When Mac Marcy got it into his head to run his own cattle ranch, he spent five long years working for Ben Tanner at the Bar 7 to save up enough money to do just that. His dream finally realized, Mac stakes his claim on a deserted ranch in a nearby valley, and rides over to say hello to his new neighbors at the Flying K. Thing is, Mac finds more than he bargained for in the owner's pretty daughter, Sally Kenyon, who seems eager to help him get started with his own place. What Mac hadn't counted on, though, was the jealous foreman at the Flying K, Vin Ricker, who had plans of his own where Sally and the Flying K were concerned.

Take the stagecoach into Deadwood with Ranger Chick Bowdrie to bring a notorious killer back to Texas - and justice. When he meets a beautiful young woman who is convinced Curly Starr can clear her brother's name, Bowdrie agrees to help. But first he must elude the rest of Starr's gang, who wait for the legendary lawman and his prisoner to leave town - so they can kill them both!

When Miguel Merrano first came to Mirror Valley, the land was green and lush...and off limits to Mexicans. Ranchers such as Tom Drake and Joe Stangle tried to drive Merrano out, to fence him out; and when he warned them that greed and overgrazing would ruin their land, they refused to listen.

In a remote corner of Utah lies the secret outlaw kingdom of Ben Curry. For 15 years Curry has ruled supreme, as his men have pulled jobs from Canada to Mexico. But the king is getting old...he wants to turn his legacy over to someone younger, tougher. Mike Bastian is Ben's adopted son, a young man who can handle a knife, a gun, his fists, but a man who's never broken the law. Now, as treachery explodes among Ben's riders, and two honest lawmen - Tyrel Sackett and Borden Chantry - begin to zero in on the gang, Mike must choose....

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.

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.

In a short story from Bowdrie's Law, Bowdrie is determined to avenge the death of a friend, even after he is shot and left for dead.

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

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?

On the trail of a ruthless killer named Carl Dyson, Ranger Chick Bowdrie finds the body of a rough-riding Californian, dry gulched and left to rot in the sun. With the dead man's horse in tow, Bowdrie ambles into the middle of a dispute between the H&H ranch and the Darcy spread. Seems some H&H hired guns are giving Jack Darcy a hard time...and leading the troublemakers is ranch owner Rack Herman, strangely in the middle of many a run-in.

Tough and vicious, the Fred Henry Gang had been robbing banks all along the stage route from Santa Fe to Tularosa. It was only a matter of time before they hit the sleepy town of Sentinel, and Marshal Fitz Moore knew that day had come.

"The Road to Casas Piedras": In the midst of a lively country dance, gunshots ring out at the stagecoach station and Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie finds the station's master sprawled in a pool of his own blood. "More Brains Than Bullets":Banker Tom Lindsay made a bad decision when he decided to do business with Ross Yerby. Yerby convinced Tom to print a few extra greenbacks to help him trade some cattle in exchange for half the profit. "West of Dodge": Where the real frontier begins... A young cowpuncher stakes a claim that can only be sealed with fists and a .44 Colt....

Ruth Gurney arrived home to find her late father's cattle ranch in debt, and their trail-boss, Lonigan, missing. As luck would have it, there is a conveniently available replacement - Hoey Ives. The ranch hands are uneasy with Ives's place on the drive, but the money is desperately needed, and there's no time to wait for Lonigan. After days on the trail with no sign of water, weak cattle, and restless men, Ruth can't help but have second thoughts about the seemingly trustworthy Ives. When he suddenly proposes and asks for more than her hand in marriage, Ruth knows she has to find out what he's really up to - and fast.

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?

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.

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.