Book picks similar to
They Rode Good Horses by D.B. Jackson
westerns
historical-fiction
western
1_western
Beyond the Bougainvillea
Dolores Durando - 2011
When scholarly, smart Mary Margaret is sixteen, her father marries her off to a drunken neighbor in return for a tract of land. The year is 1924, and Mary Margaret's motherless childhood has already been hard as a farm girl on the desolate prairies of North Dakota. Abused and helpless, the new Mrs. "Marge" Garrity seems destined for a tragic fate. But Marge is determined to make her life count, no matter what. Her escape from her brutal marriage takes her to California, where she struggles to survive the Great Depression and soon answers the lure of the state's untamed northern half. There, embraced by the rough-and-ready people who built the great Ruck-a-chucky Dam on the American River, she begins to find her true mission in life and the possibility for love and happiness with an Army Corp engineer of Cherokee Indian descent. This vivid saga of one woman's life in the early decades of a turbulent century is told from the heart of a true storyteller in the grand tradition of women's sagas. Author Dolores Durando knows Marge's world very well. She grew up ninety years ago on the plains of North Dakota.
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy - 1992
Across the border Mexico beckons—beautiful and desolate, rugged and cruelly civilized. With two companions, he sets off on an idyllic, sometimes comic adventure, to a place where dreams are paid for in blood.
K Company (K Company 1)
Robert Broomall - 1992
He is assigned to K Company, on the western edge of the Kansas frontier. What he finds there is brutal discipline combined with bad food, monotonous drill, and make-work details. Even worse, he makes an enemy of Link Hayward, toughest soldier in the company, who’s been broken in rank more times than he can count. Link thinks Harry is a coward and urges him to desert. Taunted by Link, not accepted by K Company’s veterans, Harry begins to doubt himself.Then the company is ordered into the field, and in a battle with the Cheyenne, Harry learns what he’s really made of.
The Town Marshal
Robert Vaughan - 2018
Its two main participants, James Cooper and Henry Newton Brown, form a close friendship when, along with Billy the Kid, they fight in the Lincoln County War. After that, James and Henry move on, their bond of friendship growing even stronger as James becomes a crusading newspaper editor and Henry, a town marshal feared by outlaws and lauded by his peers and the towns he served.But something goes wrong, and in an emotive moment, the two best friends find themselves face to face in a dramatic and poignant confrontation.
No Peace (Steve Dancy Tales Book 7)
James D. Best - 2019
He can hardly remember his days of wanderlust, and he’s grateful to have left behind the violence of a raw frontier. In a celebratory mood, Steve invites his mother to a meet her new grandchild in a chic resort in Monterey, California. With the delivery of a handwritten note, his world suddenly reverts to the savagery of his bygone days. There will be no peace.
The Threat
Jonas Saul - 2011
Things go bad fast. During the deal on the fourteenth floor of an apartment building, the dealer disappears, and Drake is stuck in the apartment with a dead woman.The police are at the door. He has nowhere to go.On the run from the police and the maniacal killers intent on framing Drake for murder, he must uncover the truth before it is too late.There is a reason behind the madness that has become his life. That information takes him back twelve years to when he was hospitalized with a concussion and his fiancée went missing.The only way out is to clean up someone else's mess. The only way out is murder.Drake Bellamy didn't want to break the law, but now he is out for blood.
Looking for Jane
Judith Redline Coopey - 2012
Well, what if you don’t have no people? Or any you know of? What then? Are you doomed?” This is the nagging question of fifteen-year-old Nell’s life. Born with a cleft palate and left a foundling on the doorstep of a convent, she yearns to know her mother, whose name, she knows, was Jane.When the Mother Superior tries to pawn her off to a mean looking farmer and his beaten down wife, Nell opts for the only alternative she can see: she runs away. A chance encounter with a dime novel exhorting the exploits of Calamity Jane, heroine of the west, gives Nell the purpose of her life: to find Calamity Jane, who Nell is convinced is her mother.Her quest takes her down rivers, up rivers and across the Badlands to Deadwood, South Dakota and introduces her to Soot, a big, lovable black dog, and Jeremy Chatterfield, a handsome young Englishman who isn’t particular about how he makes his way, as long as he doesn't have to work for it. Together they trek across the country meeting characters as wonderful and bizarre as the adventure they seek, learning about themselves and the world along the way.
The Third Western Megapack: 22 Classic Tales of the Old West
S. Omar Barker - 2014
Bonham THE SECRET CACHE, by E. C. BrillBOOTHILL BOUND, by J. R. JacksonHELL-PATH FOR PILGRIMS, by William HeumanHANDY MAN TO HAVE AROUND, by Donald Bayne HobartTHE JAIL-PROOF OUTLAW, by T. W. FordSIXGUN AND PENCIL LEAD, by Ben FrankMEN WHO MADE THE WEST, by Earle WilsonTHE LAST MILE, by Frank Richardson PierceTHE WAGON WARRIOR, by Les Savage, Jr.TONY'S BANJO, by Carl Elmo FreemanFINGERS ON THE TRIGGER, by S. Omar BarkerCROOKED, by James H. HullCALICO CAPEN'S CACHE, by J.e. GrinsteadFLAPJACK MEEHAN'S FOURTH ACE, by Frank Richardson PierceBULLION AND BULLETS, by J. Thompson KescelAnd if you enjoy this volume, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more entries in this great series, covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mysteries, westerns, classics -- and much, much more!
Ketcham's Land
Douglas Hirt - 2002
After a card game with Benny Gellerman, a man good with a gun, but bad with cards, Ketcham decides it is time to head out again. He finds a place to bed down on a lonely New Mexico farm run by old Corely Mattlin and his widowed daughter-in-law, Margaret. Ketcham has his eye on pretty Margaret, but he'd better keep his eyes open wide for trouble. A local rancher named Jeb Ollfinger is trying to run the Mattlins off their land, and he is not above using violence, even murder, to get what he wants. Margaret is sure her husband's killer was one of Ollfinger's men, a gunman named Gellerman. If Ketcham knew what was good for him, he would head out again. But this time he has a job to do first.
Silver Creek
A.H. Holt - 2003
He's good with his gun and his fists, but doesn't fight except when forced. Smart, loyal and tough, John captures your heart, and the heart of "Andy" Blaine the heroine. Andrea is a bit of a tom-boy, but a beautiful, strong and true western woman. John gets involved in the war for water rights on Silver Creek and neighboring ranches because his father seems to be involved on the wrong side of the law. He and his father haven't spoken for six years, but John feels it his duty to try to clear his father's name.
The Last Woman Standing
Thelma Adams - 2011
She leaves her San Francisco home to join Behan in Tombstone, Arizona, a magnet for miners (and outlaws) attracted by the silver boom. Though united by the glint of metal, Tombstone is plagued by divided loyalties: between Confederates and Unionists, Lincoln Republicans and Democrats.But when the silver-tongued Behan proves unreliable, it is legendary frontiersman Wyatt Earp who emerges as Josephine’s match. As the couple’s romance sparks, Behan’s jealousy ignites a rivalry destined for the history books…At once an epic account of an improbable romance and a retelling of an iconic American tale, The Last Woman Standing recalls the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral through the eyes of a spunky heroine who sought her happy ending in a lawless outpost—with a fierce will and an unflagging spirit.
The Sheriff's Son
William MacLeod Raine - 1917
You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
A Bride for the Texas Ranger
Charlotte Dearing - 2019
He must, however, work a deal with her. She needs money to save her ranch and he needs access to the spring on her property. Seems simple, right? But nothing’s ever easy with Pearl. The woman is steely and stubborn, but she’s lovely too, with a carefully concealed, vulnerable side. As much as he tries not to notice, thoughts of Pearl distract him plenty. She stirs all sorts of protective notions. He yearns to shield her from the dangerous outlaws that lurk in the nearby canyons. When whispered rumors turn into deadly threats, Levi vows to do whatever it takes to keep Pearl safe.
Thirteen Moons
Charles Frazier - 2006
Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart. In a voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and above all an enduring pursuit of passion.
The Horsemen
Gary McCarthy - 1992
Another fine action adventure western from one of America's finest historians and authors...and a horse lover.