"Rain on a Mountain Fork": Lawman, manhunter, peacemaker - it takes a hard breed of man to survive as a Texas Ranger, but Chick Bowdrie stands head and shoulders above the rest. "A Ranger Rides to Town": Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie is a good man to have on your side and a bad man to have on your trail. When an anonymous note alerts him to an impending bank robbery, he rides into a blazing gun battle. "Down Sonora Way": Chick Bowdrie and Tensleep Mooney, a tough, wily, Wyoming cowhand, are locked in a stalemate with nothing between them but 60 yards and a Winchester.

Cattleman Jim Gatlin isn't the kind of man who goes looking for a fight. But he never turns away when one comes looking for him. And that's just what happens when he finds himself mistaken for another man - a man who has some very dangerous enemies. Like it or not, Gatlin is a dead ringer for the only man in town who stands between the ruthless Wing Carey and the ownership of the XY Ranch. Framed for murder, Gatlin suddenly finds himself the town's most wanted man. Now he must clear his name and help a pretty young woman by putting his own bid on the XY.

To clear the name of an innocent man, Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie pursues a murderous gang of bank robbers and cattle rustlers.

Lawman, manhunter, peacemaker–it takes a hard breed of man to survive as a Texas Ranger, but Chick Bowdrie stands head and shoulders above the rest. The rough trails are his home, from the Big Thicket to the Pecos to the border. He's dried by the desert sun and wind, scarred and toughened by uncounted gun battles, and when you look into his black eyes, it's like looking down the barrels of two .44s with their hammers drawn back. He rides in the name of justice, but he lives by his own law–Bowdrie's Law.

Few travelers happen by Lee's Canyon. But when Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie suddenly appears at Moby Fosdick's door looking for Shad Tucker, slowly brewing trouble begins boiling over fast. Before the sun sets, bullets are flying. And by the time it rises again, Bowdrie's badly outnumbered, 16-year-old Lily Fosdick is trapped in a cave with a cold-hearted killer, and it's high time for 19-year-old Jerry Fosdick to decide which side of the law he's one.

The life of a mail-order bride was no breeze. It seemed to Laurie Bonnet she couldn't do even the simplest thing right. She couldn't make a cup of coffee fit for a dog, so how was she going to help her man in a war over his land? When things get too tough, Lauire decides to flee back home. On the trail she gets lost and meets up with a mysterious old man who teaches her a few things about love and courage. And she'll need plenty of both when she returns to stand by her husband. Because now the Miller clan has hired themsleves a gunman to run Steve Bonnet off his land - or put him under the ground.

Life on an Ohio farm couldn't hold young Bill Carey. He wanted the adventure he knew waited in the territories to the west. He'd drifted into the outlaw life and found himself shot up, a lawman on his trail, holed up on a small farm near the lair of Tabat Ryerson. Ryerson, the man who'd introduced him to cattle rustling and bank robbery, was a cold-blooded killer, the man who'd turned the sweet young woman who'd saved Carey's life into an unwilling accomplice.

Passion drives Lou Morgan to the town of Battle Basin, passion and the promise of $5000. In this dusty town lives the wildly irresistible Nana Maduro, the woman Morgan loved enough to kill for, the woman who walked away from him without a word. Now, still caught in her spell, Morgan hires on with one of Nana's suitors to eliminate that man's rival. But when Morgan finds himself the target of two brutal killers, he can't help but wonder what Nana's admirers are really after, or if he'll live to find out.

An action-packed story from the popular western anthology, Long Ride Home.

Ranch foreman Ward McQueen recognizes trouble when he sees it - and trouble is what the Texan sees when he spies the tracks of a wounded man in the middle of the big Tumbling K spread. In town, he learns that a tinhorn gambler has just won the ranch next to the Tumbling K in a dirty card game - and is turning his oily gaze toward the K's pretty owner, Miss Ruth Kermitt.

Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie was called to the O Bar O Ranch when the foreman, Bert Ramey, disappeared with $15,000. But from what Bowdrie can tell, Ramey is no thief. Karen Ramey believes her foster father may have been murdered, and she is deathly afraid of their new foreman. Meanwhile, Lee Karns, the owner of the ranch, is behaving suspiciously--but how could he be involved with the theft of his own money?

In these extraordinary stories, we meet a man who is forced to defend himself by taking another’s life - and must pay for his actions in a most punishing manner; a young thrill-seeker who finally finds a place he can call home, and vows to stay there - regardless of the man who tries to stand in his way; and a drifter who honors a deathbed promise to a stranger by embarking on an unlikely mission of mercy.

Join famed Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie as he tracks the notorious John Queen, wanted for murder and kidnapping. Riding under an alias, Bowdrie joins up with Queen's ruthless gang to rescue the pretty niece of a powerful Texas judge. But when Queen discovers the lawman's true identity, Bowdrie must do some fast thinking and even faster shooting to beat the odds - five guns to one!

Jim Sandifer had run Grey Bowen's ranch for years in the rancher's absence. When Bowen reappears with his new wife, Rose Martin, and Rose's grown son. Lee, Sandifer is happy to see his boss. But then scheming Lee Martin turns Bowen against his foreman and his neighbors. Can Jim stop the range war that's brewing without losing his job? And what are the Martins really after?

Folks far and wide know that the Cactus Kid can handle a pistol with the best of them. But for all his skill and coolness under fire, there's jut one small weakness he can't seem to overcome - and it may prove the death of him.

When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year. When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.

Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

There's no place like home for the holidays ... especially for Lesley Carver. Life in the big city just wasn't her jam and now she's back in Hickory Falls, working at the family diner and helping her mom after she took a tumble. Lesley longs to build a life here, working at the cafe, selling her handmade ornaments and ... er, apparently reviving her high school crush on her best friend’s older brother. Only one problem, her mom wants her to leave Hickory Falls far behind.

Tilly Farriday isn’t feeling very jolly this season. Recently divorced and broke, she’s squatting in one of her rental agency’s properties until her new home is ready. The sprinkles on top of the burnt Christmas cookie that is her life? The new owner shows up early, forcing Tilly to hide in the attic to save her job…and what remains of her dignity.

First published in 1843, it tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean and unpleasant man who dislikes people generally and Christmas especially. One Christmas Eve he is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come and given a glimpse of the many homes and lives which Scrooge has touched in his wretched life to date. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Clark Griswold was onto something...at least with his annual holiday meltdown. And since the last three weeks of my life have been riddled with humbug—another breakup, a broken toe, an office promotion I deserved and didn’t get—I’m not at all in the mood to celebrate nor have the happ, happ, happiest Christmas EVER.

My fiancé brought me tea and scrambled eggs in bed that morning, and we snuggled together, talking about buying our rings, and about our perfect wedding next year. Then we headed into town. He held my hand and gazed at the ring I liked best, a smile spreading slowly over his face. Then a glass of bubbly to celebrate. I felt flushed, excited and ready for the rest of my life with the man I loved. We race to get on the train home. It screams to a halt and I run towards its open doors. Made it. I think he’s right behind me — but when I turn around, he’s gone.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.