navajo youth, is missing. Navajo police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn tracks the friend from Zuni village to Navajo hogan, from anthropological dig to hippie commune, across the desert of New Mexico and Arizona.

Award-winning author Craig Johnson's critically acclaimed debut Western mystery takes listeners to the breathtaking mountains of Wyoming for a tale of cold-blooded vengeance. Four high-school boys were given suspended sentences for raping a Cheyenne girl. Now, two of the boys have been killed, and only Sheriff Walt Longmire can keep the other two safe.

More than any other 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 buys, toughs, roughs, sidekicks and saints.

He came west to the Rockies as a young runaway and grew into a legend among the already legendary frontier mountain men. They called him Preacher - a name that would become a monument to all who sought adventure in the savage wilderness of America's untamed west. The only man with the skills to lead a wagon train on the last leg of the rugged Oregon trail, Preacher knows they're headed into trouble. It's hard enough for a hundred greenhorns to survive the wilds of the northwest; being pursued by thieving renegade outlaws and Indians with a thirst for gold makes it damn near impossible.

Tell Sackett had fought his share of Indians and managed to take something of value from his battles: a deep and abiding respect. But that respect is lost when Apache braves kidnap his nephew, forcing Tell to cross the border into the Sierra Madres to bring the boy back. What troubles Tell more, though, is the boy’s mother: Could she possibly be inventing a rescue mission to deliver her husband’s brother into an ambush?

Larry McMurtry continues the story of Tasmin Berrybender and her family in the Wild West of the 1830s. This is the point in time when mountain men and trappers like Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, though still alive, are already legendary figures, and when the clash between the Indian tribes and the encroaching white Americans is about to turn into tragedy.

In 1885, while The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was becoming one of the best-selling American classics of modern times, Mark Twain began this sequel in which Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Jim head west on the trail of two white girls kidnapped by Sioux warriors. Fifteen thousand words into the work, Twain stopped in the middle of a sentence, never to go back. The unfinished story sat on dusty shelves for more than a hundred years until author Lee Nelson decided to finish it.

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.

The year is 1870, and Fool's Crow, so called after he killed the chief of the Crows during a raid, has a vision at the annual Sun Dance ceremony. The young warrior sees the end of the Indian way of life and the choice that must be made: resistance or humiliating accommodation.

Elmer Kelton is hailed as the greatest Western author of all time by the Western Writers of America and has earned six Spur Awards during his impressive career. In Badger Boy, Kelton effortlessly sweeps listeners back to the post-Civil War Texas frontier, where ranger Rusty Shannon hopes to settle down as a respectable farmer. But trouble brews when Rusty captures Badger Boy, a white child raised by the Comanches who murdered his parents.

Louis L'Amour's tales of adventure cannot be surpassed for sheer storytelling excitement, and they stand as a testament to his legendary appeal. Here are timeless tales of danger and daring, wanderlust and heroism, filled with ordinary men and women facing often insurmountable challenges with courage, dignity, honor, and heart.

The seventh novel in the acclaimed Sean Stranahan mystery series: Scarecrows are appearing in the cliffs above the Smith River in Montana, and state investigator Harold Little Feather is trying to discover the culprit leaving the hay figures in the cliffs, with signs painted that read "No Smith River Mine - Not on My Watch." The event is related to a copper mine project that threatens the river, but his investigation takes an ominous turn when a little girl claims that a scarecrow chased her in the night.

By 1873, the great buffalo herds have been all but wiped out, and the hide hunters are looking for other work. So when Gage Jameson hears of one remaining herd, he sees a final opportunity to make a huge profit. But to find the buffalo, he will have to take his line of wagons deep into Comanche territory, where death lurks behind every rock.

As the Revolutionary war draws to an end, the violence on the frontier only accelerates. The infamous Girty brothers incite Indians to a number to massacres, but when the Village of Peace, a Christian utopian settlement is destroyed, the settlers know they will have to hunt them down.

This third volume of Louis L'Amour's collected stories is a thrilling tribute to the unique spirit of our frontier heritage and proves again the enduring popularity of America's favorite storyteller.

The American Revolution is over, but the violence continues in the Ohio Valley. Jonathan Zane and Lewis Wetzel face constant action, trying turn the tide. But just when the beautiful Betty Sheppard has convinced Jonathan to give up his lonely war, she is captured, and taken into the unknown wilderness. Jonathan and Lewis set out on their last desperate journey to save her.

At the end of the Civil War, a tremendous stream of soldiers and settlers began moving westward along the Bozeman Trail, cutting deep into sacred Sioux hunting grounds. For Red Cloud and his warriors, a bloody fight to retain their ancestral homeland proved inevitable. Brash Captain William J. Fetterman leads his troops into battle with the angry natives, while frightened white settlers anxiously await the outcome of the fight. The Fetterman Massacre of 1866 marked the tragic opening to one of the longest and most dramatic wars in history.

Life has never been simple for Jennifer McBee. As if being shy and hard of hearing wasn’t enough, now Jennifer is faced with the humiliation of her failed wedding. Desperate to escape, Jennifer decides to leave heartbreak behind her and travels west to be with her brother, the pastor of a small Nebraska town called Daisy Creek. While her brother has hopes for her making some new friendships with the townsfolk of Daisy Creek, Jennifer still feels removed from the community of this close-knit town.

Josephine Swift is a seamstress at a dress store in Chicago. After a harrowing incident at the store, she takes flight and makes a brave decision that will change her life forever. She begins writing to Anthony Douglas, a ranch owner in Oklahoma. It isn't long before she is on her way there to marry him. When she arrives in Oklahoma, events take an unexpected turn when she finds an abandoned Indian baby in the fields. Unable to leave the child to the elements and dangers of the wild, she takes him in.

One love-struck businessman; one compassionate Sioux maiden; one heart-wrenching decision. Is the power of love enough to save an entire tribe? Five years ago, when Edward James settled in Bear Creek to manage the mines, he saw a future of business and opportunity. He didn’t plan to fall in love. But since the moment he met Morning Sun, his world has been turned upside down. If only her family would accept him, he could be the devoted husband he longed to be, but how can he convince them that he’s worthy of Morning Sun’s love?