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 ...

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...

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...

A Jimmy Clevis NovelJimmy Clevis is out of work and needs some money. So when an old man named Tull asks him to do a quick job for him, Clevis agrees. All Clevis has to do is head south to Paloma Springs to find Tull’s son. Sounds like easy money, right? Wrong. Clevis isn’t just riding into Paloma Springs—-he’s riding straight into a tangled net of lies, stealing, blackmail, hidden identities . . . and murder.

Men and women, guns and horses, tough situations and no easy solutions—these are the features of a dozen new stories by one of the most acclaimed writers of Western fiction today. John D. Nesbitt shows once again why his work is consistently praised for its evocative setting, realistic characterization, tight prose style, and thought-provoking story lines. The stories in this collection are original, and like Nesbitt’s novels, they are classic in form and style. What unifies this collectio...

A novel of the contemporary American West, Keep the Wind in Your Face takes place in the big outdoors. It features men and women, horses and big-game hunting, and a strong sense of landscape as a presence in the action. It portrays adventure that is realistic to the modern West, with a healthy absence of television melodrama. This novel has a spare but eloquent prose style that matches its subject.

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 ...

If you have grown weary of SEX and VIOLENCE—If you feel you have overdosed with accounts of TAWDRY LUST, POLITICAL CORRUPTION, and BRUTAL MURDERS—Try a refreshing change. Sip from the cup of comedy, parody, and satire, laced now and then with poetry and song, topped with a dollop of pristine ROMANCE. Yes, gentle reader, you may fortify yourself against the VILE DEGRADATION and CRUEL INJUSTICES of the modern age by sampling from the medicinal tonic of the ADVENTURES OF THE RAMROD RIDER!

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...

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...

Pete Garnett hadn’t planned on shooting anybody. But when he spotted the two hardcases threatening a helpless girl, he didn’t have much choice . . . and they fired first. He was just doing what he had to do, and that should have been the end of it. Trouble was, the two had a partner that Pete didn’t see. But the third man saw Pete, all right, and it wouldn’t be long before he tried to get rid of the girl who could identify him and the man who killed his friends.

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...