Western Mystery

When Senator George Hearst taps Neville Stryker for another off-the-books job, it leads him straight to the gutted remains of the Mark Hopkins Mansion—once a crown jewel of Nob Hill, now a crime scene soaked in silence. The tenants, the Bosworth family, have vanished, their blood staining the marble, their bodies nowhere to be found. Locals whisper the place is cursed. Haunted. But Stryker knows better. Evil wears many masks, and not all of them are dead. Inside the mansion’s decaying splendor, strange things stir—phantoms of the past, secrets buried deep beneath velvet and stone.

Drawn to a killing ground... Ten thousand dollars. That's the bounty on the head of the most hated man in Texas - the man Flintlock has been hired to guard. The crime was the brutal murder of a young schoolteacher. The verdict was not guilty for lack of evidence. And the suspected killer's first guard was murdered by a shotgun blast.

As both a prisoner and an undercover operative, US Marshal Hank Fallon has faced down some of the most vicious, terrifying, cold-blooded thieves and murderers in the West. Now, Hank is finally free, and he’s got no intention of setting foot inside a jail ever again. But the new federal prison being constructed in Leavenworth, Kansas, needs a warden, and Hank is the right man for the job. He’s got the scars to prove it - and to keep the peace. But keeping these lawless hornets in their nest is no easy feat.

Six men rode into the west Texas town of Rook in December of 1895. Moments later, all six men lay dead in the street, shot to death by the good citizens of the town. Ira “Doc” Pearson is sent by the Texas Rangers to investigate, expected to just rubber stamp the proceedings for the dead men were known as the Lawrence Gang: wanted in Texas and New Mexico for bank robberies, rustling, and murder.

Montana, 1968: The small town of Paradise Valley is ripped open when popular rancher and notorious bachelor Tom Butcher is found murdered one morning, beaten to death by a baseball bat. Suspicion among the tight-knit community immediately falls on the outsider, Carl Logan, who recently moved in with his family and his troubled son Roger. What Carl doesn't realize is that there are plenty of people in Paradise Valley who have reason to kill Tom Butcher.

In the inhospitable lands of the Utah Territory, during the winter of 1888, thirty-seven-year-old Deborah Tyler waits for her husband, Samuel, to return home from his travels as a wheelwright. It is now the depths of winter, Samuel is weeks overdue, and Deborah is getting worried. Deborah lives in Junction, a tiny town of seven Mormon families scattered along the floor of a canyon, and she earns her living by tending orchards and making work gloves. Isolated by the red-rock cliffs that surround the town, she and her neighbors live apart from the outside world.

Tales is a collection of six short stories by Montana author Dave Lloyd.

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.

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.

There is an authenticity in John Duncklee's voice that you don't find in other writers of the American West today. His characters are as lively as a wild mustang stallion, and as unpredictable as the weather. If you love a good story, treat yourself to John Duncklee.

Buck Hawkins and Dobie Garrett are a pair of cowboys in the Texas Panhandle. They're unlikely outlaws - until their ranch is stolen and the two cowhands framed for rustling and horse theft by a crooked banker. Now with a price on their heads and hunted by the law, the two cowboys decide that if they have to ride the outlaw trail, they might as well be the best holdup artists in Texas. Problem is, they aren't all that good at the trade.

When Wilf Kasmire is asked to guide some hunters on a newcomer’s ranch, he doesn’t think anything is up. After all, he wants to try to make a living as a guide and outfitter so he can enjoy the outdoor life he loves. As he goes about his work, he is nagged by the disappearance of a young woman he used to spend time with, and no one seems to be trying very hard to find her. Ultimately, the two questions come together: does Wilf want to keep on selling the gifts of nature to arrogant clients, and what happened to Heather Lea?

Black Wind, Arizona is torn apart with prejudice and hatred, fueled by the greed of a ruthless town boss and his hired guns. A nearby colony of Chinese immigrants, the hapless victims of violence, turn to Clint Adams for help. A lovely Oriental enchantress persuades him to join her people and to share her bedroll. So the Gunsmith will train the Chinese laborers in the art of western warfare, until he discovers he has his own score to settle with the wild town.

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.

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.

Acclaimed as one of Joseph Conrad's finest literary achievements, this gripping novel deftly depicts the political turmoil of nineteenth-century Russia and follows the dramatic developments in the life of a student, Razumov, as he prepares for a career in the czarist bureaucracy. In a plot that twists and turns, Razumov unwittingly becomes embroiled in a revolutionary conspiracy when he gives refuge to a fellow student who assassinated a public official. Increasingly enmeshed in the radical's political intrigue, he betrays the anarchist who had placed blind faith in him.

Durwood Oak Jones is a man of few indulgences. One he does allow is a standing ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine soliciting “injustices in need of attention”. This month’s bundle of letters includes one from Carol Bridges, mayor of the dusty, blue-collar town of Chickasaw, Texas. For nearly a century, Chickasaw has relied on the jobs and goodwill of Hogan Consolidated, a family-run manufacturer of industrial parts. Now East Coast lawyers and investment bankers have taken aim at the company.

Small-town boys Caleb and Jake Boyd spend their days splitting logs and barely scraping by in the badlands of New Mexico. Caleb, a decorated war hero, wants to put his fighting days behind him, find a decent job, and start a quiet life with his new fiancée. But Jake is always dreaming bigger than he should, and when he stumbles across a large crop of marijuana hidden in the wilderness, he thinks he has finally hit the jackpot.

Lenora Whitaker never thought spending one night with U.S. Marshal Clayton Caldwell would put them in the crosshairs of a killer. Connected to a protective custody case gone awry, they are both attacked, leaving Clayton with a damaging case of amnesia and forcing Lenora to go on the run. After taking a bullet to save her life, Clayton is unable to remember Lenora or that he's the father of her baby. But the moment he tracks her down, it's clear the attraction is still there.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Hank Darringer finds the marshal, his mentor, hanging from a tree. He tracks the killers to Prospect, a bounty hunter's paradise, where he's as much a target as the wanted men. The mysterious Rosalee Carter adds to the intrigue as he seeks his prey.