Ralph Compton

The daughters of a New Mexican rancher must help their father recover a stolen herd in this thrilling new novel in the bestselling Trail Drive series. In the early days of the Mexican Revolution guerrillas led by Francisco "Pancho" Villa raid a ranch in Dona Ana County, New Mexico Territory. They abscond with a herd of saddle horses earmarked for sale to the U.S. Army, wounding rancher Alejandro Aguirre and killing his only son, Eduardo, in the process. When the army commander and his superiors in Washington, D.C. refuse to violate Mexican sovereignty with a punitive raid, Alejandro's twin daughters, Dolores and Yolanda, must step up. Together they lead a crew of ranch hands and friendly members of the Mescalaro Apache tribe to recover the herd. A perilous road lies ahead, but the sisters will stop at nothing to find justice for their fallen brother and reclaim what was stolen.

In this brand-new Ralph Compton Western, the drovers of the Bar X ranch will face sandstorms, renegades, and outlaws along the historic Cimarron trail. After a child is accidentally killed in a shootout, Art Catlin decides to give up his life of bounty hunting and finds a new career as a drover, working for the Bar X ranch. The trail is 770 miles from Santa Fe to Independence, Missouri, and Art isn't fool enough to think it'll be an easy journey. As they head east, they seem to come upon countless threats, from environmental to personal. If they're to make it all the way with the herd intact, Catlin will need to use all of the skill and knowledge he's acquired over his long and violent career.

In this thrilling new installment in bestseller Ralph Compton's The Gunfighter series, a man wakes with no memory of who he is--or why someone wants him dead. A gunman without a gun wakes up in Death Valley. He has no recollection of how he got there, or even his own name. He's a dead man walking until his luck turns. He stumbles upon the homestead of a widow and her young son who nurse him back to health. But in the desert good deeds come at a cost. The amnesiac is being trailed by hard men who want answers he doesn't have. First a group of gunslingers, then a troop of soldiers threaten the innocent family. Their only hope of rescue is the very man who got them in this predicament. But how can he help them when he doesn't even know who he is? At least the men who want to kill him seem to know his name. Maybe they'll put it on his gravestone.

In this thrilling new installment in bestseller Ralph Compton's Trail Drive series, Toby Bishop and the drovers of the Circle K ranch will have to battle the elements, wild animals, rough terrain, and dangerous people to get their longhorn herd to their destination. The drovers of Circle K ranch have to drive the herd of beautiful longhorn cattle five hundred miles northwest to Missouri if they hope to make it through the next year. Toby Bishop, a jack-of-all-trades and drifter, will have to work with the mixed group of drovers, whether they are white, black, Hispanic, lifelong cowboys, drifters, or shamed preachers. On the trail, drovers must set aside their differences in favor of a common goal. As they go north, Bishop finds himself tested: physically by the rigors of the trail; and mentally, by the grim memories evoked by the violence necessary to protect the herd. But if they are to make it all the way to St. Louis, he'll have to call on every skill and ounce of knowledge he's acquired in his checkered and violent past to overcome the unexpected obstacles threatening the drive.

In this compelling new installment of bestseller Ralph Compton's The Gunfighters series, a man driven by the destruction of his family seeks to protect a woman and her children from a band of desperados. John Stockbridge was once a peaceful man of medicine. Now, he's better known as Dr. Vengeance, a man who is as fast with a shotgun as any other gunfighter is with a six-gun. The murders of his wife and child left him with an aching hole where his soul once was. His only solace comes from wandering the West. Along the way, he encounters a woman and her two children searching for their missing fur-trapper husband/father in the Rockies. In the process, they run afoul of some foul former Confederates who have amassed money and local power by robbing those traveling west through a mountain pass. While searching for the missing trapper -- and aided by a Mexican mountain man and an independent woman who works at the local hotel-- Stockbridge must take down the vicious highwaymen one by one.

The Strange siblings are on the hunt for justice in this wild double installment of bestselling Western author Ralph Compton's Rough Justice series. RIDERS OF JUDGMENT: In her guise as "Danny Duggin," Danielle Strange has spent the past two years hunting down the outlaws who murdered her father. Reunited with her brothers, the twins Tim and Jed, she plans to take her war across the border into Mexico--unaware she's being pursued by a U.S. federal marshal.... Saul Delmano comes from a powerful family of cattlemen whose business stretches from the Southwestern territories into Mexico. He's put a $2,000 reward on Danny Duggin's head, tempting every outlaw and bounty hunter across the West to try to collect it. But the cry of vengeance has been shouted out--and only justice can silence it. DEATH ALONG THE CIMARRON: Disguised as "Danny Duggin," Danielle Strange hunted down the merciless cutthroats who murdered her father. Now the feared gunslick has hung up her trademark twin Colts--and given up her secret identity--to make something out of her Texas ranch. But then a passel of hard cases rides into town and all hell breaks loose. And when the vicious gunmen kill one of Danielle's old saddle pals, she knows it's time for Danny Duggin to ride the vengeance trail again....

Ride the long path of vengeance in this thrilling double installment of bestselling Western author Ralph Compton's Rough Justice series. DEATH RIDES A CHESTNUT MARE by Ralph Compton: Waylaid by a pack of murdering outlaws, Daniel Strange's lifeless body is left dangling at the end of a rope. Now a mysterious gunslinger is on the vengeance trail, packing twin Colts and answering to the same name. With fiery green eyes and a temper to match, he won't stop until every last man who killed Strange shares the same fate. And as each bullet finds its mark, his victims will die never knowing the truth: that Daniel Strange may be dead and buried, but his daughter is alive--and killing.... THE SHADOW OF A NOOSE by Ralph Cotton: Young Jed and Tim Strange lost their father to an outlaw's bullet, and now their mother has succumbed to a fatal illness. Unable to farm their land due to a lack of funds, the twins set out to find their sister--who left home to avenge their father's death over a year ago. Farm life hasn't prepared the twins for the rough-and-tumble cow towns west of Missouri. And before they even begin their search, they're accused of a murder they didn't commit. Just barely escaping a posse's rope, the twins are on the run--wounded, hounded by the law, and desperately seeking the true killers....

An infamous gunslinger finds his vow to reform put to the test in this exciting installment in Ralph Compton's bestselling Gunfighter series. Twenty years ago, Sherman Knowles was notorious as a fearsome shootist with an itchy trigger finger and a hot temper. Now he resides in peaceful Elam Hollow, his gunslinging days far behind him. He hasn't fired a weapon in over a decade and is happy for that to be the end of the matter. Then he receives a visit from his brother's widow, asking for his help in finding his kidnapped niece, and Sherman is left with no choice but to pick up his guns once more and head out into the wilderness to rescue her before it's too late. But you cannot escape the past, and Sherman soon finds the ghosts of yesterday waiting for him on the bleak, unforgiving prairie...

In this compelling new installment of bestselling author Ralph Compton's Sundown Riders series, a man seeks revenge for the death of his wife and sons while caring for his traumatized daughter.Carl Novak returned to the Texas hill country after fighting in the Civil War, but unlike most of his neighbors, Carl didn't fight for the Confederacy. He was a Union soldier. Carl tries to resume his life as a farmer with his wife and three children. One day, when returning from an overnight trip to buy a calf, he finds his home burned to the ground and, even worse, his wife and sons murdered. His young daughter escaped the slaughter by hiding in the fields. She is so traumatized that she refuses to speak. Carl has one clue: a group of strangers has just left town. One man had a tattoo of a scorpion on his hand and one man was missing two fingers. Carl is determined to track them and exact his revenge.

In this fast-paced new installment in bestselling author Ralph Compton's Gunfighter series, a bandit who takes the identity of a dead lawman finds that the best place to hide is in plain sight. Jake Polk is a wanted man. He's spent years on the wrong side of the law staying one step ahead of the marshals. His most recent stage robbery ends with a posse hot on his trail. He's opened up just enough room to take a breather when he stumbles upon something astonishing. It's the body of a man resting peacefully next to a burned-out campfire. It's clear the man died in his sleep of natural causes. This is the chance Jake has been waiting for. According to a letter in the man's saddlebag, he's Marshall Owen Dent, on his way to the town of Riverbend to take over as the local lawman. Jake switches identities to avoid the posse, but what starts out as a quick means of escape may have deeper consequences when Jake considers making the change permanent.

In the tinderbox of Virginia City, fireman Morgan Mason learns the hard way that he just volunteered for the most dangerous job in town in this scorching new Western in Ralph Compton's bestselling Sundown Rider series. Thanks to the discovery of the Comstock Lode, Virginia City, Nevada has made many a rough-hewn millionaire. It seems like everyone is looking to strike it rich, but to Morgan Mason the real prize is being selected as one of the volunteer firemen who are seen as heroes in the dry, tinder box of a town. Recently inducted into the fire brigade, Mason is called to put out a blaze and stays to investigate its cause. His searing discovery? The fire was no accident--it was deliberately set. As a series of mysterious fires burns through the town, Mason begins to perceive a pattern no one else can. And when the fiery trail leads to the Wells Fargo building--holding what he suspects the arsonists are really after--Mason knows he is the only one who can take the heat and catch the crooks before the wealth of the entire town goes up in smoke.

A rancher discovers just how many times a man's luck can hold out in this thrilling novel in the bestselling Trail Drive Series After struggling for years to work a raw-patch ranch in the arid flatlands of Texas, young Mitchell Newland learns that his herd of scrubby range cattle will fetch ten times their local price if they're driven to Montana. He strikes a one-sided deal with the devil, neighboring rancher Corliss Bilks, to back his play with cattle, men, and horses. The trail brims with hellish hardship: prairie fire, stampede, flooded rivers, hailstorms, rattlers, sickness, long, broiling days and frigid nights. Halfway to Montana, range pirates and a rogue Apache war party close in. Mitch and the boys fight, grim and helpless, watching as their herd is driven westward in a cloud of dust and cackling laughter. Cut down to two bloodied men, Mitch collapses, far too late, and admits the old man has won the bet. But salvation in the form of a Basque sheepherder revives Mitch and his pal, Drover Joe, and Mitch realizes he isn't done. Not by a long shot. And now he has nothing to lose.

A deadly marksman is on the hunt to find his missing sister in this exhilarating new Ralph Compton Western. One terrible day, fifteen-year-old Leif Gunnarson comes home to find his family home on fire and a gruesome scene inside: his parents are tied up, on the brink of death among the hellish flames, and his sister is nowhere to be found. His father can barely gasp a name: Simkins. And with that, Leif has his life's mission--to track down Luther Simkins, notorious outlaw and gang leader, and find his sister. Along the way, Leif finds a temporary home in Wyoming Bob's Wild West Show. He has an innate talent with firearms but needs to hone those skills until he can outshoot anyone, even Simkins. Touring the West as the star performer known as Trickshot, Leif finally gets wind of an outlaw who could lead him to his sister. It will be the most important showdown of his life--but will his sharpshooting be a match for the shocking tricks the outlaw has up his sleeve?

In this compelling new installment of bestselling author Ralph Compton's Gunfighter series, Marshal Ben Dalton travels to Fort Worth to prove an old friend innocent of murder. It's been ten years since the worst day of Ben Dalton's life. After four grinding years of war, the Confederate veteran returned to his hometown of Aberdeen, Texas, to find that Mandy, the girl he loved, had run off with his best friend, John Rawlings. Dalton recovered from the loss and spent the next decade settling down to life as the town's marshal. That quiet life is shattered with the arrival of one stunning telegram. Mandy begs her old friend to come to Fort Worth, where her lawyer husband has been arrested for murder. Without a second's hesitation, Dalton heads to the big city, where he will discover that the forces who want Rawlings convicted won't hesitate to commit a second murder to silence a visiting lawman.

In this thrilling installment in bestseller Ralph Compton's Trail Drive series, a small ranch owner drives his herd into Mexico and is startled to find that human life comes cheaper than beef on the hoof. Andrew Buchanan has a problem. His modest ranch in Southern California is being pressured by an unscrupulous competitor and the encroaching wave of the future--orange growers. The only chance he has to sell his cattle for real money is to take them south into Mexico. The Empire Trail is five hundred miles of misery that crosses scorching deserts and clings to treacherous cliffs--and it's Andrew's job to find the best way across. But physical barriers are not the only thing he must contend with. A group of dangerous men are trailing the herd, determined to take the cattle or die trying. But this is Andrew's livelihood that hangs in the balance, and he won't go down without a fight.

In this brand-new, suspenseful Ralph Compton Western, a reformed gambler races to unmask a murderer. After years as a professional gambler--and a deadly shootout on a riverboat casino--Tom Calvert and his young prot g , Asher Smith, have survived an arduous journey across the frontier to Friendly Field, Idaho. The bucolic Quaker community welcomes them with open arms, and soon Tom is courting a widow and learning, to his surprise, to enjoy the quiet life. Then an elder of Friendly Field is found murdered, and the townsfolk start whispering about the work of the devil. Tom doesn't believe in the devil, just the evil that men do, and he resolves to solve the gruesome crime before fear causes the people of peaceful little Friendly Field to turn against one another.

In this racing new installment in bestseller Ralph Compton's the Gunfighter series, Marshal John Beck is a man who has spent his career dispensing justice throughout the West, but now the justice is personal.Marshal John Beck was the law in the dangerous town of Mother Lode, Arizona. On his own, he'd managed to keep bandits, rustlers, and desperados at bay. It was a tough job for one man to handle, but he made it work...until the day Bram Hogan and his Brickhouse Gang got the drop on the lawman. They beat Beck to within an inch of his life and dropped him in the desert where nothing but a slow, painful death awaited him. But the gang underestimated Beck. Even at his lowest point, he found a way to survive. Now, he's coming back and anyone who stands against him is going to ride the hammer down to the grave.

A cattle drive faces long odds in this exciting new installment in Ralph Compton's Trail Drive series. An outbreak of hostilities with Comanches has disrupted the usual trail routes. But Mase Durst must get his cows from his Texas ranch to the railway up in Wichita, Kansas, or face losing his land, which the bank is fixing to foreclose on. He's forced to take his herd on a little-used route called the Red Trail--little used for good reasons. It's a tough trek: dangerous, narrow, and fraught with banditry. Along the way, Durst and his men face numerous obstacles thrown up by Mother Nature, cattle rustlers and crooked lawmen. But even their safe arrival in Wichita will offer no relief if he can't make it home in time to save his ranch from the bank--and his wife from the predations of their rapacious neighbor. . .