Lauran Paine Books in Order

A gunsmith modifies a Colt revolver to fire faster, giving its owner an advantage in a duel. Stolen from his shop, the weapon passes among killers, acquiring a growing legend as its origins become increasingly obscure.

A gold-diversion scheme in Coyanosa turns deadly when an Indigenous man intercepting the shipment is killed. His father hires Mentor Jones to find the murderer, bringing a mysterious stranger into a town accustomed to harboring outlaws.

Sheriff Tom McGrath investigates a puzzling connection between a woman who steals horses, extraordinarily valuable saddlebags, and the reappearance of outlaw Jay Adams. Untangling these events becomes the central challenge of this frontier crime story.

Detective Russ Harrison suspects Gerald Stoner, Hawthorn’s leading citizen and bank chairman, of murder. His investigation threatens the town with a scandal that alarms Police Chief Dick Farley and the other people invested in Stoner’s respectable reputation.

Mark Lane and Reg Bachelor leave their seasonal Wyoming ranch work to catch wild horses farther south. Their jobs take them through Arizona and into Mexico, where a hostile landowner threatens their mustanging venture.

Millionaire John Morton is murdered in Memphis, but his business associate seems strangely untroubled by the news. Inspector Matthew Hewlett investigates the killing and the partner's unsettling response in this crime novel.

Three Los Angeles homicide detectives investigate an apparently straightforward shooting. When the murder connects to an espionage ring, their work draws them into a case that reaches beyond the usual concerns of the homicide bureau.

Bent Sutton hires out his gun for the first time, then discovers that his new employer is a man he deeply hates. The western begins with a gunman's paid work entangled in personal hostility.

After Old Joe Jessup dies, his Pawnee widow May and their son face threats to the Lazy J ranch. A banker's claim, stolen cattle, and hostility toward May's people put the family's livelihood at risk.

Marshal Turner Whitsett returns with the body of an apparent stage robber, but the stolen soldiers' pay is missing. His search for the money becomes a hunt for a murderer in this western.

Two western novellas follow deputies confronting difficult loyalties. Boyd Dylan challenges his sheriff's preference for the status quo in Lawman, while Will Brennan's pursuit of a bank robber brings him back into contact with his troubled past.

A starving Sioux community waits for promised supplies as mistrust between the tribe and white settlers grows. This western follows the conflict between the Sioux and the United States cavalry, showing how a small incident can escalate.

Stewart McKenna and Helen Reynolds secretly plan to take grazing land from Evan Gilmore's ranch. Their scheme involves a famous gunfighter, bringing hired violence into a struggle over the range in this western.

This western duo pairs an Army scout's effort to free a Blackfoot woman held by a wagon master with a town's fight for survival. In the title story, Sheriff Jess Wright faces the vengeful Wilton gang.

Douglas City's main concern is getting cattle from the isolated Bald Hills to market. The arrival of a hostile stranger and riders from the mountains disrupts its peace, and a fatal gunfight signals further trouble.

Four travelers entering New Mexico are jailed in Stockdale on suspicion of horse theft. Their release comes after a dead man is blamed, but one traveler recognizes the supposed thief as his brother.

Four professional gunfighters leave Wyoming's Powder River War seeking peace in Arizona. Their hope for rest in the desert gives way to fresh trouble, forcing the men to put their weapons to use again.

Raiders from across the border threaten San Ildefonso while searching for a rumored conquistador treasure. With few young men available to defend the town, its women and priest join the fight to protect their community.

Two western novellas center on gunmen whose presence unsettles frontier communities. The Calexico Kid follows a bandit witnesses cannot reliably identify, while Gathering Storm brings two gunfighters into a quiet range town within minutes of each other.

This western duo follows Buck Baylor home from a cattle drive to find his father murdered and outlaws controlling the country. Paid in Blood features Army scout Caleb Doorn trying to prevent war between Apaches and settlers.

Free-grazers Buck Handley and Hoyt McElroy drive more than three thousand cattle into the Devil's Punch Bowl. Established rancher Jethro Graeme orders them away, and the dispute over grazing ground turns into armed conflict.

A horse thief murders someone close to the Muleshow cow outfit, provoking its older members to take justice into their own hands. Their response follows the harsh customs of range law rather than legal procedure.

Deputy Sheriff Jim Crawford reluctantly joins forces with a stranger after thieving cowboys rob his town. Recovering the stolen money leads the uneasy allies toward a criminal operation larger than the robbery first suggested.

Two Southwest Stage Company agents go to a New Mexico border town to investigate gun smuggling. Their assignment draws them into the activities of Americans and Mexicans supplying weapons to a Mexican rebel army.

Sheriff Abner Wright pursues a bank robber with a second investigation in mind. Longstanding rumors describe a town controlled entirely by outlaws, and his journey offers a chance to discover whether the stories are true.

Three western stories follow an Apache attack on a wagon convoy, a delayed cattle delivery threatening a reservation, and a suspicious arrival in Rain Valley. Burt Crownover enters the isolated cattle country where ranchers fear rustlers.

Fleeing Texas, Hyatt Tolman stops to help a desperate girl and falls under suspicion in Canebrake after a stagecoach robbery. A cattlemen's posse delivers him to town, drawing him into a dangerous confrontation alongside lawmen.

Notorious outlaw Roy Eastman hides behind the name Mr. Johnson until a Sioux Falls bank robbery exposes his identity. Escaping with his partners and the town's money, he faces pursuit as the law closes in.

After outlaws murder Jubal Pierce's two daughters, he joins his sons and Frank Hudson in pursuing the killers. Their search carries them across New Mexico, turning a family's grief into a relentless mission of revenge.

Carleton Whitsett uses fraudulent wanted posters and bounty hunters to eliminate obstacles to his takeover of Cheyenne Valley. Sheriff John Wheaton discovers the scheme and tries to protect innocent ranchers, beginning with the targeted Burcham family.

Arson turns a longstanding dispute between a transportation company and a cattle outfit into a potential range war. Sent to handle the conflict, executive's son Leo Bishop confronts a formidable ranching operation run by a woman.

These three western stories follow Caleb Dorn through negotiations with Apache and Crow communities, then introduce two stagecoach robbers who offer to defend Elisabeth Cane's isolated ranch against a cowman determined to drive her out.

This western duo pairs a rancher's feud with gunfighter Lou Bellanger's dangerous assignment in a range war. His employer is the mother who placed him with a foster family, bringing family history into the conflict.

Range rider Dave Reed becomes a homesteader to build a home for Lucy, despite knowing Mesa country's cattlemen will oppose him. Their hostility tests his determination to hold land and establish a future for them both.

Widow CarrieLee Belleau travels west with her young daughter, hoping to establish a new life. When a Comanche band kidnaps the child, she joins the Windsor brothers on a dangerous search to discover her daughter's fate.

Struggling Los Angeles private investigator Jim Hewlett accepts a lucrative assignment from a Turkish woman whose husband stole her fortune and attempted to kill her. Recovering the money means confronting a man who believes she is dead.

Town Marshal Sam Brennan investigates an abandoned stagecoach and the arrival of two strangers named Douglas. A brown envelope offers his first meaningful clue, but sorting out the mysteries exposes him to an unexpected attack.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Taylor Hawkin tracks a murderous bank robber into Faro Canyon, where the Durant and Crosly clans dominate the cattle country. His pursuit entangles federal law with the loyalties of powerful local families.

Cowman Jeff Mordant resists settlers encroaching on his grazing country, then finds himself defending what he originally opposed. Distrusted by both factions, he faces an unknown killer while his relationship with Lola Valdez comes under strain.

A lynching in Holbrook becomes a larger tragedy when Judge Anderson is shot while trying to secure a lawful trial. His son Jason arrives determined to identify the gunman responsible and avenge his father's death.

Three western stories feature a rancher investigating a stagecoach holdup, a drifter guiding a threatened wagon train, and Ray Kelly returning from Yuma Prison. In the title story, Kelly's desire for vengeance overrides the town's hostility.

Former soldiers arrive near Jelm, Wyoming, expecting prosperity from government land grants but struggle to survive. Rancher Grant Maxwell initially tolerates theft born of hunger, until escalating rustling and dwindling patience threaten relations between settlers and landowners.

Earl Burke expects a deputy U.S. marshal, but the man arriving in Cottonwood is an impostor. Joining Ed Carpenter in a hunt for bushwhackers draws Burke into connected crimes and the constant trouble his companion attracts.

Abe Banion and Cal Madison return to the United States from Mexico, carrying experience and less than spotless consciences. Back in Paso Fino, their encounter with a disturbed man becomes the starting point of this western.

This western trio includes stories of contested grazing and gold smuggling alongside its title tale. In Nevada's Washoe Valley, Sheriff Lew Burton faces new complications when gunfighter Mike Ayres arrives to claim a ranch he inherited.

This western duo includes *Prairie Guns*, in which former cowboys Buff Brady and Luther Hart become Colorado homesteaders. A cattle baron uses a livestock purchase to frame them for rustling and threaten their claim to the land.

Frank Kandelin helps a woman give birth aboard a stagecoach and shelters her at his ranch. When bank robbers steal his savings in Bivouac, pursuit competes with his growing attachment to the woman he rescued.

A drifter reaches Colorado cattle country and encounters a ranch run by a widow and a young woman, with only an injured cowboy for assistance. Their need for help challenges his habit of moving on.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Dan Miller arrives in Jefferson, Idaho Territory, as settlers and cattlemen approach open conflict. An ambush incapacitates his superior, leaving Miller to restrain retaliatory raids while bushwhackers deliberately inflame the dispute.

Al Castle camps in a secluded mountain canyon and discovers cattle and suspicious strangers the next morning. His presence at what appears to be a rustlers' hideout leads local people to accuse him and organize a lynching.

Edson Black returns from seven years in Yuma Prison, broken by a conviction based on manipulated evidence. His sons react differently to the injustice, with younger Jess determined to avenge the treatment inflicted on their father.

Young Jim Welsh inherits both Long Bow Ranch and his father's agreement allowing the Arapaho a limited number of cattle. Government efforts to force Indigenous people onto reservations threaten the fragile arrangement and the surrounding country.

A stranger seeking blacksmith Henry Shepler arrives on an unshod horse, setting off a killing and a night of fighting around the stage company's corral. Another visitor at Rosie O'Leary's cafe brings further changes to Henry's life.

Sheriff Tim Holbrook watches two mysterious strangers in the Buckskin Hills when a cowman's murder ignites a range war. Suspecting Arnold Holfinger, he struggles to establish the truth while Holfinger's riders attack the hill cattlemen.

Charley and Hank ride into Parral, Arizona, to arrest Peter Harkness, an aging outlaw who has avoided robbery for fifteen years. News of their mission spreads through town, turning what seems a straightforward arrest into a dangerous assignment.

After a brutal raid on Spartanville, Dave Petrie pursues the outlaws responsible. The gang has kidnapped four women and demands Dave in exchange for their release, forcing him to confront a rescue mission in which he is the price.

Following the massacre at Fort Mims, Davy Crockett serves as a militia scout in the campaign against the Creek. This historical western follows frontier warfare and the threats facing his family as violence spreads beyond the battlefield.

Horse thieves overlook Long Grass Valley while planning to steal mounts from the Rafter W. Instead, they turn their attention to a general store's safe, changing their scheme from horse stealing to a robbery that initially seems successful.

Former Confederate captain Sam Bennington comes to Hurd's Crossing to help merchants threatened by Emmett Roberts and his gang. Three marshals have already died trying to keep order, leaving Bennington to face men accustomed to ruling through fear.

Doug Hyland inherits a range empire built over three generations, then discovers a homesteader's claim threatens its land. His trip to Denver to challenge that claim unfolds amid competing interests and a rush to secure the disputed property.

Ladd Buckner arrives in Pinon, Arizona, helps ranch hands survive an Apache attack, and buys a saddle shop. His unusual skills attract attention, while a marshal's investigation and a fatal bank robbery bring questions about Buckner's past.

Reclusive hunter Jackson Miggs receives help from Frank McCoy, whose return brings new people and troubles to Ute Peak country. A cattle herd and rival claims to grazing land draw the isolated mountain country into a looming conflict.

Accused of killing a deputy marshal, Troy Warfield flees across hundreds of miles with Marshal John Trent pursuing him. At a desert town controlled by Lem Bricker's gang, scarce water and captive lawmen complicate the chase.

Cattle thefts near Fort Laramie are blamed on Indigenous people, drawing scout John Morning Gun into an Army investigation. Doubts about the accusations clash with orders to detain the scout, making the search for the rustlers increasingly dangerous.

Wyoming cattlemen demand that sheep ranchers abandon shared grazing land, but the shepherds refuse. When night riders kill men on both sides, the dispute escalates into a range conflict that threatens everyone trying to make a living there.

Marshal Chet Redleaf investigates a stagecoach robbery involving four thousand dollars. Moccasin tracks near the scene suggest one explanation, but the absence of nearby tribes leaves the partly Indigenous lawman questioning the evidence and searching for the thieves.

Jud Parker arrives in Dakota's Seward City dressed like a wealthy man, although he has less than a hundred dollars. Determined to gain wealth and a banker's mansion, he relies on ingenuity and strength to pursue his ambitions.

Fugitive robber Stormy Merrill reaches Marais Valley and plots to acquire its wealth through marriage. His interest in two women with ranch inheritances becomes a calculated effort to gain control of both properties while escaping his criminal past.

A gunfight in Perdition Wells appears fair until a stray bullet kills an elderly saloon janitor. Sheriff Doyle Bannion rules the death accidental, but the fatal encounter leaves questions of responsibility hanging over the men involved.

Unemployed John Hawk risks his remaining money on stolen horses that he hopes to resell. A job guarding a stagecoach offers a possible future, but the crimes behind his horse deal threaten the chance to start again.