A man bent on revenge. A woman determined to survive. A land that knows no mercy. WELCOME TO THE OUTLAW TRAIL. When Kate Winters is left stranded in outlaw country, she knows she won't make it out alive...until she stumbles across a ruthless gang hanging a cowboy for his cattle. She waits until the outlaws are gone, desperate enough to claim the dead man's horse to make her escape—only to realize he's not dead after all. Those outlaws should have made damn sure Luke Bowden was good and gone. Now he vows he'll have his revenge no matter the cost. But they're miles away from the nearest town, and the woman who saved his hide won't survive the ride back. He owes her his life—he owes her everything—and it doesn't take long before he's faced with a choice: stand by his savior...or claim his revenge? All the best western historical novels are full of: brave heroes and romantic outlaws, gunfights and a desperate bid for survival, a dusty trail and a land that stretches on to meet the horizon...

A lively reference covering a century’s worth of shooters, sheriffs, and more in the Lone Star State. The Lone Star State is known for producing both vicious outlaws and valorous lawmen. While Machine Gun Kelly terrorized urban civilians, lawmen such as Ranger John Barclay Armstrong tried to keep things under control. This is the story of Texas’s most famous criminals, intrepid lawmen—and in the case of James Edwin Reed, both—as well as such figures as the legendary Judge Roy Bean. This reference brings to life a time before the West was tamed, and also includes a chronology of well-known crimes and a locale list of notorious events.

For every Wild Bill Hickok or Billy the Kid, there was another western gunfighter just as deadly but not as well known. Robert K. DeArment has earned a reputation as the premier researcher of unknown gunfighters, and here he offers twelve more portraits of men who weren’t glorified in legend but were just as notorious in their day. Those who think they already know all about Old West gunfighters will be amazed at this new collection. Here are men like Porter Stockton, the Texas terror who bragged that he had killed eighteen men, and Jim Levy, who killed a man for disparaging his Irish blood, though he was also the only known Jewish gunfighter. These stories span eight decades, from the gold rushes of the 1850s to the 1920s. Telling of gunmen such as Jim Masterson, the brother of Bat Masterson, or the real Whispering Smith—the man behind the fictionalized persona—whose career spanned four decades, DeArment conscientiously separates fact from fiction to reconstruct lives all the more amazing for having remained unknown for so long. The product of iron-clad research, this newest Deadly Dozen delivers the goods for gunfighter buffs in search of something different. Together the Deadly Dozen volumes constitute a Who’s Who of western outlaws and prove that there’s more to the Wild West than Jesse James.

A close-up look at country music argues that it has become a national art form, reflecting the same themes that have characterized American art and literature over three centuries

Cody Winters, a former lawman and most recently a trapper in the rugged northern wilderness of Arizona, was headed for Camp Wooda town where he hoped to settle down and begin a new life for himself. He would soon learn that strangers were not always welcomed in Camp Wood. Those that stayed too long typically ended up at the undertakers. From the moment he rode into town, he fell under the critical sharp-eyed gaze of the always ruthless and often corrupt town marshal. As Cody rode up the street, he fell under the curious blue-eyed gaze of another set of eyes as well. They belonged to Miss Holly Granger, the beautiful daughter of a prosperous cattle rancher. The ranchers daughter and the former lawman would soon meet and, from that moment on, see their lives swept away toward an unforeseen adventure, and with it hidden danger at every turn. This riveting story of the Old West is packed with adventure, danger, old-fashion frontier justice, and steamy romance. the Author

In the late nineteenth century Tom Ketchum and his brother Sam formed the Ketchum Gang with other outlaws and became successful train robbers. In their day, these men were the most daring of their kind, and the most feared. Eventually Tom Ketchum was caught and sentenced to death for attempting to hold up a railway train. He became the first individual--and the last--ever to be executed for a crime of this sort. Jeffrey Burton has been researching the story of the Ketchum Gang for more than forty years. He sorts fact from fiction to provide the definitive truth about Ketchum and numerous other outlaws, including Will Carver and Butch Cassidy. The Deadliest Outlaws initially was published in a limited run of one hundred paperback copies in England. This second edition in hardcover contains additional material and photographs not found in the earlier printing.

Standoffs, saloons, and sunsets spring to mind when one envisions the rough and tumble early days of the American frontier.

The Texas-Mexico border is trouble. Haphazardly splashing across the meandering Rio Grande into Mexico is--or at least can be--risky business, hazardous to one's health and well-being. Kirby W. Dendy, the Chief of Texas Rangers, corroborates the sobering reality: "As their predecessors for over one hundred forty years before them did, today's Texas Rangers continue to battle violence and transnational criminals along the Texas-Mexico border." In Riding Lucifer's Line, Bob Alexander, in his characteristic storytelling style, surveys the personal tragedies of twenty-five Texas Rangers who made the ultimate sacrifice as they scouted and enforced laws throughout borderland counties adjacent to the Rio Grande. The timeframe commences in 1874 with formation of the Frontier Battalion, which is when the Texas Rangers were actually institutionalized as a law enforcing entity, and concludes with the last known Texas Ranger death along the border in 1921. Alexander also discusses the transition of the Rangers in two introductory sections: "The Frontier Battalion Era, 1874-1901" and "The Ranger Force Era, 1901-1935," wherein he follows Texas Rangers moving from an epochal narrative of the Old West to more modern, technological times. Written absent a preprogrammed agenda, Riding Lucifer's Line is legitimate history. Adhering to facts, the author is not hesitant to challenge and shatter stale Texas Ranger mythology. Likewise, Alexander confronts head-on many of those critical Texas Ranger histories relying on innuendo and gossip and anecdotal accounts, at the expense of sustainable evidence--writings often plagued with a deficiency of rational thinking and common sense. Riding Lucifer's Line is illustrated with sixty remarkable old-time photographs. Relying heavily on archived Texas Ranger documents, the lively text is authenticated with more than one thousand comprehensive endnotes.

Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, and Elfego Baca earned their fame as Southwestern lawmen and have had numerous books written about them. None, however, comes close to Deputy Dan Tucker in meeting the violent life of the frontier head-on. Serving in southwest New Mexico in the 1870s and 80s, Tucker killed, at the least, eight outlaws, wounded several others, and was shot several times himself. Virtually lost to history until now, Bob Alexander has brought Dangerous Dan Tucker back to life, with rigorous historical research that includes newspaper accounts, first person accounts, and court records.