Louis L'amour

It was the only water for miles in a vast, sun-blasted desert where water meant survival. So Logan Cates naturally headed for Papago Wells. But he wasn't the only one. Fleeing the fierce Churupati and his Apache warriors, other travelers had come there too. And when the Apaches found them, they began a siege as relentless and unforgiving as the barren land...and just as inescapable. The last thing Cates wanted was to be responsible for the lives of thirteen desperate strangers and a shipment of gold. But he knew that if they were to survive, he was their last chance. He also knew that some in the party were willing to die--or kill--to get their hands on the money. If he couldn't get them to work together, it wouldn't be the desert or even the Apaches that would do them in--it would be the greed of the very people he was trying to save.

RIDE ALONG INTO DANGER Traveling under an alias, the last thing gunman Clip Haynes wanted was attention. But Basin City needed a town-taming marshal, and a cold-blooded murderer was hiding behind Haynes's real name. Now Haynes was coming out of hiding to protect his honor, save a town, and catch a killer--even if it cost him his life. Lou Morgan was as tough as they came. But it wasn't just the money or the challenge that motivated him to take on a suicide job involving a buried Spanish treasure and two greedy killers. It was love for a beautiful senorita who had left him for dead years ago. It's not easy being the new schoolma'am in town . . . especially when you're a man. But Van Brady isn't quite the tenderfoot he seems, and before he's through he'll teach a few hard cases a lesson they'll never forget. From the rough-and-tumble streets of San Francisco to the dry desert plains of Texas, from a roughshod gambler willing to wager his own life on a single bet to a killer with a heart, here are stirring tales of the Old West as only Louis L'Amour can write them, tales of men and women risking their lives, fighting their wars, and standing tall on the American frontier.

BEST OF THE WEST A veteran trail driver, who has survived thundering stampedes and Comanche raids, discovers there's nothing so dangerous as courting a beautiful woman. . . . A brutally beaten homesteader crawls off to die--only to stumble upon an ancient talisman that restores his will to live. . . . This treasure trove of stories captures the grit, grandeur, and the glory of the men and women who wielded pistol and plow, Bible and branding iron to tame a wild country. A mysterious preacher rides into town to deliver a warning that leads to a surprising revelation. . . . And in the full-length novella Rustler Roundup, the hardworking citizens of a law-abiding town are pushed to the edge as rumors of rustlers in their midst threaten to turn neighbor against neighbor. Each of these unforgettable tales bears the master's touch--comic twists, stark realism, crackling suspense--all the elements that have made Louis L'Amour an American legend.

He left the West at the age of seventeen, leaving behind a rootless past and a bloody trail of violence. In the East he became one of the wealthiest financiers in America--and one of the most feared and hated. Now, suffering from incurable cancer, he has come back to New Mexico to die alone. But when an all-out range war erupts, Flint chooses to help Nancy Kerrigan, a local rancher. A cold-eyed speculator is setting up the land swindle of a lifetime, and Buckdun, a notorious assassin, is there to back his play. Flint alone can help Nancy save her ranch...with his cash, his connections--and his gun. He still has his legendary will to fight. All he needs is time, and that's fast running out....

A harsh and deadly land... Rye Tyler was twelve when he saw his father cut down in an Indian raid. Taken in by a mysterious stranger with a taste for Shakespeare and an instinct for survival, Rye is schooled in the lessons of a hard country. Then tragedy forces him to live a loner's life in a wild land of canyons and buttes, and on dust-choked cattle trails. But his skill with a gun has earned Rye a bloody reputation he can't escape. Though he's become the law in a lawless town, he had hoped for a better life with the beautiful Liza Hetrick. When Liza is taken away and held in a mountain-girded outlaw fortress, Rye must face his deadliest enemy--the very man who taught Rye about manhood, friendship...and the ways of a gunman.

Trent came to Idaho seeking solitude. He built a cabin, broke a few wild horses, and quietly put his pas behind him. Then King Bill Hale began laying claim to all the land around Cedar Bluff. When Hale's son kills one of Trent's neighbors, Trent quickly steps forward to lead the fight. Their property had been legally filed on, but Bill Hale has the men, money, and political power to steal it from them. What Hale doesn't realize is that Trent also has connections. With evidence that can ruin Hale's scheme, Trent must find a way past Hale's gang of thugs to the men who can help him. However, if he succeeds, his violent past will be revealed; if he fails, the others may forfeit their land. But Trent could forfeit his life.

Rafe Caradec--gambler, wanderer, soldier of fortune--was as hard a man as the battlefields and waterfronts of Latin America could fashion, but he was as good as his word. As Charles Rodney lay dying in a dank ship's fo'c'sle, Rafe swore to make sure that Rodney's Wyoming ranch went to his daughter, Ann. In Painted Rock, Wyoming, Caradec found land for a man to love, miles of rolling grasslands and towering mountains. He also found that one of the most ruthless men in the territory had set his sights on both Rodney's ranch and his daughter. But Rafe Caradec had given his word, and once he'd looked deep into Ann Rodney's eyes, nothing short of death would stop him from keeping the promise he'd made.

WHERE THE REAL FRONTIER BEGINS A young cowpuncher stakes a claim that can only be sealed with fists and a .44 Colt. . . . A gunfighter, tired of violence, finds himself pushed down a trail of bloody revenge. . . . From purple sage to gambler's gold, from a senorita's tempting smile to a splash of blood in the dust, here are stories with a distinctive L'Amour twist. A quiet farmer defends his honor in a moment of panic and luck . . . only to find true courage on the run from the dead man's brothers. A young drifter defends a lady's honor . . . and finds himself the quarry of a hanging posse. An aging marshal with a reputation as a crack shot faces a stranger who knows his secret. With relentless suspense and unforgettable drama, Louis L'Amour once again paints a vivid portrait of our western heritage that will live forever.

Tom Kedrick earned his stripes during the Civil War, fought Apaches, and even soldiered overseas. But in the high desert country of New Mexico, the battle-hardened Kedrick is entangled in a different kind of war, fueled by greed and deception. Hired by Alton Burwick to drive a pack of renegades and outlaws off the government land recently set aside for an Indian reservation, Kedrick begins to notice that things are not as they seem. As his suspicions grow, he realizes that he may be fighting on the wrong side of a land swindle. Disillusioned and outraged, Kedrick must take action against the very people who hired him-or be forced to witness the bloody massacre of innocent men and women.

Louis L'Amour's classic novels of the West make for perfect Father's Day gifts Dan Killoe--over six feet of tough, raw, lightning fast man. He had a trail heard and a mass of settlers to get across unknown territory to a new land. Then he gave shelter to a stranger being hunted by Felipe Soto, scar-faced leader of the renegade Comancheros. This time Killoe was borrowing more trouble than he wanted to handle.

They're freelance pilots and full-time troubleshooters for democracy. They're men like Steven Cowan, Mike Thorne, and Turk Madden who face danger every day of their lives and fight like tigers for what they believe in. With the world on the brink of war, they're on the front lines, wherever there's action. From the dangerous South Seas islands, to steaming South American jungles, to the other islands of Japan, you'll find these man ready to fight the enemies of freedom--in a battle to the death.

The Sacketts were fierce fighting men from the hills of Tennessee. The Talons were French, but a life of piracy brought them to America. Milo was half Talon, half Sackett. He'd been riding the outlaw trail for three years, but now he was hunting a man who had betrayed a trust with his own kin. And when he found him, Milo Talon would do no less than any Sackett or Talon before him.

Cattlemen ride alone across the open range under the deadly aim of roving desperadoes. . . . Gamblers stake their fortunes and their lives on a deck of cards. . . . Strong-willed se oritas seek independence through an enticing combination of beauty, audacity, and spirit. . . . Lawmen and outlaws walk the same dusty streets and speak a common language: Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson. Gritty, tough, and unflinchingly authentic, here is the West as it really was: a land where for every friend there is an enemy, for every handshake a fist, for every dispute a resolution--usually in an explosive showdown of blood and bullets. In these remarkable tales, Louis L'Amour--like the very heroes he depicts--blazes a trail across the American frontier and takes us on an unforgettable journey into the heart of our western heritage.

Mary Breydon knew how to get things done. Raised on a Virginia plantation, she learned how to care for livestock, respect her workers, and keep good books. But after her husband is killed, she must make a living running a stagecoach station on the Cherokee Trail. Mary faces challenges that even the men eagerly anticipating her failure would have a difficult time overcoming. After being forced to fire the previous station manager with the aid of a bullwhip, Mary must track down stolen horses, defend against Indians, care for a wayward boy, and protect herself and her daughter from Jason Flandrau, a man determined to become governor of the Colorado Territory but who is also the ruthless war criminal who murdered Mary's husband.

Major James Brionne brought Dave Allard to trial for murder. Just before the hanging, Dave swore his brothers would take vengenance. . . Four year later the Allard boys retumed to settle the score. Only Brionne's son escaped. They murdered his wife, destroyed his home, and left Brionne nothing but the charred ruins of his past to haunt him. Seeking peace and a new life, Brionne and the boy headed west. But the Allards hadn't finished with him. He knew they'd call him for a showdown-and this time he'd be ready . . . .

Hopalong Cassidy is one of the most enduring and popular heroes in frontier fiction. His legendary exploits in books, movies, and on television have blazed a mythic and unforgettable trail across the American West. Now, in the last of four Hopalong Cassidy novels written by Louis L'Amour, the immortal saddleman rides again -- this time into a lonely valley of danger and death. Hopalong Cassidy has received an urgent message from the dead. Answering an urgent appeal for help from fellow cowpuncher Pete Melford, he rides in only to discover that his old friends has been murdered and the ranch Pete left to his niece, Cindy Blair, had vanished without a trace. Hopalong may have arrived too late to save Pete, but his sense of loyalty and honor demands that he find that cold-blooded killers and return to Cindy what is rightfully hers. Colonel Justin Tradwar, criminal kingpin of the town of Kachina, is the owner of the sprawling Box T ranch, and he has built his empire with a shrewd and ruthless determination. In search of Pete's killers and Cindy's ranch, Hopalong signs on at the Box T, promising to help get Tradway's wild cattle out of the rattler-infested brush. But in the land of mesquite and black chaparral, Cassidy confronts a mystery as hellish as it is haunting -- a bloody trail that leads to the strange and forbidding Babylon plateau, to $60,000 in stolen gold, and to a showdown with an outlaw who has already cheated death once... and is determined to do it again. When Clarence E. Mulfold -- the original Hopalong Cassidy --retired, he chose the young Louis L'Amour to carry on the Hopalong tradition in four classic novels, including the New York Times best-sellers The Rustlers of West Fork, The Trail to Seven Pines, and The Riders of High Rock. Long out of print and now published for the first time under the author's own name, Trouble Shooter is a vividly authentic tale of the Old West that bears the unmistakable Louis L'Amour brand of swift, sure action, hard-fought justice, and frontier courage. Capturing the unquenchable thirst for adventure, the passions that drove men, and the perils that awaited the, in an untamed new land, this extraordinary early novel gives us Louis L'Amour at the height of his powers -- an enduring testament to America's favorite storyteller.

Barnabus Pike is no gunfighter and not much of a street fighter. Eddie Holt is a black boxer in a white man's world. They've both taken their share of hard knocks. Now they're looking to survive a brutal winter in a remote Montana line shack, collect their pay, and settle down for good. Then they cross paths with a hardworking Irish immigrant and his beautiful, spirited sister, who've been burned off their land. It's a fight Pike and Holt don't want, don't need, and don't dare turn their backs on--especially when one of the perpetrators might be one of Pike's old friends. Hunted like animals across the frozen countryside, Pike and Holt will risk everything--including their reputations, their dreams -- and their lives.

Hopalong rode into cattle country just east of the California line looking for his old friend Red Connors. He found Red holed up in a mountain cave with a bullet in his side and a story to tell. The ranchers around Tascotal had been losing their stock, and when Red caught the rustlers in the act, they hunted him down, shot him, and left him for dead. Jack Bolt, a savage, ruthless killer, has brought in a tough band of hardcases to run his operation. And now he's sent them out to take care of the one man who stands in his way: Hopalong Cassidy. But Bolt's about to learn the hard way that if you shoot down a man like Cassidy, you better make sure he never gets up again.

Kate Lundy, owner of the Tumbling B, and Conn Dury, her foreman, told Tom the rules: men from the cattle drives are forbidden on the north side of town. People appreciated the money the cowboys spent but thought them too coarse to be near their homes. Enticed to come calling by Linda McDonald, daughter of one of the leading citizens, Tom Lundy broke the law and crossed the line. Later that night, he was dead. Outraged by her brother's murder, Kate vows to destroy the entire town. But when Aaron McDonald sends east for an army of hired guns, Conn Dury and the men of the Tumbling B soon wonder if the price of Kate's revenge is too high.

Tom Shanaghy was iron-tough, but he was no lawman. Back in New York, he'd been the strong-arm for an infamous Irish gang. But when he jumped a westbound train to escape a deadly street war, fate sent him to a small Kansas town on the brink of its own violent battle. The townspeople were sorely in need of a marshal, and they convinced Shanaghy to pin on the badge. Now he must wade into the fight of his life, one that will show him just how tough this new land really is.