Wayne D. Overholser Book order

Dirken&;s Hole never bothered the outlaws who wintered there if the outlaws didn&;t bother them. Then one young man broke this rule.

A remarkable battles was fought at Beecher Island, Colorado, in 1868. Forty-nine untrained volunteers, two wounded officers, and a dying army doctor were nailed down on a sand-bar in a shallow river by more than a thousand Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Sioux.For the fourth day the squaws and children shrieked with blood-lust. Roman Nose gathered his warriors for yet another attack. And again the desperate men on Beecher Island levelled their rifles...

Murdo Morgan returned to Paradise Valley, Oregon, expecting trouble. Sixteen years earlier, his father had planned to help hundreds of families settle in the valley. Not wanting to lose their spread, local ranchers had murdered Morgan's brothers and driven his family away.

Small ranchers in Harmony Oregon are up against it with the price of cattle down and Skull Ranch, owned by a syndicate, trying to buy them out. Dan Riley spends a month trying to find a bank to help them, but he fails. When the editor of The Clarion is shot, the ranchers blame Black Mike Sand, the manager of Skull, in spite of the circumstances of the shooting. As pressure mounts, Riley is determined to find out who is really in charge of the syndicate, and the only man willing to help him is Andrew Daniels, a former newspaper man whose courage comes from a bottle. Ex-gunman Rod Devers has started up a ranch, but small things going wrong on his land make him think someone might be trying to drive him out. In addition, the $2,000 he borrowed to buy his herd is coming due in a few months, and he refuses to marry his fiancée until he's debt free. His brother George ramrods the Spade, the biggest ranch in the area owned by Karl Hermann, who is on his way to Spade. The two-bit ranchers are convinced Hermann is coming to grab up all the land, and they organize a group of vigilantes, the 99, to protect themselves. When Rod refuses to join the 99 and accepts his brother's offer of a temporary job to protect Hermann and his daughter during their visit, the small ranchers turn against him.

"Dan Quaid decides to buy prime cattle range in Central Oregon from a land company even after he learns that the people in the area are disputing the land company's right to the land and the land company plans to use him as a guinea pig. Either Tobe Henderson, the leader of the opposition, will kill Quaid and be prosecuted for murder or Quaid will be forced to kill Tobe in self-defense. Without their leader, the rest would settle and the land company would win"--Provided by publisher.

The summer warpath began in late spring 1876 under the command of General George Crook, perhaps the most experienced Indian fighter in the United States Army at that time. The events that followed would change the lives of three unique men forever.

Stories included: "The Woman from Cougar Creek""The Price of Pride""The Devil and Old Man Gillis""Shooting for a Fall""It's Hell to Be a Hero""The Tongue-Tied Cowboy""From Hell to Leadville""The Deputy with a Past""Judge Peterson's Colt Law""The Breaking of Sam McKay""Fugitive from the Boothill Brigade""The Man Ten Feet Tall"

"Denver Daily Chronicle reporter Bob Norberg is sent to Smith's Cove, Colorado, to write a story about Susie Bowman, a woman who had been tried for rustling and because of a hung jury was to be tried again in late summer. His editor thought Susie was being framed and wanted Norberg to clear here name, but Bob didn't expect what he found. Susie Bowman was quite a character. To the small ranchers around Smith's Cove, she was almost a legend -- friend of the Wild Bunch, tough, beautiful, free with her loving and hard-nosed about her ranching. To the local judge, Susie was just "a very eccentric woman who flaunts the laws of God and man." And he was gonna hound her until he brought her to "justice." To Bob Norberg and Chip Malone, she was the most damnably fascinating woman who ever forked a horse. And to the ruthless killer hired to gun her down, Susie made a beautiful target."--back cover.

"In two western stories, young men try to do what they feel is best despite opposition from family and friends. The love of a woman will give them the motivation to fight for what they know is right"-- Provided by publisher

The narrative centers on Murdo Morgan, who returns to Paradise Valley after years away, motivated not by vengeance for his brothers' deaths but by his father's dream of establishing a thriving farming community. As the owner of the Cascade and Paradise Land Company, he faces opposition from Broad Clancy, the powerful figure controlling the region. Morgan's determination to fulfill his father's vision puts him at great personal risk, highlighting themes of legacy, ambition, and the struggle for land ownership in a hostile environment.