Chat Lock is trailed to his ranch by a posse who suspect him of shooting a man in the back in a barroom gun fight.

Billy Dunbar is discovered and attacked by a band of Apaches while prospecting for gold with his two burros.

Jim Morton joins a posse that is hunting his friend Nat Bodine who is accused of robbing a stage and shooting the sheriff.

Kim Sartain is threatened while riding across a lush, unused meadow and decides to homestead the property and set up a ranching operation.

Jim London, heading home to New Mexico after the Civil War, finds a girl, the lone survivor of a Comanche massacre.

Ranger Chick Bowdrie trails a killer and bank robber to a lawless New Mexico town where Bowdrie takes the job of marshal to aid his investigation.

Reb Farrell is accused of rustling by his boss and fired after Reb appears to have shot his father by mistake while pursuing cattle rustlers.

Shad Marone is hunted across the desert by a posse and vengeful sheriff who falsely accuse him of murder and intend to kill him without a trial.

Dan Regan, lion hunter for the Slash B, steps up to stop the looting and destruction of the ranch by a gang of cattle rustlers.

Dusty Barron discovers a teenage girl and a boy traveling in the desert in a covered wagon whose father has died.

Chick Bowdrie befriends the son and daughter of a man accused of poisoning a neighbor's horse and acts as the man's defense counsel.

Texas ranger Chick Bowdrie is sent to Kimble, Texas to investigate a bank robbery in which the banker was tortured and killed, and in which the thieves vanished without leaving tracks.

A traumatic event has turned Rock Casady, a great ranch hand, into a miserable man, haunted with fear.

Allen Ring wins a cabin in a poker game but a tally book he finds on the property threatens to ignite a range war.

Chick Bowdrie, Texas ranger, on the trail of a counterfeiter, investigates a case involving bank robbery and two murders.

A woman ahead of her time, Mary Breydon knew how to get things done. Raised on a Virginia plantation, she learned how to care for livestock, respect her workers, and keep good books. But after her husband is killed, Mary must provide for her young daughter by running a stage coach station on the Cherokee Trail. With the help of an Irish maid and a mysterious stranger, Mary faces challenges that even the men eagerly anticipating her failure would have a difficult time overcoming.

Wagon trains heading west were forced to defend themselves against Indians, cope with injuries and illness, and struggle to find food. The group of easterners Rock Bannon was scouting for faced another problem. They were being deceived. When he warned them to remain on the Humboldt Trail, Sharon Crockett and the others refused to listen. Mort Harper, a stranger riding a beautiful black mare, had dazzled them with his charm and good looks. The southern route was the best way to go, Harper told them. But best for whom?

There will never be another Western writer like Louis L’Amour. A legendary author and indisputably the greatest storyteller in his genre of all time, L’Amour captivated millions of readers and has sold well over three hundred million copies of his works, which includes nearly ninety novels and countless short stories. Mistakes Can Kill You highlights an essential selection featuring nine of L’Amour’s earlier short stories, sometimes written under the pen name Jim Mayo, that exemplify the rugged morality of the best Western writing.

More than any writer before or since, Louis L'Amour brought the American West to life. His action-packed stories deal with eternal themes: honor, deceit, passion, betrayal, loyalty, courage, love. His settings are historically accurate, his prose riveting, and his characters colorful: good guys, bad guys, toughs, roughs, sidekicks, and saints.

A collection of stories from the most famous Western author of all time! Desert Death-Song is a compilation of some of Louis L’Amour’s greatest stories, many of which might otherwise be difficult to find. Whether he was writing under his early pen name, Jim Mayo, or his own, L’Amour’s stories are unforgettable, touching on rough and rugged American ideals, and set in the untamable frontier of the Western United States.