Lauran Paine Books in Order

Violent horsemen known as bandoleros ride north from revolution-torn Mexico into the south desert. One man must confront the threat as he tries to protect his town and the people whose lives are at risk.

In New Mexico Territory in 1877, widow Anna Marie Miller takes charge of her late husband's ranch. Her hired hands and three newcomers help her confront cattle rustlers and a corrupt sheriff threatening her land and herd.

When his brother disappears in the New Mexico foothills, Mark Forrest finds a grave, a rope-scarred tree and his brother's saddle. His subsequent vendetta draws constable Frank Hadley into a growing conflict with a powerful rancher's men.

A bullion coach is robbed of twelve thousand dollars in gold bars. Deputy US Marshal Walt Hawke and tracker Jed Rice follow the thieves' trail, combining law enforcement and tracking skills in pursuit of the stolen shipment.

The shooting of rangehand Paul Franklyn draws the rangeboss and top hand of the Weatherford rangeyard into trouble. Their involvement deepens when they become entangled in the murder of a lawman.

A visitor's introduction to the United States combines national history and geography with a state-by-state account of population, resources, and economic life. It also considers Americans themselves, their political climate, and the problems facing their country.

Frank Cutler and Sam Morton become friends after defending themselves in a barroom brawl. Leaving New Mexico, they join an elderly Arapahoe man on a journey that brings them to a young woman's troubled ranch.

Will Tanner and the Rafter T cowboys pursue two Native American cattle rustlers and their elderly father. The trail leads to the mountain home of Rachel Bancroft and her son.

Germany's military intelligence organization also became a center of resistance to Hitler during World War II. This history examines the Abwehr and the opposition within an agency charged with gathering information for the regime it increasingly sought to undermine.

Jack Padgett replaces an ineffectual sheriff and impresses townspeople with his lean, professional approach to law enforcement. Yet some residents doubt his motives, raising questions about the man now entrusted with keeping their community's peace.

Soviet acquisition of Western technology forms the subject of this study of industrial espionage. It examines the implications of transferring advanced technical knowledge across the Cold War divide, with particular attention to the technology sought by Soviet intelligence.

Constable Cutler's years of keeping Peralta peaceful are disrupted by a corpse and mounting disorder. Two stubborn deputies and a determined homesteading woman help him confront the enemies threatening the town and its residents.

Horse trainer Bart Templeton and his neighbors live quietly on homesteads outside town. When they choose to shelter a fugitive from a relentless posse, their decision puts their law-abiding lives and everything they own at risk.

Traveling to visit his sister in Springville, Joe Bryan encounters a four-year-old boy of mixed ancestry. His involvement with the child draws him into a conflict driven by a vindictive Indian agent's desires and abuse of power.

Bart Templeton and his wife Nan enlist three elderly townsmen in a contest with horse thieves. Meanwhile, Dr. Mailer treats a boy blinded in a storm, bringing another challenge to the lives of the community.

In post-Civil War New Mexico, heiress Maria Antonia is shot at a wealthy landowner's funeral. Dr. George Brunner saves her life and falls in love, then investigates who tried to kill her and why.

A persuasive stranger arrives in Peralta promising progress through a new stage company. Constable Walt Cutler suspects the scheme hides a plan to steal gold bullion and works with his friends to protect the town.

Ben Moore wins promising ranch property in a poker game, only to discover unexpected responsibilities. The previous owner's young grandsons and an inherited feud with powerful rancher Jess Hearst complicate his plans to raise cattle.

Ellis Bowman arrives near the Colorado-New Mexico border with his savings, then is wrongly arrested for bank robbery. Confused identities force him to seek the stolen money and clear his name while an unexpected romance develops.

The Hy Simpson gang heads toward Sheridan after a succession of bank raids. Marshal Joe Fogarty, former army scout Hugh Pepperdine, and gunsmith James McGregor stand between the robbers and the town's bank as danger approaches.

Banker Pete Donner is killed in a robbery, yet the vault remains untouched. Marshal Joe Fogarty investigates the puzzling crime and discovers that counterfeit money may explain a theft whose apparent circumstances make little sense.

Henry Burke and Jeff Demis dispute land taken from its Native inhabitants. Burke claims prior rights while Demis stakes the territory first, turning competing claims into a feud that threatens to end in violence.

The body of a young outlaw draws Marshal Joe Fogarty into an investigation involving horse thieves. The gang's plans to expand into bank robbery threaten Sheridan, bringing a new kind of danger to the town.

A young girl's capture by two lawmen revives a strange story connected with Herodsville's past. Marshal Bob Grant follows the trail toward Alamo Jefferson, a man long believed dead, and the town's half-forgotten history.

Boss Spearman and his cowhands drive cattle across open country as established ranchers claim grazing land. When powerful stockman Denton Baxter threatens their livelihood and attacks Spearman's men, the freegrazers prepare to defend themselves.

Arizona Ranger Ashe Colby goes undercover as a bank robber to infiltrate a large counterfeiting gang. His investigation takes a dangerous turn when the criminals make him their prisoner, threatening his mission and his freedom.

Brett Kandelin drives his cattle into Mexico to sell them to a buyer named Ortiz. The planned transaction turns dangerous when Ortiz reveals he has no intention of paying, leaving Brett facing betrayal far from home.

As ranchers claim grazing territory, Boss Spearman's wandering cattle outfit faces hostility near Fort Harmon. Denton Baxter uses intimidation and violence against the freegrazers, forcing Spearman and his men to fight for their cattle and survival.

In the arid South Desert, Apache resistance collides with the US Army's claims to the region. Men including Velarde, Maldonado, and Meier face the dangers of a struggle against resourceful opponents fighting in their own homeland.

Beaverton's bank secretly receives fresh currency by stagecoach without informing Marshal Jack Given. When a shipment is stolen, the bankers seek his help, forcing him to investigate a robbery whose arrangements they had concealed.

After discovering a settler and his wife murdered, Jawn Henry Thomas pursues the renegades responsible. His response places personal justice against the law, while he and his childless wife Bessie confront an unexpected change in their lives.

Widowers Henry Potter and Amos Cardiff remain with their Native American wives' tribe after the women's deaths. When settlers press into tribal territory, the two men try to persuade the elders against a retaliatory raid.

This historical western fictionalizes trader William Bent's later life on the frontier. Following the final two decades of his career, it explores a changing West through the experiences of a man whose livelihood depended on trade.

Flying experience supplies the material for a collection of aviation observations, quotations, and practical wisdom. Combining instruction with humor, these reflections explore the lessons pilots learn in the air and the pleasures and challenges of flying.

Two deputy marshals travel to southern Nevada after a highwayman steals an army payroll from a stagecoach. For Ray Bundy, the investigation develops into an unusually strange case that challenges his experience as a lawman.

An attempt to murder a miner called Shaker unsettles Poker Flat and draws its residents into the aftermath. A cowman, shopkeeper, constable, woman, range rider, and store clerk become involved as the consequences spread.

Legislation permits western gold prospectors to mint their own coins, creating opportunities for profit and deception. Disputes over the coins’ true weights turn violent as competing interests fight over the wealth flowing through Gold River.

After the battle of Little Bighorn, scout Gene French guides Captain Kelly's cavalry reinforcements to Fort Bowie. A planned military demonstration encounters Apache resistance strengthened by illicit arms shipments, drawing the troops toward a dangerous confrontation.

Marshal Tad Collins pursues two men who rob Fort Devonshire’s stage company and general store. The hunt circles back to town, where a ruthless outlaw intends to murder the gunsmith and makes Collins his next target.

Three outlaws take ordinary jobs in isolated Prairieton while studying the town for a bank robbery. Their careful preparations are complicated by another stagecoach theft, and a shrewd bounty hunter threatens their hoped-for escape.

Farmer Birch Martin endures repeated raids on his own land and neighboring farms. When an attack kills an entire nearby household, his outrage drives him toward revenge in a spare western centered on frontier violence and retaliation.

In the contested territory between Texas and Mexico, Comanche resistance holds opposing forces at bay. This historical western depicts a volatile borderland shaped by territorial ambition, Mexican resentment over Texas, and the struggle to maintain Indigenous power.

This fictional account portrays the legendary Joaquin Murrieta through the contradictions surrounding his reputation. Romance and generosity coexist with brutality and destruction as the western explores an outlaw whose historical identity has become entangled with myth.

Cowman Curt Balfry fights to protect his ranch and reputation while searching for a murderer months after the crime. A deadly feud also threatens his romance, leaving him trapped among enemies who want the bounty on his body.

Seth and Jules find themselves pursued by a mounted Flathead war party on a treacherous hillside. Their desperate flight places survival at the center of this western adventure, where hostile terrain and armed pursuit leave little room for error.

Deputy U.S. marshals Evan and Cheney flee south from Wyoming carrying money taken from notorious outlaws. Seeking refuge on a Navajo reservation, they must evade the money’s former owners, who are determined to catch them.

After wrongful imprisonment for horse theft, orphan Toby Lincoln finds a new home on a New Mexico ranch. Killing the guard responsible for his prison friend’s death brings federal marshals after him and tests his new friends’ loyalty.

Businessman Henry Drake wants control of Calabasas and secretly hires a stranger to kill Marshal Ed Ballinger. His conspiracy puts a murderer in town, creating dangers that extend beyond the lawman he intended to eliminate.

A frontier lawman’s pursuit of criminals gradually makes him as ruthless as the men he hunts. His reliance on gun violence exposes the cost of confusing justice with killing, with consequences that reach his own son.

Medical student Frank Nolan learns that someone in New Mexico is committing murders under his name. Having once fled the territory after killing in self-defense, he returns to confront his reputation and identify the person exploiting his past.

Falsely branded a horse thief, Dexter Williams is driven outside the law by the men responsible for the crime. He sets out to clear his name by drawing the real thieves into a trap and confronting their deception.

Dismissed after six years as the Iron Cross ranch’s head rider, Webb sets his sights on land in Timberline Meadow. The acreage lies between rival ranches, forcing him to prepare for the violence that his determination may provoke.

Ward Cutler hunts Henry Gore after Gore steals his widowed sister’s savings and beats her. Finding the culprit draws Cutler into further trouble and gunfire, turning a pursuit of family justice into a fight for his own survival.

A fictionalized account of the Apache Kid follows the feared fighter’s resistance to American control of Apache territory. The novel presents his life and legend against the wider conflict that forced other Apache leaders into submission.

Cuff Lockwood leaves the northern ranges for New Mexico and builds a married life. Years later, dreams of a weeping woman compel him to return to Wyoming and discover what became of Shelly Harrison, reopening a consequential past.

Ash Fitzhugh tracks his stolen belongings to Caleb Wolff and his sister Lisa, expecting to recover them and leave. Gunfire instead draws him into their conflict, where choosing an alliance becomes a troubling question of right and wrong.

Marti’s fence across formerly open range provokes armed men determined to tear it down. Marshal Brandon Parker, who loves her, resigns his position to defend her, placing personal loyalty at the heart of an escalating range conflict.

Lieutenant Pat Leary captures the Verde River Kid after a relentless pursuit of the outlaw whose raids have won local supporters. Bringing his prisoner back to the fort proves dangerous when those allies intervene with further gunfire.

Fugitive Whitman Morris discovers Devil’s Den and believes its secrecy will protect him from the law. When his horse is stolen and another wanted man captures him, his apparent refuge becomes a new source of danger.

A humorous collection explores men's interests and habits, from repairing cars and visiting hardware stores to football, fishing, and campfires. Its observations range across workshops, everyday preferences, and relationships, including a chapter on rules concerning women.

Residents of the New Mexico border town of San Ildefonso face renegades determined to seize their community. Stage-company agent Lazaro Guardia leads the defense, rallying townspeople whose families and water-rich home are threatened by the raiders.

Dr. Walter Whalen’s experimental alternative to anesthesia leaves wealthy Charles Southcott missing part of his mind. Whalen traces the displaced psyche to a Spanish shepherd, but his death complicates an already disturbing mystery of identity and scientific ambition.

Aging buffalo hunter Sam Sloan joins three Indigenous travelers in a shared struggle for survival. A mysterious white bird and the discovery of gold threaten their fragile refuge, testing the deep loyalty that binds these unlikely companions.

With the Civil War drawing most Union troops away from the Southwest, Confederate forces find an opportunity to advance. Si Palmer and a small group of Union soldiers stand in their way, confronting the danger left by depleted defenses.

After shooting his younger brother during a stage robbery, Mort Ramsey takes to the Wilderness Road. The lynching of Pat, following a request Mort made of him, adds another burden of guilt and sends Mort in pursuit of vengeance.

John Brian pursues fortune and the dream of an empire amid the violence of the American frontier. Tough and determined to overcome every obstacle, he encounters Christina Paisley, whose arrival challenges the course he has set for himself.

Rumors of hidden gold and livestock theft surround Cache Canon in Colorado’s high country. Three apparent surveyors spark talk of a railroad, but the recognition of a wanted bank robber and a stage robbery reveal a more dangerous mystery.

Wounded in an outlaw ambush, Arnie Buscomb encounters reclusive Caitlin Rourke. Bounty hunters pursuing Caitlin add to the danger, while Marshal Lex Dexter struggles to preserve peace among people whose competing interests threaten another outbreak of violence.

After socialite Elizabeth Leeds is strangled, her attorney and the son who never knew her pursue the killer with an accountant’s help. Their investigation uncovers a troubling connection to the earlier strangling of Elizabeth’s husband.

Blacksmith Troy Muller loves his wife Cynthia, but she longs for a life beyond his modest household. Bank robber Jeb Carter appears to offer that escape, setting greed and betrayal against Troy’s devotion in a western about atonement.

Twine Fourch investigates an unusual stage robbery committed by an elderly woman. Although he locates her without much difficulty, the pursuit opens onto a succession of surprises that makes the crime far more complicated than it first appears.