In this brand-new, suspenseful Ralph Compton Western, a reformed gambler races to unmask a murderer. After years as a professional gambler—and a deadly shootout on a riverboat casino—Tom Calvert and his young protégé, Asher Smith, have survived an arduous journey across the frontier to Friendly Field, Idaho. The bucolic Quaker community welcomes them with open arms, and soon Tom is courting a widow and learning, to his surprise, to enjoy the quiet life. Then an elder of Friendly Field is found murdered, and the townsfolk start whispering about the work of the devil. Tom doesn’t believe in the devil, just the evil that men do, and he resolves to solve the gruesome crime before fear causes the people of peaceful little Friendly Field to turn against one another.

A rancher discovers just how many times a man's luck can hold out in this thrilling novel in the bestselling Trail Drive Series After struggling for years to work a raw-patch ranch in the arid flatlands of Texas, young Mitchell Newland learns that his herd of scrubby range cattle will fetch ten times their local price if they're driven to Montana. He strikes a one-sided deal with the devil, neighboring rancher Corliss Bilks, to back his play with cattle, men, and horses. The trail brims with hellish hardship: prairie fire, stampede, flooded rivers, hailstorms, rattlers, sickness, long, broiling days and frigid nights. Halfway to Montana, range pirates and a rogue Apache war party close in. Mitch and the boys fight, grim and helpless, watching as their herd is driven westward in a cloud of dust and cackling laughter. Cut down to two bloodied men, Mitch collapses, far too late, and admits the old man has won the bet. But salvation in the form of a Basque sheepherder revives Mitch and his pal, Drover Joe, and Mitch realizes he isn't done. Not by a long shot. And now he has nothing to lose.

They had beaten the harsh odds of the frontier. But for the two powerful ranchers, the most formidable trail lay ahead. There had never been a trail drive like this before... The only riches Texans had left after the Civil War were five million maverick longhorns and the brains, brawn, and boldness to drive them to market along treacherous trails. Now, Ralph Compton brings this violent and magnificent time to life in an extraordinary series based on the history-blazing trail drives. For veteran ranchers Nelson Story of Montana, and Benton McCaleb of Wyoming, it was an opportunity a man didn't pass up. In gold camps of the Black Hills, miners were hungry for beef, at boomtown prices. But within the two outfits were Indians, gunmen, Texans, lovesick cowboys, and high-spirited women. Worse, the drive would pass through Crow and Sioux territory, when Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn was just hours away. The drives were tangled by violent grudges, stampeding herds, and dangerous deception. The two brawling outfits had one thing in common: a deadly surprise awaiting them at the end of the trail...

Former Texas Rangers Benton McCaleb, Will Elliot, and Brazos Gifford ride with Charles Goodnight as he rounds up thousands of ornery, unbranded cattle for the long drive to Colorado. From the Trinity River brakes to Denver, they'll battle endless miles of flooded rivers, parched desert, and whiskey-crazed Comanches. And come face-to-face with Judge Roy Bean and legendary gunslingers like Clay Allison. For McCaleb and his hard-riding crew, the drive is a fierce struggle against the perils of an untamed land. A fight to the finish where the brave reach glory—or die hard.

In this Ralph Compton western, riding the hard trail isn't easy... At the EJ Ranch in Wyoming, Lin Bryce has found good, honest work for himself and his temperamental brother, Chancy. A widow with two young children has a herd of cattle over two thousand acres that needs tending, and Lin believes it’s the best opportunity to put their tragic and violent past behind them and start anew. But the widow and her property are coveted by a cattle baron determined to take over every ranch in the territory. And as the Bryce brothers find themselves in the crosshairs of an encroaching range war, a trio of merciless bounty hunters arrives to collect the price on their heads… More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!

A man embarks on a hazardous journey for both body and soul in this Ralph Compton western... Ed Wright earned his reputation as a capable and principled man from years of driving cattle—and from wearing a Ranger’s badge. The Texan wants nothing more than to drown his memories in bottle after bottle of whiskey. Unita Nance is the owner of the Bar U Ranch, having inherited the spread after her husband’s death. She needs Ed to drive her stock from Texas to Newton, Kansas and won’t take no for an answer. Pulled out of his inebriated retirement against his will, Ed discovers that there are those who don’t want him riding herd any more than he does—and will stop at nothing to keep him off the trail… More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!

When the money dries up, a wrangler looks toward the Pacific for new opportunity in the latest installment of Ralph Compton's bestselling Trail Drive series. Clay Forsythe never even knew there was such a thing as a paniolo—a Hawaiian cowboy—before two of them save his life. But when he meets Jose Vasquez and Leo Suarez he quickly realizes two things: they're talented and worldly—Clay's never even seen the ocean. With no job offers on the horizon, things aren't going as well for Clay as they are for the paniolo. So when the pair offer him a job helping them drive new breeding stock to the coast, he sees no reason to decline. But there is a long way to go before they hit the saltwater trail to Hawaii. And not everyone wants the to see Barker Ranch prosper; in fact, they'll do almost anything to stop the trio. But Clay and the paniolos aren't to be trifled with. If they can get the herd to their safe patch of land along the coast, it'll be smooth sailing after—and Clay vows that he'll get them there, come hell or high water.

Bad blood runs deep in this Ralph Compton western... Jock Kane would do anything for his buddy Chad Becker—except drive the rancher’s longhorns to the Ellsworth railhead in Kansas. Having lost his fortune and his faith on the last trail, and his beloved wife, Twyla, to a killer, Jock’s not looking for adventure. What gets him off his tail is finding out who’s vying with Chad for the Kansas sale. It’s none other than Twyla’s cold-blooded killer himself—Jock’s own brother, Abel, now in cahoots with a Yankee carpetbagger. Now there’s no hailstorm violent enough, no Apache savage enough, and no trail-drive turncoat dirty enough to stop Jock from redefining justice and revenge… More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!

In this fast-paced new installment in bestselling author Ralph Compton's Trail Drive series, a trail drive boss faces many challenges. Luke Ross is determined to drive his herd to the trailhead, but along the way he'll have to cope with rustlers, bandits, and warlike Indians.