Law Fiction

No one tells tales of the frontier better than Louis L'Amour, who portrays the human side of westward expansion - the good and the bad - before the days of law and order. Collected here are seven stories penned by America's favorite Western author.

When an earthquake causes a breach at a super-secret Pharos prison, Kensy and Max must join an urgent assignment to Queenstown, New Zealand. Time is of the essence—the escaped prisoners are two highly dangerous men out for revenge against both Pharos and the Spencer family. The twins head into the wilderness in pursuit. But the mountains are dangerous, and instability brought on by the earthquake is only making things worse. Meanwhile, strange things are happening back in London as one Pharos agent is attacked and another disappears.

Marc is all too aware that the end of the acclimatization year the System has provided to Earth is quickly drawing to a close and that others will be allowed onto the planet to start claiming areas shortly. Zeus has promised that his series of quests will get Marc, at least, to the maximum level reachable in that first year, but Marc is nervous that it isn't going to happen.

My mother-in-law, Diane Newby, zombified by accident. She still volunteers at her church bake sales and cooks pot roast for her daughter and son-in-law, Ron Yardley. What ticks her off is when people don't treat her like a normal human being - with glowing red eyes and super strength and speed. And if she doesn't get her own way, look out. She explodes and leaves broken plaster and body parts in her wake. Nothing stops her: not brick walls, the federal government, or middle-aged spread.

Garrett Bradley commands the attention of some of the most influential clients in the country as one of the leading corporate attorneys in New York City, but one phone call changes everything. He must return home to Hallbrook, NH, where he soon discovers he’s responsible for three young kids and one monster-sized Saint Bernard.

Eliza Dragonsong is a lawyer by day and a Wiccan high priestess by night. Her unique skill set comes in handy in the courtroom, and also when she’s asked to guard an ancient cursed stone from the dangerously charming Ivan Rochat. Although he’s a former art thief with a questionable past, Eliza still finds herself drawn to him and soon realizes she has to guard more than just the stone. She has to guard her heart as well.

Amanda. Katie. Melanie. Three wildly different women with one big problem – their impossible mother-in-law, Nancy. When an unexpected crisis hits the family business, the sisters-in-law find themselves navigating stormy waters. Amanda is back in town and ready to reclaim her spot at the top. Katie, the feisty outsider, knows she'll never earn Nancy’s approval – and has stopped caring. Melanie, ambitious and savvy, is more than capable of running the business, if only Nancy would loosen her iron grip.

Ellie Simons's delightful mother-in-law comes to visit for a simply lovely weekend of crocheted doilies, thinly-veiled insults, and passive-aggressive "suggestions." It's enough to make anyone wish their mother-in-law was dead. But it turns out the ladies of Chitterton Fells should be more careful what they wish for. Only last night Ellie and her friends raised their gin and tonics to toast an end to mothers-in-law the world over. The next day, Pamela Pomeroy's own MIL is found dead.

"Boys, let us get up a club." Six restless young men raided the linens at a friend's mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. The six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and, all too quickly, their club grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South. This is the story of how a secret terrorist group took root in America's democracy.

The further adventures of "Dr. Gonzo" as he defends the "cucarachas" - the Chicanos of East Los Angeles. Before his mysterious disappearance and probable death in 1971, Oscar Zeta Acosta was famous as a Robin Hood Chicano lawyer and notorious as the real-life model for Hunter S. Thompson's "Dr. Gonzo" a fat, pugnacious attorney with a gargantuan appetite for food, drugs, and life on the edge.

FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid is dead-set on solving a cold case - even if the original investigators stonewall her every step of the way. A violent storm has uncovered the remains of a family that authorities assumed fled the country years ago to avoid prosecution. But the body of the youngest Albright son never turned up. If the child is dead, why wasn’t his body found with his parents? If he’s alive, where has he been...and what does he know? Now, Lucy and her partner, Nate, must reconstruct an old crime to find a missing child in the present day.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young, feisty, devastatingly acute Horace Rumpole in this collection of cracking cases, also starring Timothy West as the older Rumpole.

Maddie Diaz never should have taken that shortcut through the park. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have seen two gang members attacking a homeless man. Now, as the only witness, Maddie knows there's a target on her back. But her courage has also caught the attention of Lobo, the mysterious leader of a rival gang, who promises to protect her. Lobo might be out for his own revenge, but Maddie knows she can trust him.

Phil Sundeen thinks Deputy Sheriff Kirby Frye is just a green local kid with a tin badge. And when the wealthy cattle baron's men drag two prisoners from Frye's jail and hang them from a high tree, there's nothing the young lawman can do about it. But Kirby's got more grit than Sundeen and his hired muscle bargained for. They can beat the boy and humiliate him, but they can't make him forget the oath he has sworn to uphold.

Just days after the wedding of Valeria Brinton and Eustace Woodville, a series of strange incidents causes Valeria to believe her husband is hiding a dark secret. She discovers he has been living under a false name, and when questioned, Eustace refuses to discuss it. Upon further digging, Valeria finds Eustace had been on trial three years ago for the murder of his wife. However, the verdict had come down as the scotch verdict of not proven. This implied his guilt, but there was not enough evidence for a conviction nor did it exonerate him.

Written in free verse, Hidden is a compelling tale about an unlikely friendship between two girls. Darra Monson and Wren Abbott first cross paths when Darra’s deadbeat dad is arrested for theft and kidnapping after he steals a car - unaware that Wren was sitting in the back. Years later, the girls - now teens - attend the same summer camp, and are forced to confront the fateful event that changed their lives.

It's summer in New York City, and a sweltering heat wave stifles the area. The entire city is on edge. Tensions between the Hasidic and Black communities of New York have been steadily escalating since a tragic incident a few weeks ago left a Black teenager dead. Then, two rabbis are killed in a gruesome attack at their synagogue. Meanwhile, FBI agent Janet Maclin has dreams of finally being appointed the FBI's first female director, when she is diagnosed with stage IV cancer and given four months to live.

Young attorney Abby Coleridge opens her home to a troubled law student after a fire destroys the woman's apartment. When the student disappears, leaving behind a blood-splattered note and a stash of cryptic flash-drives, Abby sets out to find her. Soon, a murderous arsonist threatens them both. Law student Victor Rutledge, a former Navy officer, knows more than he's telling. So much so that his offers to help Abby seem suspicious. When police reveal his scandalous past, Abby doesn't know who to trust. Trouble, the black cat detective, lands in Tallahassee in the nick of time.

Interrupting an attempted murder—and leaving with incriminating evidence—makes Sissy Spencer a serial killer’s next target. With a flash drive in her possession containing disturbing proof of multiple murders, Sissy has no choice but to trust her ex-boyfriend, private investigator Beau Brighton, to keep her safe. But can they unravel the clues and track down a killer…before he catches them first?

The dragon council has scorched most of the land in their quest to kill off the last of humanity. Now, even other dragons agree that they must be stopped. Unfortunately, the best way to stop them is to team up with the humans in Ytona, a village dedicated entirely to killing dragons and to making use of their magic. Caleb has been to the village before; the last time he went, he was imprisoned for being a dragon. But when he’s gravely injured in a fight with the council, he has no choice but to entrust his safety to the village while he recovers. Nowhere else is safe.