Saddle tramp Sam MacKinnon is in trouble. Double-crossed by his partners after robbing a saloon and gambling hall, MacKinnon has been left behind in the mountains of southern New Mexico with busted ribs, a banged-up head, no gun, and no horse. And no chance-because aging lawman Nelson Bookbinder and his Mescalero Apache scout, Nikita-both made legendary by dime novels MacKinnon has read-are leading a small posse hot in pursuit of the bandits. Miraculously,...

William Lee Braden was no secessionist, no slave owner. In fact, when the polls opened in Jacksboro, Texas, on February 23, 1861, Braden rode twelve miles up Lost Creek from his small ranch not only to vote against secession, but on his ballot, right next to his signature, he wrote For the Union forever. But come the fall of 1861, William Lee Braden rode off to join his brother Jacob in Harrisburg to fight, not for the Confederacy, but rather to defend...

From nine-time Spur Award–winning Western author Johnny D. Boggs comes the incredible story of the biggest, longest, wildest cattle drive in America's history-from the heart of Texas to New York City. . . . LONGHORNS EAST Tom Candy Ponting was no ordinary trail boss. He didn't smoke, chew, cuss, or even carry a gun. Unlike his competitors, he learned how to herd cows on a farm back in England-and how to handle cowboys in bareknuckle prizefights....

They sing songs about Matthew Johnson. The hero of dime novels, Matt won national fame during a range war in Idaho when he shot and killed an outlaw-and former saddle pal. But the past seventeen years have been an alcoholic blur rather than a heroic journey. Gone are the days when he was a free-wheeling cowboy, swapping poems with his best friend on the cattle ranges. The West has modernized-and practically disappeared-when Matt arrives in Denver...

'Til Death Do Us Part Stranded in the Mojave Desert, Micah Bishop is about to cash in his chips for good when he's rescued by an unlikely savior. Whip Watson is hand-delivering two dozen brides to the silver boom town of Calico, where miners are going loco for companionship. Better still, Watson asks Micah if he'd help escort the wagons--and far be it for Micah to pass up both cash and some very pretty faces. But Micah doesn't know that Whip Watson...

Recalling his early life as a young cowboy, sixty-two-year-old Madison Carter remembers his first love: her name was Estrella O'Sullivan, and he met her the summer he turned sixteen back in 1873. The summer of 1873 marked Madison's last drive up what is now called the Chisholm Trail. It was the first time he tasted oysters and the only time he pinned on a badge. It was the summer of longhorns, miserable heat, friendship and betrayal, and murder....

The South Carolina backcountry is no place for a young girl to grow up in the 1760s, but sixteen-year-old Emily Stewart wouldn't have it any other way. She loves the settlement of Ninety Six where her father Breck Stewart runs a tavern with his family, including Emily's embittered older brother, Donnan. But there's much to fear, too. Gangs of murderers, thieves, and robbers terrorize the country with impunity. Pleas to the government in Charlestown...

In 1913, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Lawrence, Kansas, Massacre, former bushwhacker Cole Younger stands before a preacher at a tent revival. "I was, I remain, and I will always be a wicked man," Younger states, taking a step toward salvation. And for a man like Cole Younger, there is much to confess.

Not every Wild West disagreement was settled with guns on a dusty street. Even on the frontier, accused criminals were entitled to a fair trial. Author Johnny Boggs recreates and analyzes some of the wildest murder trials of these times.