Cirrus@Austlit

'The sheriff of Tumbleweed took an instant dislike to Duke Benedict and Hank Brazos. The dude and the giant in the garish purple shirt looked like trouble to him. So he gave them one-way tickets for the next stage out to Flintlock …. and that’s when the trouble really began.

'The minute it left town, the stagecoach became a target. Among the other passengers was a federal marshal delivering his prisoner, notorious outlaw Jack Savage, to Flintlock for trial. But Savage’s gang had other ideas. They planned to stop the stage and rescue him, even if they had to kill everyone else on board.

'They reckoned without Benedict and Brazos, and when the stranded passengers took refuge in a deserted town called Buckaroo, they found themselves up against hot lead – and stone-cold ghosts from the past!'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2020 ed.).

'Rancher’s daughter Rebecca Donnell was sentenced to death after recognizing one of the men who robbed the stage she was travelling on. Her father knew only that she had vanished off the face of the earth, so he hired the only two men he felt could possibly find her – or her body… Shane Preston and Jonah Jones.

'The two gunfighters rode into the wilderness with no guarantees of success, but once they took a man’s money they never quit a job until it was complete. First they found the missing stagecoach, or what was left of it. Then they found three shallow graves…

'Their quest should have ended there. But the lean gunfighter and his crusty old companion knew they wouldn’t rest until they settled with the killers themselves, the so-called Long Knife Gang.

'Meanwhile, there was a pack of renegades on their trail, determined to capture and torture them for shooting their chief’s kill-crazy son. There was no turning back for Shane and Jonah. They were caught smack in the middle of two bands of killers who were both set on taking their scalps!'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2020 ed.).

'Kilraine: the fast gun who left to protect his family; Grace Jefferson: Kilraine’s wife who was shot when their ranch was raided by night riders; Lucy Jefferson: the daughter he’s never seen; Sam Jefferson: Grace’s father – they murdered him claiming self-defense; Carver Giles: he killed to have it all; Eli Carter: the brave young man who stood up for the town; Utah Williams: Giles’ hired killer. 

'A cast of characters larger than the West itself comes to life in a classic tale of good against evil, in which the final showdown would pit three guns against a living ghost and possibly tear a family apart forever.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Buck Halliday was a sudden man with a gun. That’s why Judge Cowper, of Shimmer Creek, hired him. The judge wanted a man named Jason Henley killed. Henley, he said, had taken over the town, lock, stock and barrel, and now he expected every other businessman to pay him protection money.

'Halliday had killed men before, but he wasn’t a killer for hire.  Still … maybe he could convince Henley that it might be better for his health if he made dust and headed for someplace else.

'Trouble was, Henley had more lives than a cat. And to get to him, a feller first had to go through his pet gunman, the notorious Rafe Murchison.

'It appeared to Halliday that he was really going to earn his money on this job.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'There was trouble in Fortitude Valley. Someone had set up a lumber camp smack in the middle of cattle country. And to make matters worse, the lumbermen drafted in to work the axes and saws, and float the timber down to the sawmill, were paroled convicts! If they made a go of the chance they’d been given, they could win their freedom. But the Fortitude Valley Cattlemen’s Association had other ideas about that.

'Hank Brazos and Duke Benedict were hired to keep the peace between the two opposing factions, but that was easier said than done. Unwittingly, they landed themselves right in the middle of an all-out war in which neither side intended to go down without a fight… and their weapons ranged from red-hot lead to sweaty, unstable dynamite!'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Chief Red Claw’s Comanche renegades, supplied with latest rifles by a greedy gunrunning outfit, are terrorizing settlers, burning, looting and killing. In desperation, the Army re-hires former trail scout Clay Coleman, a man they once booted out for bending the rules. On the trail west, Clay rescues a mail order bride from a Comanche war party, then catches up with his old saddle partner, Shoshone Sam. Together, the two scouts match their wits and guns against Red Claw’s warriors and the ruthless bunch of gunrunners. With the odds stacked against them, can they possibly bring peace to the frontier again? And can Clay survive to win the woman he loves?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Drifter Blake Durant was arrested and thrown into the Sunfish Creek jail on a simple case of mistaken identity. The town was expecting a visit from outlaw Tom Moran, who’d sworn to get revenge on its lawmen, and Deputy Billy Owen suspected that Blake was part of Moran’s gang, sent out ahead of the main gang to scout the lay of the land.

'Then everything became even more complicated when some genuine owlhoots broke jail and committed a cold-blooded murder. A manhunt followed, as did the unexpected appearance of Moran’s beautiful young daughter, Lisa. And Blake found himself on the trail of the outlaws… because the only way to clear himself of the murder was to bring back the guilty parties, either in their saddles… or across them.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Blake Durant was on his way to Crimson Falls when he stopped by Jessica Gray’s ranch for water. Before he could move on again, the young widow’s son came galloping into the yard, badly beaten. Three men had stolen their two calves and beaten young Jess when he tried to stop them. Much as he knew he should just ride on, Blake knew he couldn’t. So he stood shoulder to shoulder with the young widow and her son against a vicious land-baron with an army of gunnies on his payroll. And when the gunsmoke finally cleared, the winner would take all!'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Trouble was brewing in the town of Longhorn, Utah. A band of nesters had moved onto land the local cattlemen had always previously claimed as their own. The nesters weren’t breaking any laws – by order of the government, they were entitled to claim and work the land. But what made things worse was that they also happened to be the one thing no cattleman could stand …. sheepmen!

'Judd Gunther, the biggest rancher in those parts, immediately declared war on the newcomers, and against so many hired guns, there wasn’t much they could do to defend themselves – until Shane Preston and Jonah Jones happened to pass through. 

'Taking a shine to nester’s daughter Elizabeth Cooper, and an instant dislike to Gunther and his two bully-boys sons, Jake and Efraim, Shane and Jonah decided to buy into the war, in the hope of stopping it. But when the bullets started flying, they realized things were going to get a whole lot worse before they got better.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'One hundred factory-new repeating rifles had gone missing, and if they fell into the wrong hands, the west would run red with blood. The job of finding them and returning them to the Army fell to Shane Preston and Jonah Jones. But along the way they collected a rag-tag bunch of helpers, from a Mormon missionary to a disgraced, back-shooting sheriff. And even when they located the rifles, getting them back to Fort Dumas wasn’t going to be easy. The Mexican outlaw Pedro Mantez wanted those weapons, and he didn’t care how many innocent people his fifty-strong army of renegades had to kill to get them!'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Blake Durant wasn’t looking for trouble, but as usual, trouble found him anyway. It came in the shape of a crusty old miner called Pete Doubell, who was outnumbered and under attack by a bunch of gunmen when Blake ran across him. Ever the loner, Blake wanted no part of it, but somehow he got drawn into a complicated web of lies, death and double-dealing. Along the way he locked horns with gunfighter Vance Carter, and vengeance-hungry Reke Bodie and his gun-hung crew. But when he looked into the eyes of Doubell’s niece Christine, all the danger seemed a price worth paying …'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It was the riskiest job Shane Preston and Jonah Jones had ever taken on. The Texas Rangers wanted them to ride into a lawless town called Sombrero and kidnap Lobo Dawson, a prominent member of Sam Hashknife’s notorious outlaw gang. If they could fetch him back to Ranger headquarters, it was hoped that he’d reveal the location of Hashknife’s hideout in return for his own freedom.

'But Lobo Dawson proved to be a tough prisoner to hold, especially when they joined a band of mismatched passengers aboard the last train to Gun Ridge, and the final leg of their journey back to safety.  As the old loco hauled them across the pitiless Llano Estacado, Shane and Jonah found themselves faced with all kinds of treachery… and to save a young newlywed from life as an outlaw’s woman, and to get even with the sadist who’d dared to whip Shane’s horse Snowfire, the two gunmen crossed the blazing desert on foot to take part in an explosive showdown.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Following the death of its guide, a wagon train bound for Gun Creek had stalled outside the small town on Conchita. But when Shane Preston and Jonah Jones rode in on the trail of the scar-faced man Shane had sworn to kill, wagon master Huston Whittaker saw an answer to their problems. Whittaker was an old friend of Shane’s, and when he asked for help in getting his emigrants to their destination, the black-clad gunfighter and his crusty old sidekick couldn’t refuse.

'The trail ahead was going to be mighty hard, though. Somewhere out in the vast wilderness, a band of renegade Cheyennes were on the warpath. And there was no shortage of problems right inside the wagon train itself. A killer with a price on his head was trying to work his way west to a new life. A fiery half-Mexican girl on the run from a vengeful husband set her cap for the preacher who hoped to bring religion to Gun Creek. And three men masquerading as prospectors were planning a double-cross that would send the wagons and their occupants straight to hell!'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The old man and his lovely niece Hope were in big trouble. The local land baron, bully-boy Aldo Latimer, wanted their ranch – at any cost.

'But what made the old Clayton place worth so much to him? Why was he willing to try every dirty trick in the book to get it?

'All Dick and Hope Clayton knew was that they needed protection … and when Buck Halliday rode in, they figured they’d found it.

'Halliday wasn’t looking for gun-work right then, but he liked the old man, and there was something about Hope that got under his skin and made him think it was time to settle down. So he signed on.

'But the stakes were so high that soon, Halliday wasn’t sure who he could really trust – not old Dick, not Hope …  and certainly not his arch rival, Aldo Latimer’s hired gun, Rees Mann.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Buck Halliday fled the town of Pardoo after being falsely accused of murder. In his haste to avoid a lynching, he strayed from the main trail and ended up in a desolate valley with a bad reputation. They said plenty of men had ridden into the nameless valley, but none had ever returned.

'It wasn’t long before Halliday discovered why.

'Almost before he knew it, he was fighting for his life against a vicious clan led by a madman named Masterson, and his only hope of salvation lay with the very posse that was trailing him, and determined to make sure he kept his date with the noose!'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When Blake Durant reached the town of Lincoln, he really should have just kept riding. But he didn’t get the chance.

'Within moments of his arrival, a gun-tough named Nico Semole injured his horse and then tried to pick a fight with an old man. Blake stopped him and beat him to pulp. But Nico just didn’t know when to quit. Later that day he came at Blake with a gun … and set off a chain of events that was to end in murder and bloody revenge.

'Nico’s brother Kent aimed to settle the account with Blake, and he had just enough gun-speed to do it. Furthermore, the local marshal was all burnt out, and Blake knew he couldn’t rely on the man to keep the peace. So it looked as if the man they called The Loner would have to take matters into his own hands … and when he did, there was gunsmoke in the air and dead men on the ground.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It all started with the discovery of three dead men, each of whom had been shot from ambush. Blake Durant did the decent thing and buried them, and that should have been the end of it. But then he met up with Ben Adamson, discovered that the men had been working for him, and decided to help the old-timer drive his cattle into the next town down the trail.

'That was when all hell broke loose. There was an attempt to steal the cattle, and in the process Durant was accused of a cold-blooded killing and sentenced to hang. Loyal to the end, Ben Anderson fought tooth and nail to save him from the trumped-up charge … but that only led to even more problems, including a terrifying manhunt and, finally, an audacious plan to get even with the bad men who ruled Outcast County.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Robert Brodie was always a practical man. It helped him survive the war as a Texan Confederate – as a miner in Death Valley – and now as a muleskinner hauling borax across one of the most inhospitable places on the earth’s surface.

'So, when an old Indian bestows the Divine Wind upon him from Tanka the Great Spirit, it is accepted with both bewilderment and scepticism. Especially, as Brodie is trapped under a four-ton borax wagon at the time and expecting to die of thirst …'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It was the perfect hold-up, conducted with military precision by four men who calmly walked out of the Ozark Branch of the First National Bank with close to $50,000.

'Then it all went wrong.

'One unfortunate shot hits their leader Frank Jerome as he rides away. What to do? Take the risk and try to ride out the 250 miles back to the mighty Mississippi? Or let the other three escape without being slowed by a wounded man?

'Frank didn’t hesitate. In a selfless act he stayed to face a prison sentence and an uncertain future. Now, years later on release, his companions have all disappeared along with the money, and it is going to take more than luck to untangle the lies, deceit and secrets that have been left behind. It is going to take animal instinct.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.