Download or read book Gunmen of the Desert Sands written by Ralph Cotton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-11-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even the Fastest Gun Alive can use a little backup now and then. When a teenage Mexican girl shouts out a warning in the midst of a gunfight, Fast Larry Shaw knows he owes her his life. Francisca believes the gunslinger is the angel she and her mother have prayed for to save them from the outlaws that have made their life a living hell. Shaw’s no angel, but he is well equipped to offer protection—and hope. And maybe it’s not too late to sway the scales in the favor of some basic human decency…if Shaw can handle the odds. With the town trapped in a crossfire between federales and banditos, Shaw’s going to need all the prayers—and ammo—he can lay his hands on.
Download or read book Gunmen of the Desert Sands written by Ralph W. Cotton and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cost of a Killing written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-19 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a hail of thunder and gunfire, Jeston Nash fled a New Orleans billiards hall with a land deed in one hand, a blazing pistol in the other. He’d won his gamble with Quick Quintan Cordell fair and square. But in seconds, violence flared, Cordell lay dead, and Sheriff Pat Garrett’s promise still rang in Nash’s ears ... somewhere, someday, they would meet again... Jeston Nash learned about robbery from his cousin, Jesse James. But it was the wild outlaw Billy the Kid who taught him that even a wanted man is just a man. Nash catches up with the Kid in a dusty town of drunken bottle-shooters. Along with a scraggly band of gamblers and gunslingers, they ride for New Mexico, where, for Billy the Kid, freedom lies just beyond the border. For Nash, the enchanted land holds the chance to exchange his hard-won land deed for the beautiful and seductive Contessa Cortez. But their dreams turn to dust in the face of revolutionists, scalp hunters, and the deadliest threat of all—the determined Sheriff Pat Garrett, who plans to take Nash down with the Kid, all in the name of justice.
Download or read book Trick of the Trade written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-19 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jeston Nash knew horses—he’s stolen enough of them in his time. But the lookalike cousin of Jesse James was going respectable, almost. Then, in a New Orleans teeming with drunks and blue uniforms, he sold a horse to a well-bred lady. It was the biggest mistake of his career .... He hit Fort Lincoln with a belly full of wounds and minus a boot. His horse had been stolen, and he’d stolen it back—along with some bootleg crackers. All in all, it hadn’t been a pleasant trip through the dreaded Black Hills. But at least Jeston Nash—for the time being calling himself Beatty—hadn’t drowned. Now he fully intended to fulfill a promise: to deliver an unridable horse called Honest Bob to a woman named Custer. The trouble was, the wife of General George Armstrong Custer, Elizabeth, wasn’t very interested in the horse she’d persuaded Nash to deliver. In fact, Mrs. Custer was on the warpath. So were the Sioux—and General Custer’s commanders in Washington. Suddenly, Nash finds himself in the middle of the most dangerous kind of fight: a marital squabble. Before he knows it he’s riding alongside a hardheaded, buffalo-hunting, blond-haired general who’s sure glory awaits them—at a place called Little Big Horn ....
Download or read book Killers of Man written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-19 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a chaotic blast of gunfire, the James Gang fled a posse’s attack and the infamous Jesse threw his cousin Jeston Nash a hoard of stolen cash. Hoping to lie low in the mountains of the Northwest, Jeston and his partner, Quiet Jack, find themselves on a journey into the dark heart of human nature—and deadly animal instinct Jeston Nash is used to dodging bullets, but when a hired thug’s rotten remark gets under his skin, he can’t let it go—and he makes himself an instant enemy aboard a snowbound train owned by the sleaze’s boss, Ben Larr. A rich son-of-a-gun hell-bent on getting the grizzly who robbed him of a leg, Larr is a fouler piece of work than the usual brand of lowlifes Nash comes up against. When Larr blackmails Nash into leading his hunt, Nash discovers the killers of man in Larr’s twisted domain—a netherworld filled with violence and drugs, obsession and revenge. Nash finds himself face-to-face with Laura, Larr’s gorgeous, murderously manipulative wife, and one savage grizzly, a man-killer straight from the jaws of hell .... In a tale sparked with his trademark wit and bull’s-eye historical detail, Ralph Cotton captures the essence of the Old West in the adventures of his extraordinary outlaw hero, Jeston Nash.
Download or read book Fast Guns out of Texas written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-24 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first thing of interest Cray Dawson saw upon riding into Crabtown, Montana, on his way to stake his claim in Black’s Cut, was a sign outside the barber shop, with a long line of miners, townsfolk, business people and saddle tramps strung along the boardwalk waiting their turn to view Lawrence Shaw in his coffin. FAST LARRY SHAWL DEAD IN HIS COFFIN, 50 CENTS While He Lasts... (below it in pencil) *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Hangman's Choice and Killing Texas Bob at the back of this book.
Download or read book Black Mesa written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-20 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Turnbaugh gave a dark chuckle. ‘‘You lawdogs and your badges,’’ he said, ‘‘you’re worse than priests with their crosses.’’ He shook his head. ‘‘I never could understand why a little ornament like that makes such a difference to yas.’’ ‘‘I don’t expect you would,’’ said Sam. He paused, took a breath and gave another glance at either end of the bar. Here goes, he said to himself, hoping he’d given Maria enough time to get into position near the empty window frame to back him up. But there was no time to wonder about it now. ‘‘I’m taking you to Fort Smith, Turnbaugh,’’ he said. Turnbaugh gave another dark chuckle. ‘‘Are you now?’’ he said in a cocky tone, as if it were all a joke. ‘‘Care to hear some numbers on how many twobit lawmen like you has tried that same thing?’’ ‘‘The numbers don’t matter,’’ said Sam, barely shaking his head. ‘‘You’re going with me. Don’t make me kill you.’’ *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Sabio's Redemption at the end of this book.
Download or read book Bad Day at Willow Creek written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lawrence Shaw, aka Fast Larry, aka the Fastest Gun Alive, in this 4th book in the Gunman’s Reputation series, appears to have given up . . . but not just yet. First, he will take Rita Vargas to Willow Creek in search of William Bonney—the infamous Billy the Kid—who, unbeknownst to the Kid, is the father of her unborn child. On Shaw’s trail are gunmen hell-bent to leave him dead on the ground, not realizing that having people out to kill him might be the only thing that keeps “Fast Larry” alive. Lawrence Shaw had heard the thunder of horses’ hooves from the north trail long before the five riders slid the animals to a halt out front of the plank shack. He’d heard them stop suddenly, fifty yards away, and he’d pictured the riders sitting there discussing him in the pale purple darkness, deciding the best way to kill him. After a moment he’d heard the horses come forward again, this time slower, with stealth and deliberation. Oh, yes, they mean to kill me, Shaw told himself. . . . He did none of the things a man might do under such dire circumstances. Shaw had lost interest in such matters of life and death. They would arrive to kill him; but he would kill them instead. It was that simple. The matter deserved no deeper thought.
Download or read book Wolf Valley written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Along the road to Paradise . . . “We can sympathize with a man being short on cash, times being such as they are.” He eyed Ellis’s horse and said, “We just lost our pack mule two days ago. I always say, a good riding animal is just as good as legal tender when a man finds himself in a spot.” “Funny, I always say that myself,” said Ellis, his hat against his chest. His smile remained as he continued to stand in silence, leaving the man unsure of what to say or do next. Finally the man cleared his throat and said, “So, if you have no cash, we’ll be obliged to take the animal off your hands.” “There he stands,” said Ellis, giving a nod toward the big bay. “Take him whenever you’re ready.” But in spite of his invitation, the riders made no move forward. Studying the resolve in Ellis’s cold gray eyes, the bearded man said, as if it had just dawned on him, “You’ve got a gun cocked behind that hat, don’t you?” “You can count on it,” said Ellis, his smile still showing beneath his broad dark mustache. *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Black Mesa at the end of this book.
Download or read book Gunfight at Cold Devil written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-21 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At Cold Devil, Arizona Ranger Sam Burrack and Federal Marshal Pete Summers apprehend two wanted men—one of whom has posted a ten-thousand-dollar bounty on the lawmen’s heads. When Sam is dry gulched and Pete is wounded, a pretty young gypsy and her family nurse the lawmen back to health. Then Sam sets out to recapture his prisoners—and make the town of Cold Devil hotter than hell. * * * The ranger stepped inside the door, his big Colt in hand, his eyes making a quick sweep across the room. “I’m acting Federal Marshal Sam Burrack,” he said, loud enough to be heard, but in a calm even voice. “I’m arresting Jack Spain for participating in a stagecoach robbery in Arizona Territory last fall.” He paused, his thumb across the hammer of his Colt, ready to cock it. “And I’m U.S. Marshal Pete Summers,” said a voice. From against the bar, a young man stepped back to the middle of the floor, swinging a sawed-off shotgun up from under his long riding duster. Looking straight at Ned Rose, Summers asked, “Does everybody understand us?” * * * *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Blue Star Tattoo at the end of this book.
Download or read book Sabio s Redemption written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch. This book was released on 2018-10-21 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the ranger's eyes searched, his hands deftly opened the Colt, dropped the one empty cartridge to the dirt, replaced it and snapped the chamber shut. He slipped the Colt into his tied-down holster, but loosely, knowing that he might suddenly require its use again. Some parts of hell even the devil didn't travel alone, he told himself. His gaze moved warily outward, through the raging swirl of white heat surrounding the town, out across the harsh Mexican badlands. After a moment he took the folded piece of paper from inside his riding duster and opened it as he kept an eye on the empty, dusty street. From between two adobe buildings, a skinny hound slunk out through the dust, picked up something from the dirt and raced away with it. "Dallas Fadden, you're marked off," the ranger murmured to himself under his breath. He looked at the list of names on the paper—thieves, rapists, arsonists, assassins, wanton murderers, degenerates all—the worst of the worst, his captain had proclaimed them. With a pencil stub that he pulled from under the brim of his pearl-gray sombrero, he drew a straight line through Fadden's name. On the ground at his feet, Fadden lay at the end of a long streak of bloody dirt where his trail of lawlessness had ended. A bullet hole gaped in the center of his back. The thumb of his right hand had been clipped off by the same single bullet before it bored through his heart. Seeing the bloody stub, Sam looked off in the direction the skinny hound had taken, and realized what had caused the animal to venture out before the smoke and dust had even settled. Sam folded the paper and put it away. *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Gunfight at Cold Devil at the end of this book.
Download or read book While Angels Dance written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-19 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author Ralph Cotton grew up listening to stories of the James-Younger gang, and as the years passed his fascination led him to seek the truth behind the legends. Now, in this brilliant blend of history and imagination, he offers up a fresh and gritty look at the gang through the eyes of Jeston Nash. Jeston Nash bears a striking resemblance to his cousin, Jesse Woodson James of Clay County, Missouri. After killing a Yankee soldier in self-defense, Jeston meets his cousins, Jesse and Frank, and joins them to fight in Quantrill’s guerrilla forces. Later, after the war, he rides with the James-Younger gang as they invent their special brand of bank and train robbery. All the while, Jeston seeks vengeance against Daniel Zanone, of the Free Kansas Militia - the man responsible for the death of his child. In While Angels Dance, the reader will experience the events, places, and people that helped fuel the legends of these men. It is a vivid adventure tale of the outlaw West and an original view of the James-Younger gang. While Angels Dance was a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.
Download or read book Friend of a Friend written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-24 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Old ways and new clash in head-on confrontation: When journeyman hit man Ray Dylan agrees to look in on Sami Bloom, former mistress of a deceased Canadian crime financier, he realizes he must keep his profession a secret. What he doesn’t realize is how difficult that is now that he has fallen for this warm-hearted beauty. While he struggles with the idea of confiding to her about his secret past, Dylan learns that Sami Bloom has some secrets of her own—and her secrets reach into the upper echelons of the very organization he works for. Add to that a greedy young criminal, who along with his thug-like bodyguard, poses a threat to Sami’s life, and secrets or no secrets, Dylan knows it’s time for bullets to fly. In Friend Of A Friend, Cotton paints a stark unapologetic portrait of modern American crime, both at its ruthless struggling-for-power street level, and at its more discreet, tight-lipped, yet equally deadly seats of authority. Cotton has a unique way of weaving the reader’s senses into the story. Known for fast-paced narrative and wry dark humor, Cotton takes inspiration for his stories from TV news and headlines. He creates a raw and colorful, almost desperate atmosphere around modern American culture, yet at some point, unexpectedly, leaves the reader with cause for hope.
Download or read book Shadow Valley written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-21 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arizona Ranger Sam Burrack is on the trail of a gang of Yuma jailbreakers led by the blood-thirsty Suela Soto, and he’s leaving a trail of death and destruction. The pursuit will bring Sam up against one of the most infamous criminal gangs ever to pull a heist in the West—the Hole in the Wall Gang. * * * * “What do you mean? Why do you want him? He is an old man. He’s harmless. He is no threat to you,” the priest pleaded. But as he spoke, Soto shifted his gun to his other hand, took off his glove and held his right palm out for the priest to see. “Do you recognize this?” he asked, showing a tattoo that circled his palm. The priest almost gasped aloud. He shook his head and quickly made the sign of the cross. “You—you are one of them?” the priest asked, nodding at the tattoo, his face growing even more troubled and ashen than before. “One of el diablo’s—” He caught himself about to speak in Spanish and stopped short. “One of the devil’s own!” * * * * *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Vengeance at the end of this book.
Download or read book Justice written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-20 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lawless Justice . . . In the town of Bannet, Doss Edding, son of a wealthy land baron, led the cold-blooded Half Moon Gang on a spree of theft and murder that should have put him behind bars for the rest of his life. But the corrupt local law has set the accused man free to wreak more havoc. Arizona Ranger Sam Burrack is determined to put the desperadoes six feet under, but to do so, he must outfox the hired gun Doss’s father set on his trail. With a price on his head and powerful men protecting his prey, Burrack will need all his skill and determination to see that even in a lawless world, justice is done. *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Black Mesa at the end of this book.
Download or read book Season of the Wind written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-24 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Chicago hit man Ray Dylan started out he was one more young professional struggling to get ahead of the pack. But he knows his world is about to change quickly when he takes on a job for high-level KGB elitist Leonid (The Professor) Volkov, founder of a unique Cuban-Russian spy community operating out of Southern Florida. After Volkov double-crosses him and tries to have him killed, Dylan must take on the entire criminal spy operation even as a wild hurricane named Dennis ravages its way up the heart of the Florida peninsula. True to his calling, the young gunman will stop at nothing as he kills his way closer to Volkov, learning more and more about the man, including one of the best kept secrets in the dark underworld of crime and espionage—what was the wily Russian operative doing in Dallas the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Friend of a Friend and While Angels Dance at the end of this book.
Download or read book Nightfall at Little Aces written by Ralph Cotton and published by Cotton-Branch Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-21 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Widow For the past eight years the folks of Little Aces, New Mexico, have known Emma Vertrees as the wife of their now recently murdered sheriff. But Emma has more in common with the wrong side of the law than her neighbors could possibly imagine. The Fugitive A member of the notorious Hole-in-the-wall Gang, Memphis Warren Beck is on the run from railroad detectives. When fate reunites him with a woman he never expected to see again, Beck risks his freedom—and his life—for a second chance with her. The Lawman Arizona Ranger Sam Burrack is passing through what he thinks is a peaceful town. But the secrets and lies that have caught up to Emma and Beck bring violence in their wake, leaving only Burrack to dispense justice. *Preview of Ralph Cotton's Sabio's Redemption and Justice at the end of this book.
