Showing results by author "Ralph Compton" in All Categories

After a child is accidentally killed in a shootout, Art Catlin decides to give up his life of bounty hunting and finds a new career as a drover, working for the Bar X ranch. The trail is 770 miles from Santa Fe to Independence, Missouri, and Art isn't fool enough to think it'll be an easy journey. As they head east, they seem to come upon countless threats, from environmental to personal. If they're to make it all the way with the herd intact, Catlin will need to use all of the skill and knowledge he's acquired over his long and violent career.

His wife is gone to tuberculosis, his reputation was lost in the war, most of his life has already passed by, and now, even his horse has been taken by colic. All Carpenter has left are the men from his Army company. During the journey to California to reunite with them, he strikes up a friendship with Rafael Silva, an educated man making for the same town to start up a rifle factory. When they arrive, Carpenter's former brothers-in-arms actually try to run Silva out of town, despite the much-needed factory. There's trouble afoot....

A deeply divided nation. A shamelessly partisan media. A president loathed by half the populace. Smuggling and gang warfare along the Mexican border. Armed citizens willing to stand their ground and take law into their own hands.... That was America in 1881. All those forces came to bear on the afternoon of October 26 when Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers faced off against the Clantons and the McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona. It should have been a simple misdemeanor arrest. Thirty seconds and 30 bullets later, three officers were wounded, and three citizens lay dead in the dirt.

In Omaha, Tom Calvert boards a riverboat to play high-stakes poker, but accusations of cheating cause some serious trouble, and a deadly gun battle ensues. Tom is injured and knows that his enemies will be looking for him, so he reluctantly accepts a bargain from young stowaway Asher. In exchange for Calvert teaching him gunslinging skills, Asher will guide them to a possibly mythical town of peace and plenty called Friendly Field. To get there they just have to battle assassins, dangerous Shoshone, and the rough wilderness of the Oregon Trail.

Frontier life is hard enough without having kids to worry about - especially for a widower like Paul Meakes. Still, he's settled where he is and resolved to stay in the small Colorado town his son and daughter call home. So when his daughter is hit by a seemingly poisoned arrow during an Indian raid, Paul is determined to track down the Comanche villains who hurt his little girl - and bring them to justice with the help of Indian hunter Hank Adley, a hired gun who's got business of his own with the tribe.

Big Charlie Chilton knows better than to lose his temper, but when a loudmouth threatens to expose his long-buried secrets, he can't help but teach the man a lesson about being quiet. Unfortunately it turns out the man was about to make an important supply run for the town's marshal, and Marshal Watt knows just enough about Shotgun Charlie's past to draft him into service in his stead.

Reporter Lester Booker joins legendary gunfighter Rance March on the trail of a dangerous outlaw to learn how the West was really won.

England Dan Rutledge and his partner John Cooley have worked their claim for a year and are barely eking out a living. When Cooley shows up with a map of the abandoned Irish Lord Mine he drunkenly bought off a shady cowboy, England Dan is sure it’s a complete fraud. After all, no one knows what happened to the most valuable gold mine in the Superstition Mountains after a banshee frightened off the last owner.

Before hearing the call of the Lord, Paul had seen more than his share of sin - mostly his own. But since he came to minister to the small town of Pueblito Verde, most of what he sees are tamer transgressions. Knowing his own past, Paul believes the occasional mistake doesn' t make someone truly evil. But some men are more evil than others. When the brutal Jack Kerrigan and his band of ruffians hit town, Paul' s new life starts to go bad.

In this new Ralph Compton Western, William "Bull" Kelly brings his five sons onto the cattle drive, but when rustlers stampede the herd and injure them, he'll do anything to protect his own.

Eli had always led the life of an outlaw. Cutting corners and breaking the law, he knows how to get away with pretty much anything - until he's caught red handed attempting to rob a wagon set out as a trap. Imprisoned and alone, Eli is unsure whether the members of his gang have made it out alive, or if the men behind the disguised wagon are after his life. But he is sure about Lyssa - the beauty who selflessly takes care of him in prison.

Charlie Pike is fulfilling Judge Henry Dryden's dying wish by escorting him to Texas. But an outlaw out for revenge is on their trail, determined that they will never reach their destination....

Popular author Marcus Galloway continues the tradition of the legendary Ralph Compton with Outlaw’s Reckoning - a classic Western tale with an intriguing twist. Outlaws Gus McCord and Doyle Hill aren’t exactly model citizens, so when they happen upon the kidnapping of a shipping mogul’s daughter, every instinct in their thievin’ bones says to walk away. But this time is different, and the ruthless duo vow to do whatever it takes to save the girl.

If things are quiet in the little town of Sweetwater, Marshal Fred Hitch sees no reason to make waves. But when Tyree Johnson shows up, Fred's relaxed nature is put to the test. At 15 years old, Tyree is a tough-as-nails bounty hunter with no patience for anyone calling him "boy." He's come to apprehend a killer who escaped from Cheyenne and has been hiding in plain sight in Sweetwater. Fred must ride with Tyree and his prisoner all the way to Cheyenne. The unlikely pair has a rough trail ahead of them, and as tough as Tyree is, he has some lessons to learn about the evil men do - and how to survive it.

Buck Fletcher plans to ride his horse for a $10,000 prize, money he needs to send his sick daughter to a faraway clinic. Then some outlaws steal his steed, and with it, his daughter's last hope. Doc Holliday, a legend of loyalty and ferocity, rides beside him, eager to help on a mission of vengeance and a quest to save a little girl's life.

At 50, cattle driver Sam Sawyer thinks he can finally dust off and retire, maybe open an eating house. But after a pack of Apache ambushes him and leaves him to die in Gila River country, he barely makes it to a remote ranch. The owner, Hanna Stewart, has worked the desert spread with her young daughter ever since her husband went for a ride and never returned.

The best-selling Ralph Compton novels evoke the American frontier at a time when heroes and villains settled disputes with the exchange of hot lead. In the Sweet Grass Valley, Kent Tovey's Circle T ranch and Dar Pierce's DP ranch sit on either side of the Rio Largo River. Tovey and Pierce have no beef with each other - until a no-good schemer instigates a bloody feud between the old friends.

With his hard-hitting Ralph Compton novels, Joseph A. West has laid claim to frequent spots on the USA Today best-seller list. In this thundering novel, Deputy U.S. Marshal Matt Battles has been dispatched to infiltrate a band of ruthless gunfighters gathering in Slaughter Canyon. Battles would like to avoid bloodshed, but if push comes to shove, the deputy marshal has never been one to shy away from a fight.

In the grand tradition of legendary author Ralph Compton comes this tense, thrill-a-minute Western. Deputy Marshal Logan Kane is in for one tough ride. He’s got six ruthless convicts caged in a prison wagon, and it’s his job alone to transport them safely across treacherous, unforgiving terrain. Holding off rustlers, outlaw gangs, lynch mobs, and the criminals’ free-riding cohorts will keep Kane—and his trusty Colt—plenty busy.

A towering legend among chroniclers of the Old West, Ralph Compton penned searing tales of the highest entertainment. In this fast-paced actioner, Detective Sergeant John McBride gets while the gettin's good when a New York gangster puts a price on his head. But after landing in High Hopes, Colorado, McBride quickly finds that his troubles with the criminal sect are just beginning.