Ralph Compton

The life of a cowboy suits Thalis Christie just fine. A puncher for the Crescent H in Texas, he loves what he does and is damn good at it too. He doesn't even mind being away from his family -- he's got good friends to keep him from getting too homesick. That is, until his folks write, imploring him to hunt down his brother, Myles, who's been shot while prospecting in the Black Hills. Thalis sets out to do his family duty and find his little brother...

Years ago Marshal Asher Thrall shot mad-dog killer Ben Sharkey. And he's just repaid the favor in spades. With a bullet still in his chest, Ash knows he's a walking dead man. But he's going to make sure Sharkey takes his last step first...

When it comes to killing, Lucius Stark is just about the meanest mongrel of a man who ever aimed a gun in West Texas. For him, taking lives means making a living, and if the price is right, he’ll do the job. But even hardest of men has a soft spot...

The son of a prosperous Arizona rancher, Boone Scott is content to raise cattle for the rest of his days. Not his brother, Eppley. Dangerously dissatisfied, he plots to take over the family ranch. When Epp pays an assassin to kill him, Boone's lightning-quick hands leave a fistful of dead men behind. Unaware of his brother's treachery, Boone flees and faces danger from hired gunmen, rustlers, and wild Apaches. If he can survive, he just might come...

Four men - Jess Donner, a Rebel and Southern gentleman; Steve Ellsworth, a ladies' man with a foul temper; Stu Wilkens, a Yankee; and Heck Myers, a teller of tall tales - find their friendship sorely tested by a dance-hall girl and a gang of outlaws. The four friends have traveled to Dodge City to rest their saddle-weary bodies, but trouble erupts between them and some less-than-reputable characters over the attentions of a dance-hall girl. If the...

Luke Deal's gang has had their depravities interrupted one time too many by the Bar 40 ranch foreman, Owen. Now, an English tenderfoot has bought a choice longhorn and is being escorted by Owen and his three toughest cowhands on an ambush-laden, hell-for-leather trip. For the greenhorn, it will be the adventure of a lifetime. But for Luke Deal's pack of rabid human wolves, it's the chance to settle a very old score.

Luke Deal and his gang are murderers many times over. And Owen, the foreman of the Bar 40 ranch, has interrupted their depravities one time too many.Now a business representative for some British cattle ranchers is buying one of the Bar 40’s best longhorns, and driving it from Texas to Wyoming. Owen and three of the Bar 40’s toughest cowhands are escorting the English tenderfoot on this snake-infested, rustler ambush-laden, hell-for-leather trip....

The life of a cowboy suits Thalis Christie just fine. A puncher for the Crescent H in Texas, he loves what he does and is damn good at it too. He doesn't even mind being away from his family -- he's got good friends to keep him from getting too homesick. That is, until his folks write, imploring him to hunt down his brother, Myles, who's been shot while prospecting in the Black Hills. Thalis sets out to do his family duty and find his little brother...

At the EJ Ranch the Bryce brothers have found good, honest work. A widow with two young children has a herd of cattle that needs grazing. But the widow and her property are coveted by a cattle baron. As the Bryce brothers find themselves in the crosshairs of a looming range, a trio of merciless bounty hunters arrives to collect the prices on their heads.