Showing results by author "Dusty Richards" in All Categories

Charlie Brackeen owns the big ranch that takes up the entire north end of drought-stricken Callie County. When he pushes his B-Bar-M cattle south of their own range, it’s no mistake - it’s a hostile takeover, enforced by Sheriff Alex Woodbridge, the tough, one-eyed former Texas Ranger who’s in Brackeen’s pocket. They want the small ranchers leaderless and isolated so they can be picked off one by one and forced to sell their land. They just didn’t count on Jed Mahan.

Born out of the grit, sweat, and drive of a cattle ranching empire, US Marshal Chet Byrnes is turning the savage and lawless Arizona desert into a homeland. To some, he's the hero that the West needs. To others, he's a moving target. Chet is spearheading a stage line from Gallup to the Colorado River. It'll be a boon to Navajo trading posts and lay out the territory for new settlements. Unfortunately, it's not Gerald Hall's idea of progress - killing Chet is.

Twin brothers Andrew and Jackson Franks have lived and worked under the iron fist of their father, Prior, for as long as they can remember. But when a petty household argument turns violent, and Prior shoots and kills their mother before turning the gun upon himself, the boys are left with nothing but each other and the family's hardscrabble South Texas ranch.

In the brutal, unforgiving wastes of the Arizona desert, Chet Byrnes built a cattle ranching empire with his bare hands, steel will, and a fast draw. As the US marshal, he risks his life to bring law to a lawless land. When a new railroad route is planned to pass through Navajo territory, Chet fights to get the Indians a contract to supply the locomotives with coal. But the corrupt politicians in Tucson and D.C. have other ideas. The coal contract means millions, and the ruthless Tucson Ring will do anything to get it - even if it means killing a US marshal.

Long John O'Malley is only 19 years old, but he's no greenhorn. The oldest and boldest of the O'Malley brothers, Long John cut his teeth tangling with Comanche at the tender age of 16. He risked his life to rescue a group of captive women settlers - and forged his own destiny as a hero in the making.

Unemployed ranch hand Jim Dailey only wants some matches when he rides up to a store in Willow Grove, Kansas, on a dusty, fateful summer day. What he gets when he steps inside, though, is anything but. Faced with two bloodthirsty outlaws and no other choice, Dailey pulls his six-shooter... and sets himself on a long and twisted path of triumph and tragedy.

A drunken plan to make some quick money with two friends landed drifter Whit Ralston in the Yuma Territorial Prison - the worst prison in Arizona. Now he's doing hard time in the inferno the inmates call the Hell Hole, counting the days until his release. He's vowed never to do anything so stupid again, but that becomes a hard promise to keep when his crazy cellmate starts talking about a load of stolen gold stashed up in the mountains.

All he wants is a job as a ranch foreman. He'd tried in Montana, but ended up in a gunfight with a pair of ugly-looking brothers over a horse. Leaving one dead and the other swearing revenge, Norm figures it'd be wise to make himself scarce. He heads south, to Nebraska. Instead of work, though, he finds something he never expected--a partner. Edith is a beautiful young woman with a sordid past of her own.

Gil Slatter's quick on the draw and has a head for running a ranch - but he's also a lonely man with nothing more than a cot in the bunkhouse at the TXY Ranch to call home. When the ranch's foreman drops dead of a heart attack and the owner picks Gil to take his place, his entire world turns upside down. One day life is simple. The next he's running the entire outfit.

Vince was a mustanger with a solitary camp high in the Rusty Hills where he worked his operation alone. Then on a trip back from selling some mustangs, he came across Molly....

Captain Jack Starr served the Confederate cause with honor for four years. The town of Lost Dog Creek promised an opportunity for the war veteran to rebuild his life-and a woman to share it with. But not everyone is willing to roll out the welcome wagon....

In this third novel in Dusty Richards' Spur Award-winning Herschel Baker series, a rawhide-tough horse thief rides up from Mexico with a lightning-quick draw that leaves a trail of dead criminals in his wake. His son Herschel now wears a badge, but many years have passed since he left his boy to chase down sunsets.

Whip Station, a critical stop on the Butterfield stagecoach line, is dead smack in the middle of no-man's land. The lawless call it an easy target. Joe O'Malley calls it home. If anybody can tame a wild, violent territory, it's the seasoned frontiersman. So can his family, who have with the same pride and honor coursing through their veins. Helping to plant roots is his son Jackson, a former wrangler married to a steadying force of nature. Joe's grandchildren have their own brand of grit. The boy - a firebrand with a knife. The girl - book-smart and wicked-wise.

The Byrnes family has fought fiercely for its ranching empire. And with success comes the fate of empires: The Brynes have taken in far-flung family members, hired hands, and folks looking for another chance at life. The Byrnes clan has taken their fair share of hurt, too, taking on outlaws too deadly and powerful for the law. When a stage is robbed of a fortune in gold, the Byrnes boys set off on a wild race through the wilderness. In a harsh, unforgiving land, the Byrnes men face a mystery of gold and death - that could explode like a bomb in their hands.

Building a ranching empire is one thing, keeping it out of the hands of robbers, kidnappers, murderers, embezzlers, and every no good opportunist crawling through the Arizona desert is a daily grind for Chet Byrnes. He's just as likely to rescue a stolen daughter as he is to recover rustled cattle on any given day. But with a family to keep safe and enough real target practice to keep his aim deadly, nothing's going to stop Chet from bringing his ranch into a bold new era.

A landmark feat of innovation is about to change the American West forever. With electric cables stretching from the Colorado River to Gallup, New Mexico, a new telegraph system will connect the settlers of the Arizona Territory to rest of the country - a dream come true for rancher Chet Byrnes and his family. But laying 400 miles of steel wire can be a deadly task. Chet has to face off with hired henchmen who would kill to sabotage the project. And Chet's nephew JD has his hands full with cutthroat rustlers on the Mexican border.

In the thrilling new saga from Western Heritage and Spur award-winning author Dusty Richards, Chet Byrnes stands his ground - with his courage, guns, and blood. For Chet Byrnes, building a ranching empire means adding new land, hiring good men, finding water and trying new breeds of cattle. But outlaws and Tuscon's idle rich want to take it all away - and Arizona just may be too lawless to stop it.