Book picks similar to
The Ghost with Blue Eyes by Robert J. Randisi


western
historical-fiction
westerns
author-recommended

No Man's Land (Jack Ballard Book 1)


Linell Jeppsen - 2018
    Sometimes he's able to stop it from hurting innocent people—and sometimes he causes it. It can’t be helped, though. He is a good man with a fast gun, and in West Texas in the late 1800’s, trouble lies around every bend. Only he and his filed-down .44-40 Colt can stop it.

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.

Wade's War


Chet Cunningham - 2010
    Chet Cunningham is on top of the heap of western action-adventure writers with over 300 books, and Wade's War is one you won't put down.

The Women in Pants: Sidesaddle No More


Stan Himes - 2017
    Will they overcome with hearts and humor intact? Will they survive at all? Reader Reviews: "I know if you enjoy reading about strong confident and brave women you will love this book as much as I did!" "Recommend this books to all who enjoy Westerns, or even if you have never read one. I think you would perhaps see some of the personalities, philosophies and behavior in yourself and those you know and only read about! A very HUMAN book!" "WOW. Bought this book with the thoughts of perhaps a light read.... I'm telling you, the detail, the writing, the story were all superb." "This book is for everyone. I couldn't wait to see what happened but I didn't want it to end." "If this book doesn't get made into a big-budget movie with an ensemble of major actresses, Hollywood will have missed out on a blockbuster." "I loved this book from beginning to end. And the unique way the author told it. A most fun read. If I had lived in that time period I would have wanted to be one of those women in pants!"

The Stalking Moon


T.V. Olsen - 1965
    Original.

Ride the Man Down


Luke Short - 1942
    Phil Evarts is dead, and the Hatchet Range is up for grabs. That’s 70,000 acres of prime turf just waiting for the man rich enough to buy it . . . or the gunman crazy enough to kill for it. Every schemer in town has his eyes on Hatchet, and Bide Mariner leads the charge. An unscrupulous rancher who’ll stop at nothing for cash, Mariner has the money and the guns to take whatever he wants. Only Will Ballard stands in his way—and that means Ballard is marked for death.   The foreman at Hatchet Range, Ballard is an honest man who’ll do anything to keep the ranch from falling into Mariner’s hands. In a town so rotten with greed that even the sheriff is against him, Ballard must stand alone to save this little piece of the American West.   Voted one of the top twenty-five westerns of all time by the Western Writers of America and made into a 1952 Republic film starring Rod Cameron, Ride the Man Down showcases award-winning author Luke Short at the height of his writing powers.

Blood Storm: A John Henry Cole Western


Bill Brooks - 2012
    Recent unexpected gunplay has whittled his detective agency down to a single operative: a man named John Henry Cole. Cole is the only man left when a new assignment comes in from a former lover of Kelly’s, a woman operating an escort service in the new mining camp of Deadwood in Dakota Territory. Three of the young women working for her have been murdered, and someone is trying to cover up their deaths.It’s a dangerous job, and Cole is advised that he must take every precaution—as if he needed such advice. The legendary Wild Bill Hickok was recently murdered at Deadwood, and Calamity Jane Canary and Doc Holliday are among Cole’s potential suspects. Add that to a corrupt constable and a bounty hunter who just happens to be an old enemy of Cole’s, and it’s clear there are many who will not welcome his arrival in Deadwood. Cole is a lonely man in a lonely profession, and finding a murderer in the wild mining camp could be less of a challenge than simply staying alive.Using real-life characters and settings from one of the most notorious times in the history of the Wild West, veteran author Bill Brooks spins another edge-of-your-seat thriller.Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction that takes place in the old West. Westerns—books about outlaws, sheriffs, chiefs and warriors, cowboys and Indians—are a genre in which we publish regularly. Our list includes international bestselling authors like Zane Gray and Louis L’Amour, and many more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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.

What It All Comes Down To


Duane Boehm - 2018
    He's a loner - his job is his life. The one creed Jude lives by is to only take work from those being persecuted by the corrupt men of the world. When Eli, an old friend from the war, needs help with a ruthless rancher, he hurries to his aid. As Jude attempts to protect Eli and the ranch, he's forced to face his past, all while Eli's family and a spitfire of a saloon girl disrupts his way of life.Will Jude and Eli survive and save the ranch, and if Jude lives, will he ride away, back into his old way of life, and leave behind all the good things that have come his way?Duane Boehm has written another western novel with enough humor, heartbreak, love, and outlaws to keep you turning the page.

Hell and Half of Texas: Heck Carson Series: Volume 2


John Spiars - 2017
    Justice is back. Seeking a greater adventure than bringing law and order to the untamed Texas frontier, Texas Ranger Jesse "Heck" Carson, along with his friend, Tommy Jergsen, enlist in the Confederate Cavalry. They are placed in a special unit tasked with stopping the murderous Jayhawkers who have been carrying on a guerilla war against civilians in Missouri. Heck and his men face the expected horrors of war, but what they didn't expect was to find themselves in the middle of a private war where they don't know who to trust and where the lines between friend and enemy mean nothing. In order to do what is right, they must make decisions that will forever change the course of their lives and which thrusts them into a battle far more violent than anything they ever expected.

Preston Lewis Western Collection 2


Preston Lewis - 2020
    Tough times require tough choices, no matter if it’s in a Colorado winter or a race across New Mexico.In Blood Saga, Virgil Child returns his mother’s coffin to White Oaks, New Mexico Territory, to bury her beside his dead father. Child can’t find his father’s grave and as he investigates, he discovers how his birthright was stolen by Ed Keller and his allies. He sets out to right a wrong and get what’s his against all odds.The Preston Lewis Western Collection, Volume 2 includes: Escape from Silverton, Blood Saga, Vigilante Justice, New Mexico Showdown and Hard Texas Winter.

Haunted Falls


Ken Farmer - 2013
    Marshal Bass Reeves in their first book, entitled "The Nations". The story continues in "Haunted Falls", the story of Bass Reeves as he joins other U.S. Marshals in pursuit of the infamous Dalton gang. It is full of adventure, romance, some history, excitement and a unique paranormal twist. You will not want to miss this sequel.

Matagorda/The First Fast Draw (Bantam Books Western)


Louis L'Amour - 2008
    Now he’s settled on the Texas coast, working a ranch as the partner of his old friend Tom Kittery—and finding himself in the middle of a feud between Kittery and a neighboring family. But the danger from outside is nothing compared to the threat within, as Duvarney suspects Kittery’s woman isn’t all she appears to be. Tap may have to go to war again. But this time will it be with his closest friend?The First Fast DrawEast Texas wasn’t much of a home for Cullen Baker. Few liked him, and some even tried to kill him. Yet after three years of wandering, he’s back to farm the land that is rightfully his. But Cullen’s neighbors have long memories, and his worst adversary has teamed up with a vicious outlaw. With enemies closing in on all sides and threatening the woman he loves, Cullen will have to be faster than lightning—and twice as deadly—just to survive.From the Paperback edition.

Down From The Mountain (Clint Hunter: Mountain Man #1)


Mike Mackessy - 2019
    With degrees in both Medicine and Law, at the age of seventeen, Clint still felt empty and dissatisfied. He struck up a bargain with his father, to be allowed four years to go West and see the lands, experience life, then return to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor in the family practice. When he boarded the train west with fifty thousand dollars set up in a bank account, Clint had no way of knowing just how much his life would turn in a completely different way.

The Long Shooters


Daniel C. Chamberlain - 2011
    Ballou perfected the art of the judicious killer. His ability with his cherished Stephens target rifle is legendary, making a nearly miraculous shot that no one else – North or South – could accomplish. After the war, he disappears… Samuel Roark is a small-time rancher and part-time lawyer. One personal tragedy after another leaves Samuel gripped by periodic bouts of depression. When a hidden marksman of uncommon skill murders his son, the death leaves Samuel on the brink of total madness.Roark’s wife Sarah, a woman of strength, grace and startling beauty is now both emotionally and physically exhausted by the tragic circumstances that have beset her family. After discovering her husband’s quest for revenge, she does everything in her power to prevent what she fears will ultimately destroy him.Matthew Shaw is a known manhunter and soldier of fortune that people call on when they’re willing to pay someone else to deal with obstacles in their lives. When required, Shaw reluctantly uses his considerable marksmanship to achieve those ends. Now Shaw finds himself caught between a job he truly believes in, and a very good reason to walk away when he realizes he’s falling in love with Sarah, the wife of the man who hired him.