Book picks similar to
Red Runs the Plain by W.R. Benton


don
fiction
frontier-old-west
hugh-borrowed

Sundog Comanche


Ash Lingam - 2017
    His father, Maxwell Creek provided him with his namesake of the town, Ridge. At thirteen taken on to work in the general store of a retired western gunfighter and lawman, Ridge Creek learned the tricks of his future trade. At sixteen he rides off on the trail to Austin to join the Texas Rangers. The rest is history. The whole story of Captain Ridge Creek. The year was 1848, and the young Ranger was posted in Laredo, Texas. This is the story of his battles with Iron Jacket and Lopez the Outlaw among other tales of this man the Comanche call 'With Dead Eyes'. Captain Creek’s first five years in the Texas Rangers. This is the dawn of his younger years.

The Free Trappers: The Saga Of Jedediah Beech - (Volume 2)


D.L. Bittick - 2018
    It takes him from the Hasinai Caddo villages of eastern Spanish Tejas to the Rocky Mountains and parts in between. Along the way, he encounters colorful and unsavory frontiersmen, hostile and friendly Indians as well as struggles with wild nature. But he also finds loyal friends and unconditional love.

West of Vermillion


C.M. Curtis - 2014
    A place where contracts are solemnized with a handshake and disputes are settled with a gun. There is gold here and some men mine for it, while others steal it from those who toil. But when the outlaw’s war of plunder and killing takes the lives of some of Tom Satterfield’s friends, he declares his own private war on the entire outlaw breed, and shows them what one fearless man can do when he is pushed too far.

Coyote Courage


Scott Harris - 2018
    In the first two books of the series, “Coyote Courage” and “Coyote Creek," readers are introduced to Brock Clemons and the small town of Dry Springs, where Brock meets a young boy named Huck, falls for a beautiful young woman named Sophie and faces a band of hardened outlaws. Brock decides to stay beyond the one night he had planned, and readers follow his adventures in town and journey in the aftermath of his visit to Dry Springs. Brock Clemons rides into the small town of Dry Springs simply looking for a place to grab a cigar and a good night’s sleep. Instead, he finds a town being strangled by a band of hardened outlaws, a young boy named Huck who is bravely facing challenges far beyond his years, and Sophie, a woman of captivating strength and beauty. Brock decides to stay beyond the one night he had planned, but will his intelligence, courage and unmatched skill with a gun be enough to save the town, help Huck and win Sophie’s heart?

The Gunfighter: A Novel


Steven Hardesty - 2017
    A classic Wild West novel, tough and true. "The key to being a live gunfighter instead of a dead one is not to gun fight," said Wyatt Earp."How the hell do I do that?" Ronas said."Get up close and pistol-whip the son of a bitch. Buffalo him to his knees. Shove the barrel in his mouth and make him weep for mercy. Then arrest and shackle him. He won't want to trouble you again."

The Rifleman (The M. Allen Western Gunfighter Collection #1)


M. Allen - 2017
    The United States Bounty Hunter Western Adventures

Outlaw Brand : Book Two: Hell to Pay


Tracy T. Thurman - 2018
     A loose lipped, opportunistic, man from the past, seeks to profit from his knowledge of a ruthless gang of outlaws. He ignites a firestorm of events that lead to death and destruction. Ride along with Deke and the Ferguson gang as they face bounty hunters, and the threat of a rogue company of vigilantes calling themselves ‘Rangers’. A new enemy emerges, bent on revenge, challenging their strength, and testing the mettle of an ally. They fight to overcome the odds against them, as well as those within themselves. The gang considers turning over a new leaf, but will the circumstances let them? Deke is faced with the love of a pretty girl, and a past event that could chase her away. He learns that not every question is answered by how you pull your guns. New ways, and even new life, enters the Ferguson Ranch. Deke even learns the meaning of standing behind a lawman’s badge.

The Ordeal of Andy Dean


Douglas Hirt - 1993
    Now Franklin Dean is searching for his daughter with a U.S. Marshal. Dean and the lawman know that Andy has been picked up by the notorious Neville Hallidae gang. But what the manhunters don't know is how the presence of little Andy Dean is changing each one of the hard-bitten bank-robbers, and setting off a struggle among them. Now, as the law closes in on two sides, Andy is caught in between. Each outlaw knows Andy can identify them and that their final choice must be between her life...or theirs.

Saddle Mountain


Paul L. Thompson - 2013
    From 1873 until his death in 1896, Judge Isaac Charles Parker policed seventy-four thousand square miles, with two hundred or so lawmen. The area was called by several names; Last of the Western Frontier, Hell’s Fringe, The Nations and Indian Territory just to name a few. Several more names were used, but should not appear in print at this time.

The Chameleon (Clay Brentwood Book 6)


Jared McVay - 2018
    The town hall in Waco, Texas was alive with activity. Nearly every citizen, except for the sheriff, the bartenders and the men who preferred whiskey to politics, turned out to hear Senator Rodney P. Morgan discuss his plans for building a university of higher learning just outside of town. This was a big-ticket item for the people of Waco and they had high hopes for the new school. Good schools were few and far between out here, especially universities. The good ones, like Harvard and a few others, were all back east and very expensive. Henry Lowe, owner and pharmacist of the Corner Drugstore, set up a table near the front of the town hall where he handed out free bottles of his newly invented soda pop. He was still working on a name for it, but claimed it was a real pepper upper. The new drink was a big hit with the women and children, along with a few of the men. Not many, but a few. Most of the men preferred beer or whiskey, or even coffee to this sweet tasting non-alcoholic beverage. Two of the men who tried it said they enjoyed buttermilk over the sweet soda. Undaunted, Henry declared it a big success. Being a widower, Henry was also a big hit with many of the widow ladies in Waco and proclaimed his new soda drink would make him rich and famous. Senator Rodney P. Morgan, a large man in his fifties with a strong jaw, steel blue eyes, and mutton chop whiskers, stood on the stage looking out across the room filled with people. He had no doubt the idea of a university of higher learning would garner him the votes he needed to help get him elected for a second term. Whether he could actually raise the money, or build the school was of no consequence. If he could make them believe this was of a prime interest to him and he was trying to do as he promised, he was guaranteed to win their votes and that was why he was here. That’s what political campaigns were all about, winning votes, not actually getting anything done. If he’d learned anything during his first term, it was to make the voters believe you were looking after them and their interests. And, if he did actually get something passed that was important to them, they would say, “He did exactly what he promised to do and you can’t ask more than that.” BACK COVER The newspapers called him, "The Chameleon," because during each assassination the killer looks incredibly like someone that everyone knows, including the Governor of the state of Texas. When Clay Brentwood gets on his trail, he has to wonder if those around him are what they seem. Even, Clay's boss, Bill McDaniel, head of the Texas Rangers - has been acting strangely and Clay can't be sure he is the same man he has known all these years. For Clay, the problem is obvious - how does he stop a madman with no known identity?

High Plains Ambush


John D. Fie Jr. - 2017
    Thomas, WL Cox, and Duane Boehm filled with action, adventure and plot twists such as C. K. Crigger, Robert Vaughan, and C.M. Curtis! This is a book that is filled with the bodies of those who stand again law, order and patriotism! Matt Hutchins, the lone survivor of a wagon train massacre takes on the world to do what is right, and must use guts, guns and glory to bring peace to his people. Found and raised by the Sioux, Matt not only learns the ways of the Sioux, but his survival skills are keenly honed with his tracking abilities used by both the Army and later by the sheriff of a town named Buffalo Flats Matt lives alone on the open plains with his trusted friend and horse ‘Ole Friend, a gift given to him by the Chief Buffalo Robes, the one who taught him how to survive. If you love great Western writing—and you love classic Western movies—you will LOVE “High Plains Ambush.”

Down The Long Trail: A Western Adventure


C. Wayne Winkle - 2021
    Laura Taylor, whose husband Rye is making his way home from the war, stands at her kitchen window. A vision of returning warriors fills her sight. In the distance, a lone soldier in blue. Is that Rye coming home? She has little time to wonder because a family friend, Willie, rides up with news that men are coming to burn the Taylors out. Laura and Rye planned for such an event, and she gets her entire family plus Willie ready to travel. Their journey is filled with hazards, both natural and man-made. Laura eventually finds herself the leader of a small wagon train of travelers heading west for Santa Fe. They hire a drunken former scout who claims to know the route and the Indians along the way. Laura doesn’t trust him.

West of the Dead Line: Tales of an Indian Territory Lawman


Phil Truman - 2017
    It ran straight south from Caldwell, Kansas to Fort Reno, I.T., then down through the Cheyenne and Comanche and Kiowa lands, crossing the Red River into Bowie, Texas. It was a line on the map, a demarcation. West of it no law existed, only outlaws. On trails out there, outlaws put notes on trees and posts to let lawmen know they'd be killed if they continued their pursuits west of the Dead Line.In the storied times of the American West, in what was called Indian Territory, no place came close to matching the dangers and mortality U.S.marshals faced doing their jobs. Those who survived became titans in the legends of the West, particularly one man called Bass Reeves. These stories are fiction; the encounters this lawman faced, and The Dead Line, were not.

A Man Named Cully:


Orris Slade - 2018
    Having worked both as a U.S. marshal and a bounty hunter he ruthlessly pursues villains who plague the West. The son of a clergyman, Cully has strayed from the faith but not from righteousness.As committed as Cully is to law and justice, shrewd and ruthless outlaw “Smiley” James lives a life of crime. With his hardened gang of killers he has created a horrific mail-order bride scam. Young women are lured from the East to become brides for ranchers or businessmen in the West. When they arrive they are taken captive and forced to work in a profession that has nothing to do with wedding rings.James fancies himself as a rich businessman and is more than willing to kill anyone and everyone who gets in his way. Cully is hired to find a young mail-order bride from Philadelphia who has gone missing. The evidence leads to Smiley and his gang. Cully is outnumbered and out-gunned. This is not the first time he has faced long odds, and it may be the most dangerous and bloodiest hunt of his career.Note: Each book in the Cully the Bounty Hunter series is a standalone story that can be read out of order.

Harper's Justice in Canyon


William Black - 2018
    Marshal Austin Harper is a wanted man. He is wanted in Robbers Roost for intercepting their raids at a stagecoach way station in New Mexico. He is wanted for saving a distressed Rachel Dennis. Now, Harper is facing not just one petty gang of robbers but an entire canyon of criminals operating in a highly organized fashion. Not that Harper is afraid. But his badly injured leg during his line of duty is a huge encumbrance. And time is running short. This nefarious bunch is terrorizing a lot of the southwest from a barren and well-fortified canyon in nearby No Man's Land. Together with his fiercely loyal American Indian friend Eagle, Harper leaps into action to put the marauders out of business permanently. Infiltrating Robbers Roost to take out the leader Wicked Bear is one solution to prevent more innocent lives from being lost. Harper’s daring move is backed by the U.S. Army, but threatened by sworn adversaries of the American government including renegade Indians, enemy Mexican nationals and Confederate soldiers not willing to give up on the Lost Cause. There will be bloodshed. How will the sun set at the canyon terrain of No Man’s Land? Will the sun rise again for Robbers Roost, or for Harper?