Until Hayden Tilden caught up with him.Smilin’ Jack Paine is one face from the past that Hayden would rather forget, but the man’s sinister grin is permanently etched in his memory, along with the chilling thoughts of Paine’s unspeakable crimes. There seems to be no other way to put that demon to rest than to tell the whole story—from the day Hayden first heard the man’s name to the day he finally wiped the grin off Paine’s face for good.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. His book 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.

    But the Apaches have other ideas. Taking refuge in Bonito, they soon find the town cut off by warriors. The townspeople, afraid, turn to Guthrie for help. After losing two new friends to the ravaging Indians, he decides it’s time to end the siege once and for all. Guthrie rides into the Apache camp, where he challenges the war chief, Esparto – Ghost – to battle, man to man, with the town’s fate hanging in the balance.

    In his work as a special agent, tasked with ridding the territory of criminals, he takes no prisoners, and gives no mercy. His job is to hunt down wanted men, asking no questions before delivering his own brand of justice through the barrel of a gun. While traveling through the territory, Timber finds himself in the middle of a turf war in the town of Heaven Brook, where he helps bring an end to the tyranny of two powerful men.

    A lesser man might just give it up; but Ezekiel Hawthorne isn’t a quitter. While thousands head to the California gold fields in wagons, Ezekiel loads his mule and embarks on an amazing venture across the continent alone, bound for the good soils and abundant waters of Oregon. Savages, tornadoes, and a lack of knowledge don’t slow the man down a bit. It’s a beautiful half-Shoshone woman who has the biggest impact on Ezekiel’s new life.

    When marshal Vic Falcone takes a bullet, he calls on the town preacher Tom McCabe to strap on a gun and wear the badge. The man who shot the marshal is in the town jail and awaiting trial, and the man's outlaw brother is out there somewhere, intending to free him. A lot for McCabe to handle, but even though he's a preacher, he's also the nephew of the gunfighter Johnny McCabe.

    A Mississippi riverboat gambler, Benjamin Tate, is thrust into a different life as he is forced to adopt two little boys, who have been horribly abused in an orphanage in St. Louis. He takes the boys out West, buys some land and builds a ranch where he raises horses. He meets the boys' school teacher and falls in love with her. He learns that she's a widow who has suffered terrible physical abuse from her late husband. One of the boys is kidnapped and Tate goes after the kidnappers and recovers his adopted son, who tells him, "I knew you were coming, Pa. I never had a single doubt. And I told that kidnapper you'd beat the 'dickens' out of him." The gambler finds out that love makes a difference in both children and horses. The orphans adopt a young horse named Sunny, which is a pet for the boys, but he's no race horse ... until one of the orphans gives him a little talking to, hugs him and gets in the saddle. Suddenly Sunny is transformed by the love of the orphans into a winning race horse. The family finally learns that Benjamin Tate was the best poker player ever on the Mississippi riverboats. Does he regret giving up that life and being a father to the orphans. Not for a single minute. It's another classic tale from R. O. Lane, author of classic westerns.

    But, as bad as the gunfight had been, the visitor to his office to file a complaint for something that wasn’t even a crime turned out to be much more significant and life-changing.

    He’s an expert roper, brander, hunter, and bronc buster. He goes to Chicago in 1880 to spend a bit of money. While in one of the classiest establishments, the dealer cheats him out of a high-odds win and he pins his hand to the table with the correct card under it. Taken to jail because the establishment is protected, he is drafted to be a Special U. S. Marshal without a set territory and a mission: to catch cowboys because the others don’t look or smell like a cowboy. There is a fortified ranch near the Laramie River where Texas outlaws go when Texas is too hot. Seth’s mission was to infiltrate the ranch, and find out more. Now there are three men trying to kill him: The ranch owner, a Sharpshooter, and a cannibal mountain man they’ve hired. Out in the forest, with limited supplies, he must kill each one of them. But can he, do it? If you love the writing of Brad Dennison, Paul L. Thompson and Terry Grosz…. You will love this new action-packed western adventure from Dusty Rhodes!

    The excitement never slows; outlaws; Indians; a passenger who turns out to be a thief; gunfights; getting lost in the desert, etc. It seems that wherever Colter goes, trouble follows. However, he’s a very resourceful character who can handle anything that comes his way. Although the story-line is fairly traditional, the main characters and some of the events are not. Colter is quite unusual for his time His appearance, personality, style of dress and the equipment and weapons he carries are very unique. He smokes a pipe and loves his coffee, and he is continually making something to suit his needs from what he has on hand. He has a unique rapport with his horse that is exciting, interesting and very often humorous, while his weapons and knowledge of hand-to-hand combat make for some exciting fight scenes. This is not just another “Western”. It has humor, romance and suspense scenes that will keep a reader’s heart pounding. The dialog and the never-ending excitement make a story that is hard to put down.

    The journey allows for a visit with Jeremiah's only living relative, his sister. Jeremiah finds himself obligated to make and keep another promise that sets the trio on the trail West, and that journey sees them join up with a wagon train of settlers and missionaries searching for a new land and a new life. But tragedy strikes and everyone must learn to survive against the trials and challenges of the life-threatening wilderness of the West. The long trip across the plains give the mountain men challenges never before imagined, but with the added resolve of determined settlers, the journey continues to Fort William where the group divides to seek their own futures. Yet the ultimate goal of being reunited with the one woman that truly stirs Jeremiah's heart and give meaning to life, is realized as the journey for the traveling companions ends as they reach the Summer camp of the Arapaho, the second family to Jeremiah.

    To this end, they ambush Sheriff Pelham Birdsall, leaving him for dead. But Birdsall, thanks to his young wife Delight, doesn't die, and as she strives to get him back on his feet in time for the inevitable showdown, more and more of the sheriff's duties fall on her shoulders. In this, she is assisted by an unlikely deputy and a three-legged dog, but in the end, it takes all of them to vanquish the outlaws. As an historical aside, a sheriff's wife was often called upon to provide meals and other amenities for prisoners in her husband's jail. In return, depending on the prisoner's character and his crime, he might chop wood for the stove or do other chores. Neither the sheriff nor his wife was paid extra for prisoner provisions or for her work.

    It is eighteen sixty-six during the Reconstruction Period and many soldiers mustered out of the Armies, both North and South only to return to burned-out homes and long gone families. Some turned to the trail West and Texan territory, bringing with them the hate and violence inherited from their four years of hell. Combined with the lack of military presence in Texas during these years of civil conflict the Comanche had gained a foothold and pushed the settlers back more than thirty miles as they continue their raiding parties unchecked across Texas and Mexico. With only the Texas Rangers to stand in their way. A historically factual novel with a peppering of famous Old West characters sprinkled in. Humor, tragedy, romance, bounty hunters, gunfighters and a strong dose of action make this third book of the Sundog Series a winner. Quite the Western Adventure.

    Clay can't go as a Ranger because its out of his territory, but he can go as a friend and that's exactly what he intends to do...and God help those rustlers if they even think of hurting Loralie.

    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.

    By its third year, the war had already produced tails of brothers and friends meeting on the field of battle wearing different uniforms. Often those encounters ended in tragedy, where one man would spend his hours with ghosts and nightmares, and the other in a cold shallow grave. This story concerns two longtime friends, both new to America from across the sea. Captain Riley Blue, a Confederate cavalry officer finds his boyhood friend washed ashore from a destroyed Union gunboat. The brief artillery battle which sunk Padrick Haggerty’s gunboat had cost Cpt. Blue his horse, his hearing, contact with his company, and for a while his senses. When the smoke and his mind had cleared, Riley knew he couldn’t be responsible for his friend sitting out the war in a hell hole prisoner of war camp. Riley Blue knew he could be shot as a deserter if he was captured by his own forces, and shot as a spy if captured by the Union forces. He also knew the nearest safe haven for his friend, Paddy, was hundreds of miles away.