Western Mystery

Something is rotten in the Fort Belknap Reservation. Life has always been tough on this barren stretch just south of the Canadian border, but now the children are dying. While playing his fiddle in a reservation bar, part-time deputy Gabriel Du Pré meets an accordionist who suspects that the children’s health defects and low test scores are connected to the nearby Persephone mine.

The fascinating tale of a man and a beast who work together, solving mysteries and righting wrongs.

Nick Drake confronts a double-feature of murder and mysticism when Sheriff Pudge Warbler enlists him to catch a killer among the movie stars and film crew turning Harney County into a celluloid version of the Old West. At the same time, he runs afoul of a sinister gold mining company after finding an old prospector shot in the back.

When “Crazy” Kate Morgan learns that her sisters are the next targets on a killer’s to-do list, she’s hell-bent on chasing down trouble before it rides into Jackrabbit Junction. The problem: The darn law dogs keep nipping at her heels, tossing her in the hoosegow, and sidetracking her hunt. The solution: A posse — the pricklier, the better.

Los Angeles, 1854. Felipe Alvitre and a band of teenage outlaws set out on a brutal, seemingly random killing spree across the San Gabriel Valley, igniting the ire of the Los Angeles citizens. Sheriff James Barton wrestles with a rapidly escalating crime rate and a populace that demands more from their corrupt, do-nothing legal system as the bodies continue to pile up.

Sherlock Holmes-worshiping cowboys Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer have starred in five Holmes on the Range novels, rustling up award nominations and fans aplenty as they cracked mysteries using the methods of their English hero. How did these Old West drifters first discover Holmes, though? What were they doing before their novel adventures began? And how did their early, awkward stabs at "deducifying" turn out? These seven short stories provide the answers.

Now that she’s absorbed the power of the Casper Creek nexus, Hannah Hickok is a witch on a mission. Her new powers require regular venting, and she’s surpassed even her limited expectations. It’s not magic on her mind when her father comes for a visit, though. Brad Hickok has always wanted to see Casper Creek, and now that he gets to visit, he’s extremely excited. He’s not alone, though. He’s brought his new girlfriend...and Hannah is thrown for a loop by her appearance.

When Eleanor Wooley's best friend Rette suddenly disappears, Eleanor abandons her job as a crime reporter for the Gold Strike Tribune in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and sets off in desperate pursuit. What begins as a search and rescue operation quickly becomes an obsession and a personal quest for truth. Spurred by gut instinct, Eleanor scours Northeastern Nevada during the worst heat wave in recorded history. Obscure signs appear-an intruder's dire warning, a casino's mysterious graffiti, a random sighting of a killer on the run.

An American writer travels with his fiancee to Tahiti and is lured away from her by the seductive splendor of the island and by a Tahitian beauty named Faaone, who sweeps him into a web of murder, deception, and revenge.

No one liked Jake Kinsey. A rich man, he turned up out of nowhere, acquired Exmouth’s trophy penthouse flat, and then bought his way into the local rowing club. And now he’s dead. D/S Jimmy Suttle, a newcomer to the Devon and Cornwall force from his old job on Major Crimes in Portsmouth, is the one detective who suspects that Kinsey has been killed. His boss, beset by budget cuts and the pressure of other cases, needs to move on. The enquiry is dead in the water.

For Patience Sinclair, leaving the ivy-covered halls of Boston for the wide, open spaces of Texas means a chance to stop looking over her shoulder at every turn. Traveling incognito with the Triple C Rodeo is just what she needs to free her from a past that continues to haunt her. But she can't avoid the undeniable presence of Dallas Kingman. The champion rider has a way of letting her know he's watching her every move that makes her feel wild and reckless.

Ty Dawson, now the sheriff of Oregon's Meriwether County, is ready to put a trying year behind him, but he's afforded no such luck. In a country still coming to grips with the Vietnam War, Watergate, and Charles Manson, Ty's neck of the woods isn't safe from the turmoil-especially when a commune of young so-called hippies springs up out of nowhere . . .

Spur Award-winning author Gary Svee pens Westerns of the highest calibre. Showdown at Buffalo Jump is a rough andtumble thrill ride into the bawdy towns and open plains of the Old West. The word is out. Max Bass wants an able bodied, fullbosomed woman to complete his life. One problem though: when he describes himself, he outright lies about nearly everything, including his lifestyle, his home, and his money. Soon, he finds himself with a sharp-tongued vixen—and big trouble—on his hands.

Tex Larimee is a grizzled Arizona sheriff who’s leaving the deserts of Cactus County behind, blazing a trail east to mix it up with The Slickers in the canyons of Manhattan. Tex’s welcome to New York is a rude one. Robbed of his cash, gun and badge, he’s locked in a room in back of a run-down bar. Breaking out of the bar, he goes looking for his best friend...only to find him dead, his throat cut. And the cops accuse Tex of committing the murder.

Evelyn keeps finding out new truths about her family. There is a web of deceit and lies around her, and only she can unravel it. Emotions play a major role in everyone’s decisions but the type of emotions, as well as how far people are willing to go for those emotions is the difference. Oliver tries to appear like the nice, caring gentleman who isn’t like his father, but he wants to frame Will to have Evelyn. Will will do anything to see Big Tom and Jack rot in prison?

Evelyn, Lisa, her sister, and her boyfriend, Will are led to believe that Oliver, Big Tom’s son, is on their side in the battle against the Hornets, even though Bill warns them against believing that. Lisa is the first to realize what a fraud Oliver is and his plan to frame Will and disturb his already strained relationship with Evelyn. She and Will lead a plan to put Big Tom behind bars. Their plan fails, however, Oliver is arrested for forgery. They celebrate the small win but not for long, as the Hornets strike not long after.

When Santa Claus enters a Texas bank just before Christmas in 1927, no one expects him to pull a gun. The fake white beard hides his identity from his neighbors while he and three others take everything. But their easy heist goes sideways fast when armed lawmen and citizens assemble to claim a new reward for dead bank robbers. Taking hostages, the gang forces a path through a frenzied and bloody shootout, setting the whole Lone Star state on their trail.

Lonesome Jim Barkley had once been a town-taming law man. Now he was a man with a reward on his head, wanted for robbery and murder. The banker, Tade Wardow, knows this and thinks he can turn it to his advantage in a way that will also make Barkley money. Yet, for Barkley, there is another consideration, one more urgent than robbing Wardow's bank.

An investigation by Lt. Maberly into the violent deaths of Indian Agent Jacob Creed and his superior officer Colonel Richard Dandridge of Fort Bloodworth discovers the secret diary of Jacob Creed. What he reads is a shocking and an almost unbelievable confession of passion, infidelity, treachery, murder and an avenging ghost on the Arizona frontier.

Earl Webb's telegram to General William Harding said it all: “Located John Fenner here using alias John Steen. Have hint he is planning Pensacola train robbery. Will try to pick him up before he leaves here. Please send requisition warrant at once.” That is, it said everything except the harrowing task of getting John Fenner back to Texas.