Western Mystery

Colorado, July 1878. The nationally famous solar eclipse is almost upon the country, and a peak overlooking the fledgling town of Elkhorn is one of the centers of attention. In the midst of boisterous and chaotic frontier pre-celebrations, Caleb Marlowe - reluctantly deputized for the coming event - learns that local power broker Judge Horace Patterson is being targeted for assassination by agents of a financial magnate.

Marshals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch haven't seen much trouble of late. Fact is, burgeoning Appaloosa and the territory had been without incident for months. But with recent reports of village raids, coupled with the arrival of a young widow from San Francisco, the lawmen are about to be put to the test. Rose McMaster, the feisty daughter of Virgil's half-brother, ushers in a whole new unsuspected brand of trouble.

The once star profiler for the FBI, Doug ONeal, who has been able to capture the greatest of serial killers, rapists, and criminals, comes back to San Francisco to find the worst of them. Because of this killer's background, the FBI has never even known he existed. Doug has only suspected that he exists. The FBI puts together a task force with the San Francisco police, Anne Borges, and Jeff Shinn to hunt down this suspect to prevent more deaths. The police are always looking for the suspect, but are they looking in the right place?

In these dozen mystery short stories, you’ll find a newcomer’s ignorance used as a murder weapon, a modern, murderous twist on an O’Henry story, an old Irish myth that haunts a teen in an Idaho ski resort, the myriad ways to die in the desert, and much more.

After fastball phenom Prospero Stark's baseball career craters in a Mexican jail, he retreats to a trailer park in the scorching Arizona desert. He lives in peaceful anonymity with a collection of colorful outcasts until someone leaves his former catcher's severed hand on his doorstep. Beautiful, hard-living reporter Roxanne Santa Cruz, who keeps a .380 Colt and a bottle of Chivas in her car, joins Stark to help him uncover his friend's fate, a dangerous pursuit that pits them against a ruthless gang of drug-dealing killers.

In the Wild West, the heat of passion between Detective John West and Emily Adams is threatened by a sinister mystery. Sparks fly as they join forces to unravel the case on Adams Ranch, but a rival ranch owner casts a shadow of doubt and suspicion over their investigation. With danger lurking around every corner, can their love endure? Find out in "Rancher's Seduction," where hearts are tested and true love conquers all.

Seventeen-year-old Mariana Villalobos's mystic gift creates a sensation in northern Mexico as hundreds of people undergo a personal religious epiphany. Even gangsters reject crime. Seeing revenues tumble in the drug trade, the Liones cartel issues a hit order on the girl.

After two tours as a sniper in Iraq, Tommy Smith has returned to his former life as a cowboy and wilderness guide in California’s Sierra Nevada, hoping to reclaim the simplicity of his youth and heal the wounds the world can’t see. When, high on a mountain pass, he and his partner find the wrecked plane of a billionaire adventurer who disappeared months earlier, a seemingly innocent act triggers a breathtaking cycle of violence that threatens Tommy’s world.

Nevada, 1872. Out of the merciless 40-mile desert, a stranger appears in the town of Golgotha, home to the blessed and the damned. He carries with him an innocent victim of a horrible massacre and a dire warning for Sheriff Jon Highfather. The conflict between the Indian nations and Mormon settlers has been brewing for years, and now the spirits of the fallen Indian dead have begun to rise to join in the fight.

After her double-crossing, thieving husband disappears, Geneva Carrington Beck and her puppy—the only thing the no-account left behind—recruit Montana outfitter Calhoun St. Pierre to track him down. But their mountain mission takes a dangerous turn when criminals searching for the missing man make his bride a target…and a widow. Now a reluctant hero has to partner with and protect the renegade wife.

Trina Potter, Nashville country music star, buys a ranch near her hometown in Brenham, Texas, to help her niece open a rescue facility for dogs. Her presence in town stirs up some old high school rivalries—and romance. Finding property to buy is a challenge; convincing her mother to move there with her is daunting; and navigating a string of strange accidents is perplexing. Sometimes Trina feels like she’s purchased her own three-ring circus instead of a beautiful piece of land. But her first priority will be figuring out who wants Second Chance Ranch shut down.

“Bad Bobby” Trent, star high school athlete, college scholarship holder, pro-rodeo circuit rider, lived an unencumbered life. He was a man, who, by his own definition, limited his concentration to no more than eight seconds at a time - the time required to ride a bull or saddlebronc and win. He’s tough, independent, shallow, and always looking for a good time. Then his father is murdered. Sheriff Robert Trent, was the longtime chief law enforcement officer of Lodge Pole County Montana. He was stern, fair, honest, and dependable.

Flush with raw silver and ruled by a baron with an iron fist, the tiny mining outpost of Shank’s Point is under siege by a sinister evil. When the rising sun reveals the claw-torn bodies littered among the rocks, John Swift-Runner calls on his old friend, a vagabond gunfighter, to stand with him against the slaughter he knows will come. But as their band of misfits hunts for the creature on the burning sands of the Mojave, they stumble into a generations-old mystery that goes beyond shamanic curses and into the bloodstained pages of legend.

U. S. Marshal James Boutwell stumbles upon the body of a young woman while delivering a prisoner to Dallas. Boutwell gets himself appointed to investigate the murder only to realize that he has bit off more than he can chew. There are several suspects, but no clear cut evidence to connect the murder to anyone. No one has a clear motive, but the woman is dead. Then there is another young woman killed in Fort Worth, adding to the mystery.

A peaceful day of skiing for the family. The murder of a prominent judge’s wife. A witness becomes the next target: Thirteen-year-old Perry Flint. Patrick, his wife Susanne, and their kids head to the mountains for a day of skiing. At the lodge, 13-year-old Perry is the sole eye witness to the murder of a prominent judge’s wife, only days before the first capital murder trial in the state of Wyoming since its reinstatement by the US Supreme Court.

In 1900 a steadfast and feisty young woman, Jocelyn Belle Royal, joins a mule drive to earn back her Kansas farm lost to the bank. Entanglements over the mules, outlaws, women’s suffrage, and a disagreement over the governor’s mansion test her mettle to the limit. Jocelyn can’t give up if "home" can ever again be more than a few belongings tied in a shawl - all that she owns.

Patrick Flint feels a calling to volunteer at the impoverished Indian Health Services clinic on the Wind River Reservation that he can't completely explain. His wife Susanne usually supports him, but her family is coming for their first Wyoming visit, 12-year-old Perry is stir crazy and looking for trouble, teenager Trish is dangerously in love, and Suzanne and Patrick are in the final stages of negotiations on their dream house. The Christmas holidays are not a convenient time for him to be gone, or to be out of communication.

The Osage Indians lost their ancestral freedom on a windswept reservation in Oklahoma. Now, in the Roaring Twenties, the land is spewing black gold; oil has been found, and every Osage owns a share of the rights. Soon Osage tribal members are being killed for their oil royalties while a corrupt sheriff turns his back on the murders, Special Agent Frank Gordon organizes and undercover operation while working openly with frontier legend US marshal Will Proctor.

When the sheriff is murdered, his son is asked to take his place. Bobby Trent is a semi-retired rodeo cowboy and the son of a highly respected law officer. When his father, the sheriff, is murdered, Trent is asked to fulfill the remaining months of his term in office. Sheriff Bobby Trent; nobody would have guessed it, but it should be an easy enough task; drink a little coffee, maybe lead a parade. Easy work until he is healthy enough to return to the circuit.

Jarrett Evans and Thayne Wolfe have been partnered in the ATF for nearly two years and their love and commitment to each other have grown over time. Now faced with one final challenge, the boys are headed to Arizona to help Thayne’s mom, stumbling headfirst into a brand new case. When a man is shot on Dot’s sister’s ranch, their informal investigation leads to the Native American reservation bordering the property.