Black Horse Westerns - November 2009

Rustler's Range by Billy Hall
Tad Strong had made a bold attempt to capture the outlaw king in his own domain. Everything had gone dreadfully wrong. Now he was pinned down, surrounded, and hopelessly outnumbered. Tad retreated to the wall, propping himself against it. He was suddenly overwhelmed with the constant barrage of bullets, splintering wood, shattering objects, pounding a relentless cacophony of his certain and impending doom. He realized with a rush the enormous stupidity of thinking he could slip into Bligh's stronghold, take him out, and escape. At least he would die thinking of Becky, and the feel of her lips against his. There was no further sense in even trying to prolong the inevitable. There were too many. Bligh was dead, but in everything else he had failed. He sighed in resignation, leaned his head back against the wall, and waited for the bullet that would end it.


McRae's Last Trail by Terry Murphy
With the relentless bounty hunter Durell close behind, the badly wounded outlaw Maury McRae reaches the small town of Gray's Flat. Nursed back from the verge of death by the beautiful Heather Cordell, McRae discovers what life could have been. In need of money, his fast gun brings an offer of work from the ruthless rancher Max Nelson. Learning that his new job involves a serious threat to Heather and her brother is a dilemma for McRae. Trapped in a hopeless set of circumstances, yet still hoping to begin a new life, McRae sees that dream fading away as a highly dangerous situation develops.


Waiting for the Hangman by Carlton Youngblood
James Buckley Armstrong, called Buck by most people who knew him, couldn't turn Professor Fish down when he was asked to take on the job of protecting the girl sitting on the bench of the rocking stagecoach across from him. What neither of them knew was the man they were on their way to visit, her Uncle Clarence, was in jail waiting for the hangman. Clarence had not denied he was once part of the Henry Plummer gang and when the hangman arrived he'd pay the price. But before that happened, he wanted Buck to help the girl find Plummer's hidden stash of stolen gold. Buck didn't want her to have the memory of his hanging to take home and he wasn't sure about the gold, either. But others wanted both the hanging and the gold.


Always the Guns by Matt James
A murder charge followed by desperate flight and pursuit halfway across the West for two innocent young ranchers - could fate be more brutal? Darien Pell and Slim Carroway are soon to find out during an odyssey which takes them from the once-peaceful East to the wilds of old Texas...with a vengeful posse in pursuit. Is it simple bad luck that they fall in with flamboyant old Mack and his gans of wild desperadoes? Or might it prove to be their one hope of dodging the hangman's noose?


Take Me to Texas by Ryan Bodie
Carmody was once a respected lawman. Even now, when he is running from the law with his gang of desperadoes and is wanted in three counties for jailbreak and robbery, he can hardly believe how much things have changed. He cannot forgive his former friend, Sheriff Reece Chandler for putting him in jail...so once he has pulled off the biggest robbery in Whiplock's history and before he flees to exile in Mexico, he vows to have his revenge.


Trail of the Burned Man by Thomas McNulty
When Rafe Morgan rides into a Wyoming town called Twisted Oak he gets into a saloon brawl and horribly disfigures an outlaw named Dutch Williams. Vowing revenge, Dutch and his men pillage the town and take two hostages, including the marshal's daughter. Rafe joins Deputy U.S. Marshal Ethan O'Hara and a small posse in the hunt for Dutch, but they soon realize that Dutch didn't take hostages to negotiate, he took them as bait. Dutch won't be satisfied with stolen money, he wants blood, and he'll stop at nothing until Rafe and the posse are destroyed. Following the outlaw's trail, the posse now find themselves in a desperate struggle for their very lives.


Revenge by Fire by Bill Williams
Steve Ross has been forced to give up the struggle to keep his small ranch going during the Arizona's worst drought in living memory. He intends to leave town in the morning, but events result in him being given an unusual ultimatum. He must face the prospect of hanging for killing a man, or becoming the Deputy Marshal of Craigy Plains. Ross has never owned or fired a pistol, but following his appointment as a lawman he is taught how to handle a weapon by an old gunfighter. His prowess with a gun is soon given a severe test. He is drawn into the tragic events that put his own life in the greatest danger.