Western Fiction

He is the Virginian-the first fully realized cowboy hero in American literature, a near-mythic figure whose idealized image has profoundly influenced our national consciousness. This enduring work of fiction marks the birth of a legend that lives with us still.

When an old friend’s family is massacred, legendary mountain man Smoke Jensen hits the vengeance trail. He’s soon riding into a bloody Colorado war that has militia cavalry volunteers and Kiowa warriors stalking each other across the territory — matching kill for kill, outrage for outrage. Defying both sides, Smoke uncovers a sinister conspiracy to set ranchers and Kiowas at each other’s throats.

In a wicked conspiracy reaching across the Mexican border, Tularosa pits a jaded ex-cop against tight-lipped Army personnel, hired thugs, and smooth-talking outlaws. Forced into retirement by a crippling gunshot wound, Santa Fe policeman Kevin Kerney seeks solitude on a small New Mexico ranch far from the nearest neighbor. But when his godson disappears without a trace into the harsh, high-security desert of the White Sands Missile Range, Kerney emerges to search for the young soldier.

The tall, dark stranger needed Wren Matthew's help - and the shy high school teacher couldn't turn away a man in distress. She didn't know why Keegan Winslow was out in the middle of an ice storm, but the spirit of the holidays compelled her to open her home to him. And although she'd sworn off men, she couldn't deny the sparks that crackled between them. Keegan was a cop on a mission when sweet, lovely Wren rescued him from the storm. But the haven - and the love - he found in her arms was a happiness he knew couldn't last. He couldn't offer her the one thing she wanted: his heart.

On the eve of the Civil War, Kirby Jensen is the youngest of three children living on a hardscrabble ranch in Southwestern Missouri. But in 1861, shots were fired in Charleston harbor, and Kirby's father and brother went to war. Smoke Jensen: The Beginning follows the Jensen clan during these volatile years, from Civil War battles to border state raids to the kind of frontier justice achieved only by bullets and blood.

When Frank Morgan sets up camp in a lush valley in Montana, the last thing he expects to see is fires lighting up the night sky as fields, farms, and homes are torched by gunslicks hired by two powerful ranchers. For the ranchers, the battle lines have been drawn in the form of newly settled farmland that's cutting through the ranges, separating cattle from grazing land and water. But the settlers are breaking no law and no one is going to prevent them from building their homes and becoming a real town.

A visionary has a dream: to drive a railroad across the North American continent and through the vast Canadian Rockies. A thousand miles of rugged land stand in the way. So do hostile Indian tribes and outlaws who the see the railroad - and the men building it - as easy prey. But the project has a guardian angel of its own...Smoke Jensen. Smoke knows that this is one job he can’t do himself, so he heads to Canada with some hard-fighting mountain men from the Colorado Rockies at his side. By the time the railroad passes through Vancouver, Smoke needs every gun he can get.

When Ben Savage receives a telegram informing him that an old friend died - and left him his saloon - he’s not sure what to think. Western saloons are as wild as it gets, full of rowdy ranchers and cocky cowboys, high-stakes gamblers and low-life drifters, hard liquor and easy women. Then there’s the occasional outlaw gang. But when Savage travels to Buzzard’s Bluff, Texas, to check out his inheritance, he meets the saloon’s lovely manager, Rachel Baskin, and has a change of heart.

After Conrad Browning, known as The Loner, takes down the men who killed his beloved wife, he hightails it to New Mexico to visit her grave. There, he gets the surprise of his life: His ex-fiancée, Pamela Tarleton, backed up by a vicious gang of gunmen. Turns out the beautiful Miss Tarleton has a long memory — and she’s never forgiven Conrad for breaking their engagement and marrying another. On top of that, she blames Conrad for her father’s death.

They busted out of prison, armed and ready to wreak havoc in the high country. Outrunning and outfighting the US Cavalry, more than 30 murderers and thieves would leave a trail of burned out ranches, robbed trains, and slaughtered innocents. Now, Smoke Jensen is going back to the place where his legend was born to wipe out a plague of low life vermin that have flooded the land he loves.

Rusty Shannon has left the Rangers and feels the need to settle down. He has brought up Andy Pickard, once a captive of the Comanches, now in his 20s and eager to see more of the world. Rusty's dream of marrying Josie Monahan and living the life of a farmer seems like paradise, compared to the Civil War and the evils of Reconstruction. His dreams and plans, and the lives of the Monahans, are shattered by tragedy, and Rusty seeks revenge. By his side are Andy and an old friend from Ranger days, Len Tanner.

A religious miracle: The Cahokians believed that the divine hero Morning Star had been resurrected in the flesh. But not all is fine and stable in glorious Cahokia. To the astonishment of the ruling clan, an attempt is made on the living god's life. Now it is up to Morning Star's aunt Matron Blue Heron to keep it quiet until she can uncover the plot and bring the culprits to justice. If she fails, Cahokia will be torn asunder in warfare, rage, and blood as civil war consumes them all.

There were some who knew Smoke Jensen as a hero...and there were others who believed the dark side of the legend — that he was an outlaw who'd killed over 300 men. But when Smoke wakes up with a gut-wrenching headache in a New Mexico jail cell, he feels as helpless as a newly whelped cougar cub — with a lease on his life shorter than the blink of an eye.

They just wanted to get home for Christmas...but fate had other plans. It's December 1890. A Texas rancher named Big Jim Conyers has a deal with Scottish-born, Wyoming cattleman named Duff MacCallister. Along with Smoke and Matt Jensen, the party bears down on Dodge, Kansas, to make a cattle drive back to Forth Worth. But before they can get out of Dodge, guns go off and a rich man's son is killed.

Navy SEAL Brian Lake is out of luck. Going rogue on his last mission landed him on a fast track out of the Navy - years too soon to have saved up enough money to buy the ranch he's always wanted. Without a career - or the cash to start over - Brian's options are few, until Army general Augustus Reed steps in with an intriguing new mission - a permanent one. Ignored by her absentee father, duped by thief he appointed to oversee her family's ranch, Cass Reed is done with men for good. From now on she's determined to run Two Willows herself.

Sometimes, it’s bad to be good. That’s what happens when Scratch Morton and Bo Creel are rewarded with a gold mine for saving a rich man’s bacon. The catch: This mine is a magnet for marauding Mexican banditos. Budding capitalists, Scratch and Bo fight back. That’s when they discover that the thieves aren’t who they thought they were, some really bad guys are on the way, and a beautiful woman might just be the most dangerous bandit of all — the kind that can steal your heart.

This riveting story takes place during the Battle of the Hundred in the Hand, otherwise known as the Fetterman Massacre of 1866. The story is told alternately through the eyes of Cloud, a dedicated Lakota warrior who fights alongside a young Crazy Horse, and Max Hornsby, a white pioneer who mistakes Cloud's redheaded wife for a captive.

Widowed and penniless in the Colorado Rockies, Boston-born Laura Cheney turns to Deke Sheridan, a dangerously handsome renegade raised among the Cheyenne, when her newborn son is kidnapped.

Linda Lael Miller’s New York Times best-selling contemporary Western romances have found a place in the hearts of listeners worldwide. Creed’s Honor stars Connor Creed, a rancher reluctantly carrying on his uncle’s legacy in Lonesome Bend, Colorado. For years he’s sacrificed his own dreams to fulfill the promise he made to his uncle. But everything changes when his wild, estranged twin brother re-enters his life—and then there’s the beautiful Tricia McCall, who stirs feelings of passion deep within Connor’s soul.

Like most families, the Jensens gather together to celebrate the holidays. This year, since half the clan is scattered across the American West, they've decided to split the difference and meet up in Tucson. Matt and Luke will be there, for sure, and maybe Ace and Chance, too. That leaves Sally, Preacher, and Smoke Jensen, who've reserved three seats on a westbound stage to make sure they don't miss out on the festivities. What could possibly go wrong?