Larry D. Sweazy books in order

Deputy Jordon McManus investigates a child-size skeleton found in a dried-out pond and the murder of the town marshal at the body site, all while being suspected of the marshal's murder and trying elude the killer's crosshairs himself.

Haunted by the disappearance of his mother when he was eight years old, detective Hud Matthews begins his own investigation to find out what really happened so many years before. When a rare murder occurs in the lakeside community, Hud's veteran skills are called upon to capture the killer.

Pulled deep into the threads of the community with ties to the past, Hud quickly becomes a target, not only of the killer, but of those who wish the past to be left alone. As Hud gets closer to discovering the truth about the crimes, he has to face a choice of enforcing the law, or stepping outside of it to make sure that his version of justice is served.

Put on your Santa hat and saddle up for this collection of creepy Christmas stories from the Western Fictioneers, the world's only organization of professional authors devoted solely to Western fiction. 'Tis the season for ghosts, vampires, monsters, aliens, and other bizarre creatures to make these Old West holiday tales truly special.

Legendary Western author Robert J. Randisi spins the spectral yarn of "Sheriff Santa and the Ghost of Two Gun Jim". Peacemaker and Spur Award winning author Troy D. Smith takes the reader on a murderous Christmas journey to "Bitter Mountain". New York Times bestseller and Peacemaker Award winner James Reasoner writes about a strange encounter on the Staked Plains in "Presents for One and All". Larry D. Sweazy, two-time winner of the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western fiction, tells the story of an epic battle between good and evil in "The Longest Night". An isolated stagecoach station under siege by Apaches is the setting of Cheryl Pierson's "The Keepers of Camelot", a tale of rebirth and redemption.

These and many other stories by some of today's top writers in the Western field make SIX-GUNS AND SLAY BELLS the most unusual Western Christmas anthology ever published.

The Spoilt Quilt and Other Frontier Stories, edited by Hazel Rumney, features sixteen brand-new stories that will delight historical fiction fans.

These stories capture the spirit of freedom and individualism in the evolving American frontier through the early 1900s and feature pioneering women of the West who face life-changing challenges in settings that are in stark contrast to civilized society.

Ranging from high-action traditional Westerns to introspective historical dramas set in the American West, readers will discover previously untold stories about the strong women that shaped the iconic American West.

In this anthology, you'll enjoy stories by New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors such as Sandra Dallas, Deborah Morgan, CharlotteHinger, Larry D. Sweazy, Sharon Frame Gay, Matthew P. Mayo, Randi-Samuelson Brown, C. K. Crigger, W. Michael Farmer, Candace Simar, P. Grady Cox, Marcia Gaye, John D. Nesbitt, Patricia Stoltey, Paul Colt, Preston Lewis. The Spoilt Quilt and Other Frontier Stories is a great addition to your Western fiction library.

Bestselling author and creator of Rambo, David Morrell, offers an engaging foreword that highlights the early American frontier and what it took for individuals to survive in rugged landscapes and a rapidly changing era. This survival quartet will have you turning the pages late into the night.

“The Buffalo Trace” by Larry D. Sweazy, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Hallie Mae Edson and her brother, Tom, join the newly formed Indiana Territorial Rangers. When another Ranger disappears, Hallie comes face to face with danger in a way she has never faced before. She not only has to save the Ranger, but herself, with skills, will, and courage she didn’t know she had.

“Two Old Comanches” by Johnny D. Boggs, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Imprisoned in a dark, damp and inhospitable Army post in St. Augustine, Florida, an aging Comanche warrior and his sick, old best friend attempt a desperate escape and even more arduous trek back to their homeland.

“Fire Mountain” by Michael Zimmer, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR A ragtag crew of muleskinners hired to deliver a pack train of badly needed supplies to a high country community finds itself caught between a mountain on fire above them and, behind them, a band of killers determined to prevent them from succeeding. With the flames closing in and lead starting to fly, their odds for survival are rapidly dwindling. But the killers hadn’t counted on how mule-headed a muleskinner can be.

“Bloodline” by Matthew P. Mayo, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR One beating too many causes a kicked-cur, half-breed youth to flee the wrath of Bull Barr, his brute of a grandfather, who blames the boy for his ceaseless poor luck. But the relentless old man hunts the boy without mercy. He cannot let him live, for the boy knows too many family secrets.

"Double Deceit" by John D. Nesbitt A man named Dunbar comes to Temple Basin where he goes to work for an old rancher who is laid up with a broken leg. The rancher's granddaughter tells the story. After one man turns up dead and another man is known to have gone missing, it becomes known that Dunbar has come on a mission to find a killer and bring him to justice.

"Scarecrows" by Jim Jones Tommy Stallings hears his aunt and uncle in Texas are in trouble. He and his cousin, Rusty, leave the New Mexico Territory and head east. Cattle rustlers are terrorizing small ranchers in the Texas Panhandle and his Aunt Martha insists they look like "scarecrows" because of the canvas bags they wear to hide their faces. Tommy and Rusty join forces with Bill Slaughter, agent for the Stock-Raisers' Association of North-West Texas, to investigate the rash of crimes.

"Cold the Bitter Heart" by Phil Mills, Jr. A child's personality often mirrors that of a parent. Could it be Catherine Baxter was hiding behind a faðcade of fake innocence? Although Jake Summers would follow a trail littered with suspects had he missed the most obvious one and in the end did he really know the truth?

"Wind in His Face" by Larry D. Sweazy Scrap Elliot, a veteran Texas Ranger of the original Frontier Battalion is on an important courier mission when he encounters an old flame in Waco, Texas. When the woman's husband dies in front of Scrap, the old flame disappears. That sets Scrap on a mission to find the woman and prove to the local sheriff that he was nothing more than an innocent bystander, not a cold-blooded killer.

From the blood he spilled during the Civil War to his beloved wife, who died in childbirth, and his daughters, who were taken by the flu, ex-Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe thought he had seen enough death for one lifetime. Now, with an infant son and a heart full of pain, he's rejoining the Rangers as part of the Frontier Battalion. But first, his captain needs him to escort Charlie Langdon to trial.

Wolfe and Langdon had a long history together as both lawmen and soldiers - until Langdon's lust for blood and money made him an outlaw. Wolfe knows his old friend has to pay. But the ride to the hangman's noose isn't going to be easy. Langdon's friends aren't going to give him up without a fight. And Wolfe's killer instinct may be his only chance to see his son again...

Starting your life over in a big city like Austin, Texas, is no easy task, especially for a man raised in the country like Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe. Now, after uprooting his son to the state’s capital, Josiah must leave Austin to meet up with the rest of the Texas Ranger Frontier Battalion. But before he can get to work, Josiah has to make a quick stop to check on his old friend Juan Carlos, who’s no stranger to trouble.

Assigned to track an Indian raiding party, Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe expects to return home to his son in Austin in a few days. But when the Ranger and his compatriots from the Frontier Battalion are overtaken by two Comanche scouts, they find themselves captives instead of captors.

Comanches aren’t known for going easy on their prisoners, so Josiah is surprised when they don’t immediately shoot him. Turns out there’s a price on his head thanks to Liam O’Reilly, a gang leader also known as the Badger.

Josiah has a checkered history with the outlaw - he apprehended the gang’s previous leader - but he doesn’t know why O’Reilly wants him dead. As the Comanches drag him to the town where the Badger is waiting, Josiah knows that time is running out.

But Texas Rangers are hard men to kill, and Josiah Wolfe is no exception....

While Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe may have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the death of his former commanding officer, the press in Austin is a good deal less forgiving. With most of the town baying for his blood, Josiah eagerly accepts a special assignment that takes him south to Corpus Christi.

Assuming a secret identity, Josiah's first solo mission has him playing the part of a spy in order to investigate a slew of thefts that are leaving the local ranchers angry as hell. After four long months away from home, Josiah will have to risk everything to bring the leader of the raids, Juan Cortina, to justice if he ever wants to return to his family - and the complications that await in Austin....  

After a prostitute is murdered at the Easy Nickel saloon, Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe finds his best friend, Scrap Elliot, in jail and wrongly accused. A strangely familiar horse and a mysterious code are the only clues Josiah has to prove his friend's innocence and save him from execution. Once a Yankee reporter gets involved, Josiah is led to Blanche Dumont's House of Pleasures, where he learns of a thieving, jail-broken accountant with strange ties to both the Easy Nickel and the town's wealthiest banker.

With a new railroad line blazing into town, everyone--especially the arrogant young sheriff--is determined to clean up Austin. Faced with the ticking clock of Scrap's impending trial, Josiah Wolfe must find out who it was that went one step too far.

Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe and his friend Scrap Elliot are ready to extinguish the loathsome Juan Cortina. Unfortunately, their direct orders are only to spy on Cortina’s cattle rustlers, which makes them two easy gringo targets. So much so that their first scuffle leaves Josiah seriously injured and Scrap on his own in his pursuit of Cortina.

Recovering from his deadly injury, Josiah is hit with a Dear John letter from his sweetheart. Luckily, a Mexican girl, Francesca, is there to help heal his wounds. But when Scrap returns full of malice directed toward his former comrade, Josiah can no longer tell who his friends are and where his heart lies. Only one thing is certain—he must put an end to Cortina’s reign before it’s too late.

Josiah Wolfe quits the Texas Rangers and returns home to find himself in the middle of a family feud. The Langdons and the Halversons have been fighting over land as the townfolk fled after losing out on a railroad junction.

Morris Langdon has vowed revenge on Josiah and the Texas Rangers for the hanging of his older brother. The Halverson family holds a grudge against Josiah for leaving with their young grandson. The Texas Rangers are called in to end the feud after the county sheriff is murdered. Josiah is accused of the killing.

Will the Rangers help Josiah clear his name, or will they treat him like a cold-blooded killer? Or is the feud nothing more than a ploy by Morris Langdon to exact his revenge and gain control of Anderson County once and for all?

Lucas Fume has had plenty of fights in his life: spying for the Confederate Army, standing up to the railroad company when they tried to take his land, then getting framed for the murder of his business partner--only to lose his land as well as the love of his life. But Lucas isn't finished fighting yet...

With help from Ezekiel 'Zeke' Henry, a fellow inmate and former slave, Lucas manages to escape prison. Riding with Zeke to St. Louis, he soon discovers that his former partner is still alive, using a different name, and doing big business with the railroads--and he has Lucas's lost love with him. On the run from the law and up against a rich and influential enemy, Lucas is about to take on the most dangerous fight of his life.

Lucas Fume has been exonerated of the murder charge that put him in prison seven years ago. But he isn’t free yet. Not while his friend, former slave Zeke Henry, remains a fugitive wrongly accused of assaulting Senator Barlow’s daughter, Celia. Lucas wouldn’t have his freedom or wealth—let alone his life—if it weren’t for Zeke. And he knows that the only way to clear his friend’s name is to prove the identity of Celia’s true attacker: Senator Barlow himself.

Now Lucas has a plan to take on the powerful Senator—and his son John, aka Lanford Grips—once and for all. The only question is whether it will lead to freedom or the end of a noose.

1964—Life on the North Dakota farm hasn’t always been easy for Marjorie Trumaine. She has begun working as a professional indexer to help with the bills—which have only gotten worse since the accident that left her husband, Hank, blind and paralyzed. 

When her nearest neighbors are murdered in their beds, though, Marjorie suddenly has to deal with new and terrifying problems. Sheriff Hilo Jenkins brings her a strange amulet, found clutched in the hand of her murdered neighbor, and asks her to quietly find out what it is.

Marjorie uses all the skills she has developed as an indexer to research the amulet and look into the murders, but as she closes in on the killer, and people around her continue to die, she realizes that the murderer is also closing in on her.

In a small North Dakota town in 1964, indexer Marjorie Trumaine investigates the alleged suicide of the local librarian, uncovering a web of secrets that puts her own life in jeopardy. October 1964--Just months after freelance indexer Marjorie Trumaine helped solve a series of murders in Dickinson, North Dakota, she is faced with another death that pulls her into an unwanted investigation.

Calla Eltmore, the local librarian, is found dead at work and everyone considers it suicide. But Marjorie can't believe that Calla would be capable of doing such a thing. Marjorie's suspicions are further aroused when she notices something amiss at Calla's wake, but the police seem uninterested in her observations.

Despite pressing job commitments and the burden of caring for a husband in declining health, Marjorie sets out to uncover the truth. What she finds is a labyrinth of secrets—and threats from someone who will kill to keep these secrets hidden.

Marjorie Trumaine, a freelance indexer from rural North Dakota in the 1960s, risks her life to help local law enforcement track down a missing, disabled girl. Dickinson, North Dakota, 1965. It's a harsh winter, and freelance indexer Marjorie Trumaine struggles to complete a lengthy index while mourning the recent loss of her husband, Hank.

The bleakness of the weather seems to compound her grief, and then she gets more bad news: a neighbor's fourteen-year-old disabled daughter, Tina Rinkerman, has disappeared. Marjorie joins Sheriff Guy Reinhardt in the search for the missing girl, and their investigation quickly leads to the shocking discovery of a murdered man near the Rinkermans' house. What had he been doing there? Who would have wanted him dead? And, above all, is his murder connected to Tina's disappearance?

Their pursuit of answers will take Marjorie all the way to the Grafton State School, some six hours away, where Tina lived until recently. And the information she uncovers there raises still more questions. Will the murderer come after Marjorie now that she knows a long-hidden secret?

Sonny Burton was forced to retire from the Texas Rangers after taking a bullet from Bonnie Parker in a shoot-out. The bullet so damaged Sonny’s right arm that he had to have it amputated.

While Sonny struggles with recuperating and tries to get used to the idea of living a life with only one arm, Aldo Hernandez, the hospital’s janitor, asks Sonny to help find his daughter and bring her back home. She has got herself mixed up with a couple of brothers involved in a string of robberies. Sonny agrees to help, but is more concerned about a wholly different criminal in town who has taken to killing young women and leaving them in local fields for crows to feast on.

Just as Sonny is able to track down Aldo’s daughter, he comes to an uncomfortable realization about who might be responsible for the string of murders and races to nab the killer before another girl is left to the crows.

"After Texas Ranger Sonny Burton loses his arm in a shootout with Bonnie and Clyde, he is asked by the Rangers to help find an escaped convict, Billy Bunson, who took a pregnant woman hostage. Once he begins his investigation, Sonny suspects there is more to Billy's plan than meets the eye. He suspects it's a plan for Billy to be free of Sonny once and for all. The story unfolds over a period of twenty-five years as Sonny Burton's life as a Texas Ranger intersects with Billy Bunson's life as a simple thief, who then transforms into a ruthless man killer. Sonny uses all of his skill as a lawman to track Billy down, where they face off for one last time"

The law and circumstances never leave Sonny Burton alone for long. As the Great Depression lingers, a circus camps outside of Wellington, bringing with it suspicion and rumors of stolen cattle to feed the animals. The local Texas Ranger office is set to close, pushing Sonny's son, Jesse, out of a job. And Aldo Hernandez shows up on Sonny's doorstep asking for help. Aldo's cousin, Rafael, got into a fight and caused another man, Leo Dozier, to lose his spot in the CCC (Civilian Conversation Corps).

Aldo thinks the sheriff is behind the trouble, and Sonny agrees to look into the situation-which thrusts him and Jesse into an investigation that exposes unknown corruption in his small town, and bigotry and hate that leads to a string of brutal murders. Edith Grantley has written Sonny several letters and has not received any answers. She is encouraged by one of her boarders to make the five-hundred-mile drive north to find out where she stands with Sonny after their brief relationship.

On the way, Edith encounters a man set on terrorizing her for the entire journey. A cat and mouse game of survival ensues, and Edith is left to consider how much she really cares for Sonny, whether her feelings are worth pursuing, and if her life is worth risking her heart for.

As Sonny and Edith reach out for each over the miles, they are both confronted by their fears, life and death situations, and an unforgiving world that seems intent on keeping them apart forever.

Kosoma, Indian Territory. The outlaw Darby brothers have been sentenced to hang until dead. Witnessing the exectution are Amelia Darby, sister of the condemned men, as well as U.S. DeputyMarshal Sam “Trusty” Dawson and Judge Gordon Hadesworth. After justice is served, Trusty hits the trail, escorting the judge—and begrudgingly, Amelia—back to Oklahoma. Ambushed en route, the judge is murdered and Amelia vanishes, leaving Trusty to believe she led them into a trap for revenge.

To find Amelia, Trusty will have to put his faith in Father Michael Darby, a fourth brother who gave up his criminal ways to take up the cloth and collar. Unwilling to let his sister continue to fall to the wicked evil that claimed the rest of his family, Michael joins the hunt for Amelia. But as their journey turns deadlier by the day, Trusty starts to doubt that Michael is truly on the righteous path…

Theodore Marberry is a grieving father. He groomed his daughter Jessica to take her rightful place among the wealthy families of St. Louis high society. Instead she married a common lawman whose tin star and sixgun made him worthy of her affection. She lost her life bringing his child into the world. Although bestowed with a beautiful granddaughter, Marberry is consumed with hate towards the baby’s father.

U.S. DeputyMarshal Sam “Trusty” Dawson lives under a death sentence. His only crime was falling in love with a woman who saw more worth in his character than in his bank account. Now, every deadly manhunter, desperate bushwacker, and vicious outlaw throughout the Dakota Territory is looking to put the lawman six feet under to collect $1,000 in silver. But there aren’t enough guns or bullets to stop Trusty from rescuing his daughter—and bringing Marberry to justice…