Waltzing with Tumbleweeds


Book Description

From the windswept plains and dusty streets of Dodge City, to the rocky arroyos of Arizona’s Verde Valley, to the early summer green of the Little Bighorn Valley, these small gems give the reader a taste of all that made up the West. Saddle up with the inimitable Dusty Richards as he spins his yarns of lawmen, cowboys, Indians, miners, and the women that loved them. Ride along with his characters as they facedown a pack of hungry wolves. Cheer them on as they find love in a Dakota blizzard. Laugh uproariously as a stray tomcat nearly destroys a town. Mourn with the girl who loved notorious outlaw Billy the Kid. Bargain along with a trader as he gets more than he bargained for in a Crow village. Be very quiet as you follow a young cowboy in his hopeless attempt to rescue a white captive from the Apache. Grip the pages until your knuckles are white with tension, weep for love lost and love found, and laugh until you cry. This volume also contains the previously unpublished novella, Out of a Job and Not Earning a Dime. Most of all, though, sit back and relax as Dusty Richards, the master storyteller, brings to life the West as it really was.




The Outlaw Queen


Book Description

Mary Ann Cates owns a successful farm with her husband. While not wealthy by any means, life has been good, even with Charlie away most of the time buying and selling cattle. That all changes, though, when he ends up dead in a shootout with the law. Everything he’d ever told her had been a lie. “Cattle buyer” really meant “bank robber” and member of the notorious James Gang. Shattered and alone, the lovely widow is shunned by the citizens of her Kansas hometown and branded the “Outlaw Queen.” Rath Macon is a rancher working the Chisholm Trail. In six short years, he has transformed himself from a penniless ex-rebel into a respected cattleman. It’s a good life… just not good enough for his wife. After returning from the drive, he finds she's spent all their money and run away with another man. As the bank auctions off everything he’s worked so hard for, Rath saddles up and rides out of Texas to look for a fresh start with nothing but three horses and the clothes on his back. That’s how fate steps in and lassos Rath and Mary Ann. When their eyes lock, embers ignite. But they’ve both danced to life's fickle fiddle before. Can they rebuild trust on life's treacherous trail? Time holds the reins to their destiny. In a landscape where pasts are as rugged as the frontier, their story is one of redemption, resilience, and love as vast as the prairie sky.




Bounty Man & Doe


Book Description

Retired Deputy Marshal Sam Brennan is chasing devils. First, the three drunken miners who butchered his wife and stepdaughters. Second, the demon in the bottle that helps numb the pain. Doe is an Apache. All but enslaved by the gang of scalp hunters who killed her parents, she has become a stranger in a strange land, an outcast from her tribe. After being sold for the second time to a white man, she is beaten and abused on a daily basis. When Sam stumbles into her owner’s camp and witnesses a particularly savage beating, he orders the man to stop. The brute draws a gun in response and fires off a shot. It's a fateful decision—and a mistake he will never have the chance to make again. So begins a partnership that neither Sam nor Doe ever expected, but that will, in the end, define them. Soon, the Utes of the southern Rockies speak of the Many Guns Woman who rides with the Hunter of Men. While in barrooms and saloons from Tombstone to Deadwood, men talk of Sam Brennan and his gun-toting squaw. From the Colorado gold camps to the mountains of Arizona their pursuit leaves a trail of gun smoke and legend across the west. This classic tale from legendary Western author Dusty Richards—the fifth in his award-winning Brandiron Series—also features the novella "Bounty Riders" by J.B. Hogan, a friend and protege of Mr. Richards.




The Pride of Texas


Book Description

Two brothers, one dream—and the fight to become Texas legends. With the gritty authenticity of a true cowboy, bestselling author Dusty Richards weaves a moving coming-of-age story set against the rugged landscapes of Civil War-era South Texas. Twin brothers Andrew and Jackson Franks have spent their lives under the harsh rule of their father, Pryor. When a violent outburst shatters their family, leaving their mother dead and Pryor gone, the brothers are left to fend for themselves on their hardscrabble ranch. Andrew is the planner, while Jackson is the stubborn workhorse, and both dream of escaping the dust to become real Texas cattlemen. But dreams alone won’t be enough. The law demands they have a guardian, and fate brings them a surprise in the form of Sophie Grenada, a widowed cousin from Arkansas. Tough, smart, and fiercely independent, Sophie arrives with a determination that matches the boys' own. As they navigate Indian raids, range wars, and the brutal work of building a ranch, the three form an unbreakable bondAs they navigate Comanche raids, range wars, and the brutal work of building a ranch, the three form an unbreakable bond—two boys thrust into a man’s world before their time, and a woman who loves and cares for them as her own. With Sophie’s guidance, Andrew and Jackson may just carve out the legacy they’ve always hoped for and become the real Pride of Texas.




Harkin' Home


Book Description

Clark Crouch, a prize-winning cowboy poet, returns with his eighth book, Harkin' Home, a collection of original poems and short stories. From the allegorical beauty of a "Red Prairie Rose" to such verses as the fantasy of "Dead Man's Gun," the brutality of "Massacre," the defense of "Chopin's Minute Waltz," and hemp tricks by "Ropin' Fool," he offers a generous view of the humor and the pathos of life in the Great American West. A two-time winner of the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Cowboy Poetry, his work reflects viewpoints and biases which grew out of life during the Great Depression, years of drought in the Sandhills of Nebraska, and six youthful years earning his own way as a cowboy from the age of twelve.




The Cherokee Strip


Book Description

Norman Thompson doesn't seek out trouble, but it always seems to have a way of finding him, anyway. All he really wants is a job as a ranch foreman. He'd tried in Montana, but ended up in a gunfight with a pair of ugly-looking brothers over a horse. Leaving one dead and the other swearing revenge, Norm figures it'd be wise to make himself scarce. He heads south, making his way to Nebraska. Instead of work, though, he finds something he never expected—a partner. Edith is a beautiful young woman seeking to escape the clutches of her own sordid past. Together they buy a decrepit old cattle ranch—the legendary Rocking Chair— and start driving herds up to the lush grass of the newly-opened Cherokee Strip. With Norm’s brawn and Edith’s brains, it’s a winning combination. The sins of yesteryear, though, are not so easily left behind. While Norm settles into a new life as a ranch owner and family man, forces are at work to take it all away. Will he and Edith find the happiness they’ve been searching for? Or will the ghosts of the past burn it all to bitter ashes?




Range War of Callie County


Book Description

Charlie Brackeen owns the big ranch that takes up the entire north end of drought-stricken Callie County. When he pushes his B-Bar-M cattle south of their own range, it’s no mistake—it’s a hostile takeover, enforced by Sheriff Alex Woodbridge, the tough, one-eyed former Texas Ranger who’s in Brackeen’s pocket. They want the small ranchers leaderless and isolated so they can be picked off one-by-one and forced to sell their land. They just didn’t count on Jed Mahan. Jed is a small-time rancher who wants nothing more than to raise his cattle in peace and find comfort at the table and in the bed of the alluring Mrs. Gabriella Contras. As the county’s independent ranchers come together, though, they look to him for leadership. Jed’s reluctant at first, but when he’s blamed for the murder of his neighbor’s son, he has no choice but to step up. Woodbridge and Brackeen won’t waste time on something as trivial as a murder trial. Jed has two options—convince by-the-book county judge Neemore Davis of his innocence... or put Woodbridge in the ground before the old sheriff does the same thing to him. In the dust and heat of a wild South Texas summer, it won’t take much of a spark to set off a range war in Callie County.




The Texas Badge


Book Description

The bloodiest crime in Texas history, and only one man has the guts to solve it. Bank robbery. Jailbreak. massacre. Alone, any one of them would send good folks reeling. But when all three occur in the same night in the same small South Texas town leaving no eyewitnesses behind, it could be the end of the world. Saddler County Sheriff Dell Hoffman is charged with bringing the perpetrators of these horrific crimes to justice, but even the toughest and most cunning lawman in Texas has his limits. With nothing to go on but five bloody bodies, a cracked safe, and an empty jail, Dell works the fringes of his sleepy little western town—among the forgotten, the invisible, and those who often see without being seen. The more he learns, though, the more he wishes he could forget. In search of the truth, Dell finds himself pulled into a dark world of murder, deception, and brutality the likes of which he never imagined. Striking out on his own across the vast Texan prairie, he risks it all in search of justice. Will he solve the most heinous crime in Texas history? Or will Dell's drive for justice lead him to an even greater tragedy for both himself and those he cares for most?




Blue Roan Colt


Book Description

There is nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse. After four years on the bloody battlefields of Europe during World War II, Army Staff Sergeant Mark Shaw returns home to Arizona with nothing but the hope of living a quiet existence and chasing the sunset on horseback forevermore. Scarred by the war in the way only a soldier who has been on the front lines can be, his every step is haunted by the rattle of machine guns, the roar of artillery, and the screams of dying friends and comrades. The homecoming he receives upon his return, though, is nothing like what he'd hoped for—a wife who couldn't wait for him in an America that has become almost unrecognizable in his absence. Shattered by her betrayal, Mark gives up on love, life, and the possibility of ever finding the peace he longs for. Life is not quite done with Mark, however. While he throws himself into the backbreaking work of building a ranch, fate takes a hand, first in the form of Alma Cornbird, a Pima woman, then in the guise of a beautiful rodeo queen named Julie Wright. Both women are determined not to let him slip further into isolation and despair, and both leave their mark upon him. With their help, the violent afterimages of the war begin to fade, and life blooms again from the hollow shell it left behind. The only thing he lacks is the right horse on which to chase that sunset once more. Blue Roan Colt is the heartwarming story of a man broken by war and betrayal who finds salvation through the gift of love, brought to life by legendary author Dusty Richards and his longtime writing partner, Velda Brotherton.




A Bride for Gil


Book Description

Gil Slatter is quick on the draw and has a head for running a ranch—but he’s also a lonely man with nothing more than a cot in the bunkhouse at the TXY Ranch to call home. When the ranch’s foreman drops dead of a heart attack and the owner picks Gil to take his place, his entire world turns upside down. One day life is simple. The next, he’s running the entire outfit, buying new horses to replace the rundown remuda, finding new markets for the beef, tackling the problems of water shortages and homesteaders and learning how to deal with the tough and proud old man who owns the place. The old foreman’s passing means more than just a new job and new challenges on the ranch, though. He also leaves behind a daughter, a willful young woman named Kate. When Gil drops by to pay his respects, she shocks him with a somewhat outrageous proposal... and ends up stealing his heart. So starts the Western adventure of a lifetime. Between wild horses, outlaws, rustlers, homesteaders, an ambitious young landowner with a mean streak, and the flirtatious, scheming wife of the ranch’s owner, it’s no easy task for any man to handle. But with his new bride beside him, Gil is determined to take the TXY to new heights of success… or die trying!