South Dakota Fiction

I suppose some of us have to get really dirty before we can become truly clean. I was allegedly South Dakota's most famous Old Lady. Sixteen years ago, I had survived my Old Man's murder. Never again. Never again will I surrender my heart. Never again will I sacrifice to the Club. But that all changed in one night. I came home and crashed into him, and my past and present blew up in my face.

Daisy Arnsby is the ugly duckling of the large Arnsby family. Destined to be alone. When a handsome schoolmate asks her to sign a promise that she’ll wed him on her 25th birthday, she jumps at the chance. She hopes, but never dares to dream, that he’d come back. Elias Laury fears his towering height excludes him from ever convincing Daisy to return his love, so he tricks her into waiting for him. But when he returns to collect his bride, he finds that she’s not willing to settle for a marriage of convenience.

Nora Arnsby fights her way into a world dominated by men. When a break-in shatters the sense of home she's created, Nora can’t find her footing. With the intruders growing bolder and her safety at risk, she reaches out to the only person who will listen, even if it means asking a man for help. The stranger across the street is handsome and persistently kind, so different from other men. Mathias Horton refuses to let any woman get close to him. Mathias must resume the life he gave up to save the one who ignites his battered heart, or admit defeat and let her go back to Deadwood.

Frances Arnsby has only three weeks to learn about romance. That’s all the time she has before the stagecoach whisks her back to Deadwood. Excited about a glowing future as a romance dime novelist, her hopes are dashed when her manuscript fails to connect. She hasn’t lived enough. Her dream will be over before it even starts if she doesn’t add life, love…passion.  

Hattie Arnsby’s been a slave to men and whiskey for the last year. She’s drowned herself in drink to avoid her life at the Red Garter Saloon in Keystone, SD. When a handsome deputy finds her after a year of searching, she finally sees a sliver of hope. Hugh Bradley is deputized to find Hattie and bring her home, but her captors aren’t ready to set her free. He must help her be rid of the drink and the binds of the brothel. But when Hattie’s handed temptation, will she run back to her past or embrace the love growing between them?

At the Spearfish Normal School, Lula Arnsby is ready to begin a whole new chapter. Her life seems over when the one man she couldn't wait to be rid of strides into her class as the new teacher’s assistant. She wants nothing to do with the handsome prankster, but his aim isn’t to torment her anymore. Barton Oleson got what he deserved after tormenting Lula one too many times. He wants to be noticed by the pixie-haired beauty Lula. Without his normal tricks.

Eva Arnsby can’t stay indoors, her need to draw the woodland creatures around her home near Lead, South Dakota gets her in a heap of trouble. And none more troublesome than a shadowy stranger who steals her notebook and her spirit. Ranger, Captain George Roth, is suspicious when he finds a small woman in man’s trousers sneaking around in the woods. Determined to discover the woman’s secrets, he takes on an assignment, ready to investigate her under the guise of a harmless town dandy. 

On the phone Hugh had said, “I’ve got something you have to see to believe. Get yourself out here.” One year after retiring as a master sergeant in the 75th Rangers, this was Roman Keane’s idea of the perfect way to spend his time: jump on a motorcycle and ride from Georgia to South Dakota to see his old friend, Hugh Early. Hugh had once been Roman’s sniper instructor and was now an internationally respected historian of military arms. Historians, of all people, should know that the past you thought was dead and gone has a way of rising up to finish what it started.

The Wright family's homeschooling adventure continues on to South Dakota as their RV hits the road again. The kids wonder what all those motorcycles are doing in the small town of Sturgis. Nadia learns how newspapers are created. Aidan gets to lead the way on a daring round of follow the leader. Prince Pumpkin the Third, their pet turtle, stumbles across something that he probably shouldn't have. Meanwhile, what startling new secrets of the Time Tuner are revealed?

Jennie Arnsby wants nothing more than to turn around and go home. Her family is on their way to Deadwood, South Dakota, when Aiden finds his way to their small wagon train. His teasing and banter leave her wanting to toss him out the back and in the dust. When they are separated outside the city, she is left wondering if she'll ever see him again. Aiden Bradly wants to find his gold and return home. Nothing more. He can't afford to get tangled with a woman. He's doing just that until he meets the feisty Jennie.

After being thrown in the clink for private investigating without a license, she's fled the state to go where her talents will be more appreciated: South Dakota. She has big plans to set up shop, but an injury halts her journey shortly after crossing The Sunshine State's state line. She and Calvin are forced to hole up in a struggling campground, and when Gertrude finds the body of the campground owner, she is certain the man has been murdered.

The wild places are where no one is looking anymore. Out there on the high plains, among the Sioux reservations and the silent buttes, among the small towns dying and the people with them, you can hear the wind. And on the back of the wind is the sound of an old accordion—tangos—mingling with the lonely thump of a single drum in the nighttime and a far-off warrior’s cry. On the back of the wind is the smell of worn saddle leather and sawdust, of sandalwood, and smoke from ancient ceremonial fires.

In the years after World War II, the bleak yet beautiful plains of South Dakota still embody all the contradictions - the ruggedness and the promise - of the old frontier. This is a place where you can eat strawberries from wild vines, where lightning reveals a boundless horizon, where descendants of white settlers and native Indians continue to collide, and where, for most, there are limited options. René shares a home, a family, and a passion for dance with her older brother, Leon. Yet for all they have in common, their lives are on remarkably different paths.