Western Fiction of 2018

Today in history - November 14th, 1882 - The gunslinger Franklin “Buckskin” Leslie shoots the Billy “The Kid” Claiborne dead in the streets of Tombstone, Arizona.  So, lets check out western fiction of 2018.

The Bloody Spur by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins - The Santa Fe Railroad wants to build a spur through Trinidad, New Mexico, linking the town to the cattle trade. Only one man stands against it - rancher George Cullen. At the request of the town council, Sheriff Caleb York rides out to the Bar-O to reason with his old friend. With murder in the wind, the whole town's in danger. To bring a killer to justice, and protect the woman he loves, Caleb York must strap down his Colt .44, enter the big game, and bet his life on the turn of a card - and the speed of his draw. Book 3 of 5 in the Caleb York Westerns

Bound for Sin by Tess LeSue - Georgiana Bee Blunt is a respectable widow of means who knows exactly what she wants: a resourceful frontiersman--for the purpose of matrimony. Citified men with thoughts of love need not apply to Georgiana's ad for a husband. What she desperately needs is a rugged backwoodsman who can get her family safely to California, two thousand miles away. Someone who could wrestle a bear and not break a sweat. Someone just like Matt Slater ... Travel worn and trail weary, Matt Slater wants a clean bed and some R & R--not a woman with fancy airs and a brood of high-spirited children. He can tell Georgiana is trouble, but doesn't realize how much until he's bamboozled into pretending to be her fiancé. And when Georgiana hitches her wagons to his train, Matt finds himself facing something much more daunting than the journey before them: a woman with the spirit and the courage to tame his wild ways ...  Book 2 of 4 in the Frontiers of the Heart series

Damnation Valley by William W Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone - A Rocky Mountain winter has left Breck reeling from the carnage unleashed by bloodthirsty trapper Judd Carnahan-and readying a quest for vengeance as ruthless as their prey. It gets even deadlier when Carnahan lays siege to a trading post on the Yellowstone River. He's left the owner dead and kidnapped a pretty hostage who can turn a nice profit once he puts her to work.
Following his trail takes Breck clean to Santa Fe, where Carnahan's set up a brothel bursting with hardened beauties, a saloon for cutthroats and thieves, and a trap for the Frontiersman who's tracked him every bloody step of the way. But over the rough, merciless miles it's taken Breck to get here, he's built up a raging fury that's going to make this unholy town swim in blood. Book 4 of 4 in the Frontiersman series

Dead Aim by Dusty Richards - Long John O'Malley is only nineteen 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 sixteen. He risked his life to rescue a group of captive women settlers-and forged his own destiny as a hero in the making.
Now he's taking on his biggest challenge yet- riding shotgun on a wagon train across the hostile Nebraska Territory. It's a treacherous trail, and it's not long before the young Texan is earning his paycheck by fighting off a tribe of bloodthirsty Sioux. But the real test lies in the journey ahead-a genuine ride to hell and back, from the Rocky Mountains to Sante Fe and all the way home-that will either make Long John O'Malley a living legend . . . or a dead one.  Book 2 of 3 in the O'Malleys of Texas series

A Death in Eden by Keith McCafferty - When scarecrows appear in the cliffs above Montana's famous Smith River and a little girl reports being chased by one in the night, state investigator Harold Little Feather is brought in to find the culprit. Are the effigies related to a copper-mining project that threatens the purity of the Smith? When a decapitated body is found in the river, Harold's search leads him back in time through the canyon's history. Meanwhile Sean Stranahan has been hired to guide a floating party that includes Clint McCaine, the manager of the mine project; Bart Trueblood, the president of 'Save The Smith,' a grassroots organization devoted to stopping the project; and the documentarian filming their arguments. He discovers McCaine and Trueblood share a past that runs much deeper and darker than their opposing viewpoints. Book 7 of 7 in the Sean Stranahan Mysteries

Heresy by Melissa Lenhardt - Margaret Parker and Hattie LaCour never intended to turn outlaw. After being run off their ranch by a greedy cattleman, their family is left destitute. As women alone they have few choices: marriage, lying on their backs for money, or holding a gun. For Margaret and Hattie the choice is easy. With their small makeshift family, the gang pulls off a series of heists across the West. Though the newspapers refuse to give the female gang credit, their exploits don't go unnoticed. Pinkertons are on their trail, a rival male gang is determined to destroy them, and secrets among the group threaten to tear them apart. Now, Margaret and Hattie must find a way to protect their family, finish one last job, and avoid the hangman's noose.

The Hope of Azure Springs by Rachel Fordham - Seven years ago, orphaned and alone, Em finally arrived at a new home in Iowa after riding the orphan train. But secrets from her past haunt her, and her new life in the Western wilderness is a rough one. When her guardian is shot and killed, Em, now nineteen, finally has the chance to search for her long-lost sister, but she wont be able to do it alone. For Azure Springs Sheriff Caleb Reynolds, securing justice for the waifish and injured Em is just part of his job. He is determined to solve every case put before him in order to impress his parents and make a name for himself. Caleb expects to succeed. What he does not expect is the hold this strange young woman will have on his heart. Debut author Rachel Fordham invites historical romance readers to the charming town of Azure Springs, Iowa, where the people care deeply for one another and, sometimes, even fall in love.

Where the Bullets Fly by Terrence McCauley - If anyone can smell an investment opportunity, it's railroad men and big city bankers. They're not the kind of folks that Sheriff Mackey is used to dealing with. But greed is greed, and if anyone knows how money can drive men to murder, it's the sheriff of a boomtown like Dover Station. But when Mackey is forced to gun down a pair of saloon rats, it brings a powderkeg of trouble-with a quick-burning fuse of vengeance named Alexander Duramont. This bloodthirsty psychopath wants to kill the sheriff for killing his buddies. And he plans to get his revenge using a highly combustible mix of fire, fear, and dynamite . . .
Mackey's not sure how he's going to stop this blood-crazed lunatic.
But it's going to be one heck of an explosive and very violent showdown . . . Book 1 of 3 in the Sheriff Aaron Mackey series

The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook - Early one morning in the remote hill country of Texas, a panther savagely attacks a family of homesteaders, mauling a young girl named Samantha and killing her mother, whose final act is to save her daughter's life. Samantha and her half brother, Benjamin, survive, but she is left traumatized, her face horribly scarred. The Which Way Tree is the story of Samantha's unshakeable resolve to stalk and kill the infamous panther, rumored across the Rio Grande to be a demon, and avenge her mother's death.

Whiskey When We're Dry by John Larison - In the spring of 1885, seventeen-year-old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbors, she cuts off her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains to find her outlaw brother Noah and bring him home. A talented sharpshooter herself, Jess's quest lands her in the employ of the territory's violent, capricious Governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah--dead or alive. Wrestling with her brother's outlaw identity, and haunted by questions about her own, Jess must outmaneuver those who underestimate her, ultimately rising to become a hero in her own right.