Braden isn't looking for trouble. He is just a ranch hand, out looking for stray horses. But trouble finds him. He hears about someone doing something pretty low and getting away with it, and it starts to work on his mind. Then the man who told him is found dead. Lots of folks would just turn away from it, forget about it and move on. But Braden isn't most folks. No, he has to look into it a little. That is his first mistake. The more he looks, the more he finds—and the more trouble finds ...

Out on a ranch in the foothills, Jim Lander is trying to get his life in order. He's trying to put his divorce behind him so he can develop a relationship with Dusty, a nice young woman who lives in town. Things get complicated, though, when he doesn't resist temptations at the Trail's End, his favorite honky-tonk bar. To sort things out, he goes to the mountains. But even then, it takes the right combination to get things into balance. Nothing comes easy, but it is possible to find a good...

Tom Atkins is out of work. So when the Norden brothers ride into his camp one night and offer him a job, he figures he might as well accept. The Norden boys are nice enough and they just bought a small ranch nearby. All things considered, Atkins could do worse. But gradually, as time goes by, Atkins begins to notice things. Small things, but troubling. Some of the folks in town don't seem too friendly to anyone from the Norden ranch. And some of their neighbors are downright rude and insul...

When Wilf Kasmire is asked to guide some hunters on a newcomer’s ranch, he doesn’t think anything is up. After all, he wants to try to make a living as a guide and outfitter so he can enjoy the outdoor life he loves. As he goes about his work, he is nagged by the disappearance of a young woman he used to spend time with, and no one seems to be trying very hard to find her. Ultimately, the two questions come together: does Wilf want to keep on selling the gifts of nature to arrogant clients...

This collection contains seven works of fiction ranging in length from short story to novella. The stories take place in rural California from 1964 to 1970, and they continue the mystery/noir style in which John D. Nesbitt has gained recognition. The world of these stories is born out of a vision of hard-edged realism, in which decent characters struggle with the circumstances of a hard-working life as well as with amoral drifters, opportunists, and criminals. The romance is spare, and the...

JOHN D. NESBITT FOUR - TIME WINNER OF THE SPUR AWARDDevon Frost is an artist who goes to a remote place called Tinaja, in New Mexico Territory, to draw old fallen-in buildings and to try to find his artistic vision.In Tinaja, where everyone speaks Spanish, he hears of a picturesque old church on a large hacienda. The owner, Don Felipe, gives him permission to spend time at the site and sketch the church. The owner’s stepdaughter, Petra, comes to visit with him, and the step...

JOHN D. NESBITT FOUR - TIME WINNER OF THE SPUR AWARDWilf Kasmire is surprised to hear from his ex-girlfriend, Dawn Jenkins—and even more puzzled when she asks if she can stay with him “for a while.” The note of worry in her tone has Wilf agreeing—against his better judgment, but also wondering if she’s in trouble. Her stay with Wilf is cut short when she disappears without a note—and Wilf realizes he was right to be concerned.When another young woman’s body is found nearby ...

JOHN D. NESBITT FOUR - TIME WINNER OF THE SPUR AWARDWhen Will Dryden is let out of jail, a woman named Mrs. Welles tells him her husband, Al Vetch, is missing and she needs someone to try to find him.Dryden hears there might be a job at a ranch called the Redstone, where a young cowhand was found dead. Dryden meets Ingram, the foreman; Max Aden, a troublemaker; Donovan, the owner; Blanche, who runs the kitchen; and Pearl, an Indian girl who works in the kitchen. Donovan see...

Antelope Sky: Stories of the Modern WestHere is a world of sky and sage, dust and rain, horses and saddles, pickups and gun racks—where the wild roses bloom in springtime and the wild geese fly in winter.This is a world where men and women meet, or separate, or have a drink somewhere in between, as they sort out their pasts and try to remake the present.

Blue Is Not the WordRick Lemoore is drinking beer when he recognizes a backhoe operator named Tragg Tustin, who was said to have left town years earlier with Lynette Cole, a girl both of them had been dating. Seeing Tustin in town again, with a different woman, makes Rick wonder what ever happened to Lynette. Rick’s curiosity picks up when he sees Tustin out driving the unpaved roads in the grasslands where Rick goes antelope hunting. Rick follows him for a while and watches from a...

A Jimmy Clevis NovelThis is the third in a mini-series about Jimmy Clevis, the good-natured narrator who appeared earlier in Rancho Alegre and Red Wind Crossing. In this novel, Jimmy sets out to find a missing man. His travels take him to Wyoming, where he comes to the small town of Raven Springs and a couple of roadside inns. People seem to disappear in this place, and in the course of Jimmy’s stay, he has to untangle the threads of missing persons, altered identity, greed, and mu...

With a lot of rustling going on in the area, tensions are high and rumors are flying. Word is going around that some of the larger ranchers have hired a gunman named Wolf Carlton to stop the rustling and protect their cattle. And now a couple of the small ranchers have been found shot to death. Unfortunately for Spencer Prescott, some of the rumors are about him. Some people think that Spencer, not Wolf, is the one killing the competition. Even worse, some folks think Spencer is behind the...