Western Mystery

This program features multicast narration. “I read everything Ivy Pochoda writes. Her capture of the complexities, diversities, and insanities of today’s life and culture is next to none. I loved Sing Her Down. The world will too.” —Michael Connelly, author of Desert Star No Country for...

A modern-day Sioux warrior is "on the warpath," avenging five of his most famous ancestors by killing contemporary white leaders. When the Indian "Avenger" murders the Secretary of the Interior before thousands of onlookers at a Native American gathering on the Washington Mall, President Chamberlain decides to intervene. But, instead of relying on federal authorities, she turns to local D.C. detective Quinn Shannon, an over-the-hill cop with retirement on his mind.

While investigating a clutch of brutal murders, Simms is dragged into a life-and-death struggle with a bunch of desperadoes, numerous Indians, a gunfighter, and a double-crossing US Marshal by the name of Dixon. This will not be the easiest time of his life, nor the most peaceful. By the end of it, a lot of people will end up dead. All Simms needs to do is make sure he isn't one of them.

Hank Savage has always believed his old girlfriend was murdered. Now he's come home to Cardwell Ranch and, with the help of PI Frankie Brewster, is determined to find the killer. Trying to keep their feelings at bay, Hank and Frankie quickly learn that every lead reveals a life steeped in secrets - and danger. And that someone from Hank's past will do anything to keep the truth from being revealed.

A drifter wanders into the small town of Anson and finds himself in the middle of a feud with the neighboring town of Brandon. Who is this drifter and why is he here? Find out in the action-packed adventure 'This is My Town.

Sheriff Zeb Hanks has his hands full when sociopath Jimmie Joe Walker, recently released from an Arizona state prison, masterminds a devious plan to make himself filthy rich. His plan involves Ángel Gomez, a down-on-his-luck half Mescalero Apache/half Mexican. Ángel's alcoholism and far-fetched dreams make him an unwitting dupe in Jimmie Joe's plans, which end up endangering Ángel's own life, as well as the lives of those he loves.

When FBI agent Maria Belasco is mysteriously attacked, her soon-to-be ex-husband, Austin O'Brien, is instantly on the scene. Problem is, she can't remember what happened or the case she was working on. Or how, months before, tragedy had driven her and the reserved rancher irrevocably apart....Now Austin must pretend that nothing has changed between them to help Maria get her memory back and discover who wants her dead. But protecting her 24/7 is reigniting desires even more explosive than before. Austin will do whatever it takes to expose the enemy on their trail.

When a prostitute turns up murdered in Texas with all the hallmarks of Jack the Ripper, and Scotland Yard suspects Jack is an American on the run, Edwin Greaves, an English reporter, knows where he has to go to write the story of a lifetime. However, gruesome murder isn't all that he'll find in America. Frank Vito and his partner Ellie Stockwell are on the hunt for their elusive bounty Bloody Bob Anderson and come across the reporter on a stagecoach to Abilene. They learn all the gory details of the Ripper murders in London, and his suspicions that Jack the Ripper has struck again.

Not all the folks who roamed the Old West were cowhands, rustlers, or cardsharps. And they certainly weren't all heroes. Give-a-Damn Jones, a free-spirited itinerant typographer, hates his nickname almost as much as the rumors spread about him. He's a kind soul who keeps finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's what happened in Box Elder, a small Montana town. Tensions are running high, and anything -or anyone - could be the fuse to ignite them.

With the ferocity of a tigress, Kate Williams desperately fights a kidnapper trying to snatch her adopted son from her. When rancher Dallas O'Brien sees the skirmish, he bravely saves the infant and his lovely mother. Single and new in town, Kate accepts the handsome cowboy's offer of a safe haven at his ranch. Spurred on by their Texas-sized attraction, Dallas and Kate untangle a web of lies that throws the baby's paternity into question. And Dallas wonders - could he be a father? Could he be a husband? But when bullets start flying, the real question is, will he survive to find out?

Detective Jess Parker is furious when she's given babysitting duty for a farmer who witnessed a murder committed by the spoiled son of the city's most notorious crime family. Michael Weatherford is refusing to give up milking his cows and allow the department to hide him until he has testified against Antonio Carboni. No, the fool man prefers his cows, but Jess hates everything about farming! She grew up milking cows in the freezing cold, and missing out on everything her friends did because she had chores to do. She is not happy with the assignment.

John Henry Cole, working as a deputy US marshal out of Judge Isaac Parker's court in Fort Smith, Arkansas, was on assignment in the Indian Nations when he was shot and seriously injured. Now, 15 years later, employed as a deputy for Judge Roy Bean in Texas, Cole receives a personal summons from Judge Parker to appear in his court within 30 days. Cole isn't inclined to go, but he knows whatever's on Judge Parker's mind is serious and decides he has to go.

He was sure he could handle one petite PI with an attitude - but he'll need her help to solve the secret of his missing sister and outwit a ruthless killer. His family never fully recovered from the kidnapping of his siblings decades ago. Now Boone McGraw finally has a lead on his missing sister's location, but it means working with feisty private investigator C. J. Knight. Desperate to solve her partner's murder, C. J. doesn't believe her case could possibly be connected to the sexy horse breeder's investigation...until they find themselves running for their lives.

Los Angeles, 1921: Ex-Pinkerton agent Charlie Siringo is living in quiet retirement when Wyatt Earp knocks on his door and asks him to track down Earp’s missing horse. What begins as horse thievery turns into a deeper mystery as Siringo and another ex-Pinkerton, the young Dashiell Hammett, follow clues that take them from the streets of Los Angeles to Jack London’s farm. There they discover a conspiracy masterminded by the notorious and powerful Joseph P. Kennedy.

At first, Twister Malone and Chuckaluck Thompson think it must be a mirage. If real, the willow trees they see on the horizon mean that water is nearby, and in this dusty stretch of the Southwest, water is rarer than gold. They rub the grit from their eyes, yet the sight remains. There really is water up ahead - and death just around the corner. Someone has opened a sluicegate, allowing all the precious liquid to drain into the dirt. When Twister and Chuckaluck close the gate and the roaring stops, a woman screams, "Don't let him get away! He was going to kill me!"

Eli Singer, a rancher and poet in remote Eastern Montana, sees his life upended when a long-buried corpse - which turns out to be a murder victim from Eli's childhood - erodes out of a hillside on his property. This discovery forces Eli to turn inward to revisit the tragic events in his past that led to a life-changing moment of violence, while at the same time he must reach outside himself toward Chloe, a literary agent from New York whom he is falling in love with.

Twister Malone and Chuckaluck Thompson can't catch a break. All they want is a trail to follow straight through to Mexico, where a ranching job offers honest work, peace, and quiet. But no matter how fast they ride, trouble keeps hot on their heels. A gunshot breaks the silence of the lonely wagon road. By the time Twister and Chuckaluck reach the corpse, the killer is long gone. In the victim's pocket they find a letter from a woman begging for help, a woman whose savior now lies dead in the alkali dust.

The Civil War has just ended and world-weary Sheriff Jesse Smith likes his town quiet and peaceful. One night, the body of a young woman is found torn apart, and that peace is shattered as it dawns on him that a predator is among them. With little to go on, all the men in the town are potential suspects, and Jesse begins an investigation that spans the social spectrum. Unable to find the killer, the mayor goes against Jesse's wishes and brings in bounty hunters. But the cure may be more dangerous than the disease.

When journalist Amy Randall is abducted at gunpoint by her sister-in-law, Kelly, and left in an old mine tunnel to die, she is lucky to escape. Allowing Kelly to believe her sinister plan has succeeded, Amy goes into hiding to investigate. Local policeman Alex Hammond, her childhood crush and her brother's lifelong friend, agrees to help and offers Amy a place to stay at his flat. What is Kelly hiding, and why does she seem bent on revenge against the Randall family? It's a race to uncover the truth before Kelly finds a new victim, and meanwhile, Amy and Alex draw closer.

After two tours as a sniper in Iraq, Tommy Smith has returned to his former life as a cowboy and wilderness guide in California’s Sierra Nevada, hoping to reclaim the simplicity of his youth and heal the wounds the world can’t see. When, high on a mountain pass, he and his partner find the wrecked plane of a billionaire adventurer who disappeared months earlier, a seemingly innocent act triggers a breathtaking cycle of violence that threatens Tommy’s world.