Classic Western Literature

In 1876 the seemingly impossible happened in San Antonio, Texas - Emmett Strong, a prodigy of a pistolero, accidentally shot his own young wife in a showdown gone awry. Five years later, death again visits Emmett's family, and now - want to or not - he's going to have to overcome his reluctance to draw his six-gun if he's to catch and bring to justice the crazed gunman who murdered his brother.

Wild mustangs, ghosts on the ranch, gun-toting outlaws and trailblazing cowboys roam the pages of this collection of 8 classic stories about the American frontier. Travel down "The Road to Hell" with a mysterious ranch builder, face down the "Yellow Devil" mountain lion, travel "Where the Wind Blows Free," and join in on a herd of other adventures that will keep you reading until long after high noon.

Follow Cade McCall as he rides the Chisholm Trail, crosses raging rivers, faces cattle rustlers, and fights marauding Indians while taking a herd of longhorns north to Kansas. He reaches his destination only to be devastated by the most heinous act he has ever encountered. Driven by a rage-filled determination, Cade begins his search for justice, a search that ends with Cade's Revenge.

Love and death, bullets and blood.... Sheriff Ben Stillman finds himself in the unenviable position of having to arrest a young man for murder on suspicious evidence. But the cards are stacked against the young firebrand who calls himself Johnny Nevada. One, Johnny has gotten Judge Hoagland’s daughter pregnant, shaming and enraging Hoagland himself. Two, Johnny warned Dave Bliss he was going to kill him because Bliss ordered Johnny to stay away from Bliss’s daughter, Sarah, whom the young Casanova was also sparking. Johnny made the warning public and two weeks later Bliss was dead.

Maybe it was a moment of insanity. Maybe it was revenge. Or maybe the Metis Indian, Shambeau, finally had enough of the white man's hatred. Whatever it was, Sheriff Ben Stillman now has a murder case on his hands - and, as the law dictates, he must hunt down and hang the outlaw. But nobody knows the land better than Shambeau. He could be anywhere. Then again...nobody can track a bloodthirsty killer like Sheriff Ben Stillman. And there's no hiding from his swift brand of justice.

America's richest legends come from the frontier - from the land where the events of a single moment might erase the lines between law and lawlessness, between safety and mortal danger, between heroes and villains. The carefully selected stories in this collection are vibrant proof that the great American West is a fertile ground to storytellers. Here is the most varied collection of short stories by 17 highly acclaimed Western writers.

Tiny yet prospering Benficklin, Texas, wants a clean, respectable town marshal to safeguard their pristine community from the kind of riffraff that turned neighboring Santa Angela into a raucous string of blood-spattered saloons and bawdy sporting houses. Former Texas Ranger Emmett Strong seems to be just the man Benficklin’s town fathers are looking for. Reputations aside, Benficklin - not Santa Angela - is the town with the next scandal on its hands, when the ravaged body of a young, murdered Mexican girl is found lying in the middle of Main Street.

Acclaimed as one of Joseph Conrad's finest literary achievements, this gripping novel deftly depicts the political turmoil of nineteenth-century Russia and follows the dramatic developments in the life of a student, Razumov, as he prepares for a career in the czarist bureaucracy. In a plot that twists and turns, Razumov unwittingly becomes embroiled in a revolutionary conspiracy when he gives refuge to a fellow student who assassinated a public official. Increasingly enmeshed in the radical's political intrigue, he betrays the anarchist who had placed blind faith in him.

Mat Karney knew the score in Toltec Valley. A man needed enough land and water for his cattle or he was through. When Mat's neighbor, Big Tom Parks, began sneaking in nesters, a showdown was inevitable. Especially when Parks had the Law in his vest pocket. But Mat never figured that the blow-off would have the savage ferocity of a maddened herd on a rampage. Nor did he expect to find himself hunted by hardcases and deputies alike.

After bringing in a band of horse thieves, Sheriff Ben Stillman would like nothing better than to go back home to his wife and wait out the winter storm that is blasting through the Montana mountains. But the storm is about to become the least of the legendary lawman's concerns. A vicious gang of murdering outlaws has taken refuge from the brutal cold and snow in a remote mountain ranch cabin - taking everyone inside hostage. And Stillman is the only chance they've got to get out alive. It's Stillman's duty to save them.

Die Fährte der Banditenhorde, die unsere Ranch niedergebrannt und Rosalyn, meine Schwester, geraubt hatte, war leicht zu verfolgen. Sie führte in eine kleine Stadt am Rande des Mesalandes. Hier aber brach sie ab, und die Chance, die Mordbrenner und Frauenräuber jemals aufzuspüren, war gleich null. Im Mesaland hausten die Gesetzlosen. Ein Fremder, der sich hier Zutritt verschaffte, hatte sein Leben verwirkt. Was also sollte ich tun? Aufgeben? Rosalyn ihrem grausamen Schicksal überlassen?

Only one yellow rose bush exists in the whole of the Hungarian Plain known as the Hortobágy, and its flowers are only given by the maiden who runs the Hortobágy Inn. But when she has a lover’s spat with her betrothed, and remembers a recipe for love she learned from a gypsy woman, how could she know that she would poison her beloved?

For years Johnny Pearl tried to escape his demons by being a gunslinger. With his killer's cool and famous pearl-handled pistol, he made a name for himself in the years following the Civil War as an outlaw. But fame has proved hollow, and Johnny finds himself on the outskirts of the Wyoming Territory, on the verge of taking his own life after one gunfight too many, until he finds redemption in the smile of Katie Small Dove.

Explore the untamed American West through the vivid storytelling of Walt Whitman in The Half-Breed. This audiobook offers a thrilling narrative that delves into the rugged frontier life, cultural clashes, and the complex relationships that shaped this iconic period in American history. Whitman's vivid descriptions and rich character development paint a vivid picture of a changing and often lawless land. The Half-Breed is a captivating blend of adventure, exploration, and a deep exploration of human nature and morality.

A narrative of the unparalleled adventures of Matthew Brayton is compiled for the satisfaction of those who wished to preserve a memorial of his romantic history. Extraordinary as the incidents may appear, there is abundant proof of their entire truth. Living witnesses bear testimony to the circumstances of the mysterious loss of the hero, and his identity is established by incontrovertible proofs. Numerous circumstances also confirm the account given by him of his adventures during the 34 years spent among the Indians.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Adventure of "The Western Star,” Poirot investigates the case of a missing diamond, “The Star of the East”, belonging to Lady Yardly. But what is the connection between it and a similar diamond owned by the famous American film actress Mary Marvell? And why does a Chinese man want it returned? This short story originally appeared in the April 11, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.