These are the stories of the Old West written by bestselling Western author Paul L. Thompson. Matt was one of Shorty’s best friends, they had worked on ranches’ together back in their teen years and were as close as any brothers. Shorty told his partner Buffalo he may be gone for months, but will write when he can. That night he cleaned and oiled his guns. As the sun came up the next morning, he was miles closer to Big Spring, Texas in U.S. Marshal U.S. Marshal Shorty Thompson is on the case again when a young English girl and her brother are robbed of their precious family jewels they are trying to safely get to San Francisco. Outlaws abound, all trying to get their hands on the loot, but they have a bit of a surprise when they come face to face with scrappy young Margret, backed up by Shorty. Plenty of bullets are shot both ways, but will the bad guys win? Excitement, shoot-outs, and life or death situations ensue, all over some black pearls and blue diamonds. This is Black Pearls, Blue Diamonds and Bullets from Paul L. Thompson. And in “The Long Trail Nowhere” Ronnie Cox slowly saddled his horse, stowing all of his traveling gear and tying it tightly. Walking to the main house, he knocked on the door. Jack Johnson opened it with a smile. “Come on in, Ronnie.” Ronnie stood with hat in hand. “Mister Johnson, I’s needing to draw my pay, as I’ll be taking up the trail after a bit.” Little did he know, this trail to nowhere was going to lead to a whole lot of trouble, and he was slowly riding that way. These three exciting stories are now together in this new collection from action-packed bestselling Western author Paul L. Thompson. These are three of the most powerful Western adventures in town waiting for your Kindle!

    An old friend needs Jack to find her son, who was last seen at the Redwing Saloon. The manager is a wanted man with a hefty bounty on his head, but no one is brave enough to try and collect it. Except Jack.But there's more going on than meets the eye, and if Jack can't sort out the good guys from the bad guys, he's going to end up going home in a pine box.This 15,800 word novelette is loaded with traditional western action and can be read in one sitting.

    But when news of a horrifying murder shocks her sleepy fishing community, she’s compelled by a deep sense of justice to help track down the killer. And when an old friend offers her a chance to do it from behind a badge, she goes all in. Ellie’s investigation gets off to a rapid start, leading her into a hidden underworld of drugs, murder, and lies, where she quickly discovers that some of the locals may not have the cleanest of hands. Meanwhile, as deep pain continues to linger from the recent death of her father and a gaping hole left by a previous mission gone terribly wrong, Ellie discovers that it’s not so easy to outrun your past. SHALLOW BREEZE When a plane loaded with illegal drugs crashes into an iconic pier, the locals begin to wonder if any other secrets are about to fall out of the sky. After going to Tampa to search out a possible link between Hawkwing Enterprises and the dead body of a young boy, Ellie suddenly becomes entangled with an elusive drug lord and the former Navy SEAL working with him. On Pine Island, a local and beloved business owner is blackmailed into moving cargo that goes against everything he believes in, bringing his world crashing down around him as he begins to live a sinister lie. BITTER TIDE When local Matlacha artist Jean Oglesby confides to Ellie that her son may be in some trouble, Ellie steps in to help and is sent down a winding trail that leads her into deep and unexpected waters. A Category 4 hurricane has Pine Island in its crosshairs, and as the winds whip the mainland, it forces Ellie to make a choice: flee for safety or stay and hunt down the weapons smugglers that have kidnapped and tortured an innocent man. And when a friend from the past suddenly appears with unexpected news, she begins to wonder if the truth is even out there and if she will be forced to finally bend the rules. VACANT SHORE Ellie has encountered setback after setback, and this time is no different. When a former adversary comes back for revenge, Ellie discovers the crosshairs cover more than she ever could have imagined and locks her into a deadly battle that has already claimed far too many innocent lives. As she gets ever closer to unmasking the lies running rampant over her community, Ellie finds corruption at the highest levels of government, forcing her to reexamine everything she knew to be true. In this nail-biting conclusion to an investigation that began in Broken Stern, Ellie’s pursuit of justice takes her to the very threshold of death’s door, and what she finds leading up to it is nothing short of terrifying.

    Marshal series continues with fresh and exciting adventures for Hunt and the other U.S. Marshals assigned to the Denver office. Hunt and Earl are sent north to investigate the disappearance of two army scouts and are escorted to the Sioux camp by cavalry officers from Fort Carson. Hunt's visit is complicated with the arrival of a man from Philadelphia claiming his daughter is being held against her will at the Sioux camp and is demanding that the army help him retrieve his daughter. Hunt comes face to face with the man that he tracked all the way from Boston to the Missouri River with surprising results.

    Four years ago, his father had handed him a box containing both guns, completely disassembled, and told him he could have them, when and if he could put them back together. It took him a week, but he did it. He didn’t do it to please his father, whom he hated, nor his mother, whom he loved. He did it to prove to himself that he could, and as a result of hours of practice at the back of the property, he rarely missed with either gun, and he could draw and fire the pistol in a split second.

     Gideon Johann is a man tortured by his past. Staying on the move is the only thing that keeps his demons at bay. As Gideon tries to outrun his past, he arrives in the rough and tumble cow town of Ellsworth, Kansas. He takes a job as a deputy and finds he has his hands full dealing with all the mayhem in the town and a young woman that could change his life. Will the love of a woman bring Gideon peace or will his demons keep him running? Duane Boehm has written another western novel with enough humor, heartbreak, love, and outlaws to keep you turning the page.

     In 1866, Beautiful archeologist Alison Shaw and her brother, Hammond, arrive in Tucson seeking a guide into Apacheria, where they plan to search for Hohokam artifacts. They try to hire the famous scout Jake Moran as a guide. Jake's not the hero everybody thinks he is, though, and he wants no parts of a trip into Apache country; so Alison enlists the services of suave French rancher Edouard de Lacey, instead. De Lacey is the secret leader of a gang of outlaws, and he suspects that Alison is really looking for treasure. He intends to steal the treasure and return to France to live in luxury. For Alison, he has other plans. De Lacey is also Jake Moran's deadliest enemy. He's been trying to kill Jake for ten years, since Jake led the Vigilance Committee than ran de Lacey out of San Francisco. When Jake learns that Alison and her brother have gone with de Lacey, he has to try and save them. He rescues Alison and her brother, and with the outlaws and Cochise's Apaches hot on their trail, the three of them set out to discover the secret of Dead Man's Canyon.

    His early home life, until age 17 where he heads west, to the mountains. His journey is told through his meetings with both bad and good elements of typical westerners of that time, Indians, Mountain Men, and Outlaws. Reaching the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in the company of seasoned Mountain Men his goal is in sight, Rendezvous. His adventures include encountering grizzly bears, hunting buffalo, and typical arms, weapons, and accessories associated with mountain men and trappers. An encounter with a golden eagle, held sacred by the Crow people, wins favor with a party of Crow warriors returning from Rendezvous. Succeeding as a hunter and a warrior earns an invitation from the Crow warriors to winter over with their small band. While living in the Crow village we follow this band to summer and winter camps, buffalo hunts, horse stealing adventures, and with fighting their mortal enemies, the Blackfoot.

    Topics discussed include: sincerity, the nature of intention, types of heart, the four poisons of the heart, seeking Allah's forgiveness, supplication, praying at night, love of Allah, hope in Allah, fear of Allah and many others.

    The United States Bounty Hunter Western Adventures

     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.

    But none of their crimes were as heinous as the brutal murder of Mary Beth Tall Dog and the kidnapping of her young daughter. Gathering a group of hardened men as a posse, Deputy U.S. Marshal Hayden Tilden sets out to face the vicious foes in a fight for right—and his very own life . . .Praise for Lawdog: The Life and Times of Haydon Tilden“Lawdog should assume its rightful place beside other Western classics.” —Peter Brandvold, author of Once Hell Freezes Over“Lawdog has it all. I couldn’t put it down.” —Jack Ballas, author of West of the RiverAbout the Author:J. Lee Butts is the author of 22 published books and numerous magazine articles and short works. Brotherhood of Blood was runner-up for the Western Writers of America Spur Award in 2005. He’s worn many hats over the years (teacher, administrator, pool manager, IBM supervisor, and western author), and he and his late wife lived everywhere from Los Angeles to Dallas. Currently he’s hanging those hats back in White Hall, Arkansas.

    Tyrone Brewster walked out of the station; confident this was going to be an easy job. At five foot eight inches, average build, brown eyes, brown hair, brown suit and brown derby hat, with no scars or distinguishing marks, he looked just like any other drummer riding the train. Only, he was no drummer. He was a bringer of death, an assassin, and Hammershield had met his price. Mister Clay Brentwood, Texas Ranger, would be dead long before he reached Dallas.

    Here, young Scottish surgeon Felix Carswell and Chief Constable Major Giles Vernon are tasked to uncover the truth in three complex tales of murder and detection set in Early Victorian England. The Hanging Cage Summoned to the bleak market town of Whithorne in the midst of a winter storm, Major Giles Vernon and police surgeon Felix Carswell are embroiled in another challenging investigation. A beautiful young heiress has been found dead in her bed, and although suicide seems the most likely cause, the circumstances soon point to a tangle of illicit relationships and painful secrets. As Major Vernon pursues the truth behind Annabella Barker's death, further shocking events soon unfold, including another suicide At the same time, called in to deliver a son and heir, Carswell is drawn into the affairs of the eccentric Yardley family at Whithorne Castle, but it is no distraction from his anxieties about his troubled relationship with Sukey Connolly. Major Vernon, for his part, unexpectedly encounters an old acquaintance and is forced to question both his past and his future. When a partial skeleton is found in a culvert, events begin to take a still darker turn, and Vernon and Carswell must pursue an unimaginable evil. As November floods threaten the bridges of Northminster itself, dangerous enemies emerge close to home and the struggle for justice becomes a matter of life and death. The Hanging Cage is the fourth Northminster Mystery, featuring early Victorian detectives Vernon and Carswell. The Ghosts of Ardenthwaite Something is amiss at Ardenthwaite. Ghostly apparitions have been seen, so terrifying that the mistress of the house and the servants have deserted the place. Colonel Parham, the tenant, asks his landlord Felix Carswell and Major Giles Vernon to determine what is going on. But their investigations soon takes an unexpected turn, leaving them in confusion and doubting their own sanity. Shortly afterwards, a man dies in Northminster Infirmary, the victim of a brutal and systematic attack which seems to point to dangerous criminal forces hitherto unknown in the city. Vernon has his suspicions as to who is behind it, and with Carswell's assistance he begins to unpick a complex network of alliances and enemies. Yet, as their best witnesses meet brutal fates, they are forced to face the grim possibility of failure. Having been forced into unpleasant compromises to gain access to the truth, Giles is further unsettled by the return of Emma Maitland to Northminster, now engaged to another man. As she assists him with the case, he begins to realise all that he has lost. For Felix Carswell, a bizarre and other-worldly encounter with a beautiful, spirited young woman throws up the possibility of an extremely advantageous marriage. Eleanor Blanchfort is an heiress and Lord Rothborough's ward. Has destiny brought them together as she suggests, and can Felix find the will to resist such a dazzling temptation? The Echo at Rooke Court Felix Carswell returns from his blissful wedding journey and is at once called to the bedside of a young man fighting for his life.

     Savage Sourdough: Book 4 For Winifred Page and her devoted corgi, Watson, the puzzle pieces of life are falling into place as they settle into their home in the Colorado mountains. Surrounded by family and friends, Fred begins to relax into the charm and beauty of being the owner of a bookshop. All of that is put on hold when she finds a dead body in the Cozy Corgi bakery. Scornful Scones: Book 5 Tourist season is about to begin, and the lovely weather has Fred and her corgi sidekick, Watson, leaving the comfort of the Cozy Corgi Bookshop and Bakery to reluctantly attend a celebration at the Black Bear Roaster coffee shop. But a chill of uncertainty settles over Fred when a choking death doesn’t seem so accidental—despite the dry, hazardous scones. Chaotic Corgis: Book 6 Winifred and her quirky corgi, Watson, celebrate the Fourth of July picnicking with family and friends—of the human and four-legged variety. As summer blooms with romance for Fred and Sergeant Branson Wexler, murder lurks around the corner. When relationships are tested and secrets exposed, Fred might lose more than one person she loves. (This anthology includes a recipe for delectable sourdough bread, scones, and human-friendly dog treats.)