The Buckskin Line tells of Texas' chaotic early years, when a ragtag group of irregular volunteers fought to defend the far edges of settlement from incursion by Indians and frontier outlaws. In time, they would become known as the Texas Rangers.

A Comanche war party raids settlements and steals horses. A young warrior named Buffalo Caller kills a young couple, then abducts their red-haired little boy. The boy is rescued by a volunteer defender of the white settlers named Mike Shannon, who raises the boy as his own and calls him Rusty.

In the 1870s, buffalo hunters moved onto the High Plains of Texas. The Plains Indians watched hunters slaughter the animals that gave them shelter and clothing, food, and weapons. The battles at and near the ruins of a trading fort, Adobe Walls, became symbolic of the struggles between hunters and the Comanche.

Hewey Calloway is between a rock and a hard place: The open range and simple life of his childhood are disappearing. He can't live a cowboy life whose time has passed and he's not ready yet for the new challenges of the 20th century, like automobiles, telephones, and barbed wire fences. He and his friends, all of them good old boys, must learn that even the best choices involve some kind of sacrifice.

Frontier mobster Big Boy Daugherty warns any who'd stand in his way: Get out or die. One man will do neither. Sheriff Dave Buckalew is a man too proud to give up and too stubborn to give in. He liked his town the way it was - before the bootleggers, brothels, and fortune-seeking roustabouts - and so did a lot of other hardworking, decent folk. Together they'll fight to win back their town - and their future. This is the story of their heroic stand.

In The Far Canyon, Kelton masterfully unveils for his listener the finality of the buffalo’s demise, the beginning of a time when cattle would replace the American bison on the Southern plains and ultimately end the Plains Indian culture.

When a ruthless cattle baron and his men destroy Doug Monahan's property, his old friend and mentor is gunned down. Pistol whipped and now flat broke, Monahan finds refuge on the sprawling homestead of Noah Wheeler and his virtuous daughter. But Monahan refuses to quit.

Donovan was supposed to be dead. The town of Dry Fork, southern Texas, had buried him years before when Uncle Joe Vickers had fired off both barrels of a shotgun into the vicious outlaw's face as he was escaping from jail. Now Uncle Joe has been shot - in just the same way. And Judge Upshaw had found a noose hanging on his door.

When Comanches slaughter his parents in 1855 West Texas, eight-year-old Jeff buries their scalped bodies—and the charred remains of his younger brother. Taken in by a homesteading family, Jeff ekes out an existence. But as he dons Confederate gray, he never dreams his brother is alive—or that he’s wearing Union blue.

Honored by the Western Writers of America as one of history's 25 Best Westerns, and based on an actual 1883 Texas cowboys' strike, this Golden Spur Award-winning novel tells the gripping saga of veteran cowboys and upstart cattle lords vying for power and vainly resisting change.

Long Way to Texas brings together three rare Kelton novels, all with Texas roots: Joe Pepper, Long Way to Texas, and Eyes of the Hawk.

In the Texas backlands in 1885, 12-year-old Joey Shipman's father dies under mysterious circumstances, and the boy is forced to live with his stepmother and Blair Meacham, a hanger-on at the farm. After the death of a black farmhand and friend, and another "accident" that almost takes Joey's life, the boy runs away and joins forces with his only kin - Beau Shipman, a drunk and a jailbird. Beau and three other characters become Joey's unlikely partners as he is trailed by their murderous Meacham, in league with Joey's stepmother in their scheme to inherit the Shipman farm.

Joshua Buckalew has left behind the deserted battlefields that claimed his brother Thomas. The war has cost him much, but it has also given him a strong bond to the land and to the Mexican families who stood with him against the tyrannies of Santa Anna. Josh is travelling with Ramon Hernandez his best friend and the man who had fought with him, side by side. Where they are going, he isn't quite sure.

In the early days of the Texas panhandle, starting a new life is hard - but keeping it is even harder. Espy Norwood is a troubleshooter who's got troubles of his own, and more troubles find him when he lands a job on a ranch on the Texas plains. Bitter landowners plot against him, determined cattle thieves sneak right under his nose, and his own son refuses to trust or even know him. Can he catch the thieves, save the ranch, and win his son's love?

One of the deadliest, crime-infested towns in Colorado Territory, Devil's Gulch needed more than a sheriff. They needed a gunslinger. So they pinned a badge on hardcase lawman John Holt. And the rest is history. As the town's new sheriff, John Holt achieved the impossible: He drove the devil out of Devil's Gulch. Corrupt, cutthroat rancher Joe Mullen—who ruled the land with an iron fist—is finally behind bars, thanks to Sheriff Holt. But the tables are turned when Mullen manages to overturn his prison wagon and make his escape—with an army of prisoners, outlaws, and lowlifes to do his bidding.

Hewey Calloway is between a rock and a hard place: The open range and simple life of his childhood are disappearing. He can't live a cowboy life whose time has passed and he's not ready yet for the new challenges of the 20th century, like automobiles, telephones, and barbed wire fences. He and his friends, all of them good old boys, must learn that even the best choices involve some kind of sacrifice.

Hawk Haynes ruled from his heart, but stayed alive by using his instincts. Hawk was on his way to start a new life in Texas when he runs into burned out wagons. He finds families slaughtered, the men killed, the women raped, and killed. Hawk Haynes had just introduced himself to Southwest Texas. Hawk had been deeded land just northwest of Rawlins for his services in taking care of Ted Rawlins and his wife until their death.

Justice is a drifter with no fear and no memory, trailed by a violent past. Nora is a beautiful widow bravely raising her young son on an isolated New Mexican ranch. When a ruthless cattle baron pushes longhorns into the valley, Justice vows to protect Nora and her boy. But how can he succeed against thirty hired guns… including the four outlaws who left him for dead?

A deeply divided nation. Vicious politics. A shamelessly partisan media. A president loathed by half the populace. Smuggling and gang warfare along the Mexican border. Armed citizens willing to stand their ground and take law into their own hands.... That was America in 1881. All those forces came to bear on the afternoon of October 26, when Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers faced off against the Clantons and the McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona. It should have been a simple misdemeanor arrest.

On nothing more than a lark, he leaves his family and begins a journey from Ohio westward. Along the way, he runs up against badlands and bad men, loses his freedom, gains his freedom and learns the first rule of the frontier: Do whatever it takes to survive. With ruthless enemies after him - both White men and Indians - he’ll head for a place as brutal as it is beautiful - the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains.

The Buckskin Line tells of Texas' chaotic early years, when a ragtag group of irregular volunteers fought to defend the far edges of settlement from incursion by Indians and frontier outlaws. In time, they would become known as the Texas Rangers.

In The Far Canyon, Kelton masterfully unveils for his listener the finality of the buffalo’s demise, the beginning of a time when cattle would replace the American bison on the Southern plains and ultimately end the Plains Indian culture.

For decades, Charlie Flagg has eked out a living by raising cattle and sheep on his modest Texas ranch. Hardworking and old-fashioned, he distrusts federal programs that claim to help struggling farmers and ranchers. But as rainless years continue and others sell their souls for federal handouts, Charlie finds himself under increasing pressure to compromise his principles - and surrender his freedom.

Nearly 70, Wes Hendricks has led a tough and colorful life as a cowboy and broncobuster, and all he asks now is that he be left alone on his poor, hardscrabble ranch in the West Texas hill country. Not a chance - the powers that be in the little town of Big River (including Wes' old cowboy pal, druggist/Mayor Orville Levitt) have decreed that an artificial lake will be created to generate tourism, and Wes' ranch stands squarely in their way.

In the early days of the Texas panhandle, starting a new life is hard - but keeping it is even harder. Espy Norwood is a troubleshooter who's got troubles of his own, and more troubles find him when he lands a job on a ranch on the Texas plains. Bitter landowners plot against him, determined cattle thieves sneak right under his nose, and his own son refuses to trust or even know him. Can he catch the thieves, save the ranch, and win his son's love?

When Comanches slaughter his parents in 1855 West Texas, eight-year-old Jeff buries their scalped bodies—and the charred remains of his younger brother. Taken in by a homesteading family, Jeff ekes out an existence. But as he dons Confederate gray, he never dreams his brother is alive—or that he’s wearing Union blue.

As he flees to the sanctuary of Mexico, Chacho Fernandez is unaware of the fuel he has added to the already simmering racial hatreds in and around the quiet town of Domingo, Texas. Through events set in motion by a misunderstanding, Chacho becomes a folk hero to his people and a dangerous fugitive to a group of zealous lawmen.

Joshua Buckalew has left behind the deserted battlefields that claimed his brother Thomas. The war has cost him much, but it has also given him a strong bond to the land and to the Mexican families who stood with him against the tyrannies of Santa Anna. Josh is travelling with Ramon Hernandez his best friend and the man who had fought with him, side by side. Where they are going, he isn't quite sure.

In the Texas backlands in 1885, 12-year-old Joey Shipman's father dies under mysterious circumstances, and the boy is forced to live with his stepmother and Blair Meacham, a hanger-on at the farm. After the death of a black farmhand and friend, and another "accident" that almost takes Joey's life, the boy runs away and joins forces with his only kin - Beau Shipman, a drunk and a jailbird. Beau and three other characters become Joey's unlikely partners as he is trailed by their murderous Meacham, in league with Joey's stepmother in their scheme to inherit the Shipman farm.

Thomas Canfield descends from a line of Texas's earliest settlers. A proud man with a fierce-eyed stare, he inspires the Mexican of Stonehill, Texas to call him el gavilan - "The Hawk". When Branch Isom - an insolent, dangerous newcomer - seeks to build his fortune at Canfield's expense, an all-out feud ensues. Hurtling the town toward a day of reckoning that will shake the entire town to its very roots. Eyes of the Hawk is a classic tale of Western history, told by one of the most critically acclaimed writers of the American West.

In the 1870s, buffalo hunters moved onto the High Plains of Texas. The Plains Indians watched hunters slaughter the animals that gave them shelter and clothing, food, and weapons. The battles at and near the ruins of a trading fort, Adobe Walls, became symbolic of the struggles between hunters and the Comanche.

Thirty years after the Battle of San Jacinto, Texans and Mexicans are still spilling blood over control of the Nueces Strip. And Horse thieves and bushwhackers transform this hot, dry stretch between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers into a lawless inferno. Despite long odds, Captain McNelly and his small band of Texas Rangers strive to bring lasting peace to this swirling vortex of murder and racial hatred.

One of America's greatest Western storytellers, Elmer Kelton has been voted the greatest Western writers of all time by the Western Writers of America. Dark Thicket is one of his many classic tales of the history of his home state of Texas. Young Owen Danforth rides home to Texas as a wounded Confederate soldier, at a time when his home state is as savagely divided as his nation. As a grievously wounded America staggers toward the inevitable end of the Civil War, secessionist "home guards" and staunch Union loyalists fight their own bloody battles on a more local scale.

Deputy Sheriff Jim-Bob McClain isn't sure he's ready to follow in his father's footsteps as the law in Coolridge County. In fact he has a hard enough time keeping the peace between the drunks in the local saloon. But with tough Sheriff Mont Naylor to back him up, he figures he can handle whatever comes his way. Jim-Bob's first real assignment is no piece of cake. He must escort a ruthless outlaw into the hands of justice. All seems well with the lawless killer firmly in Jim-Bob's custody. But nothing prepares him for an angry mob determined to take the law into their own hands.

In Bitter Trail, Kelton tells the story of a tough teamster named Frio Wheeler whose wagons haul cotton from Texas to Mexico. Sounds like a peaceable enterprise?The problem is that the Civil War is raging throughout the South and Wheeler's cotton is to be sold for gold - gold used to buy guns and ammunition for the Confederate army.