Paul L. Thompson Books in Order

An unexpected presidential request sends Shorty Thompson toward Denver, leaving him unsure what assignment awaits. As he prepares for an eight-day round trip away from home, friends speculate about why the marshal has been summoned.

Marshal Shorty Thompson arrives in Des Moines to collect an outlaw and return him to Colorado. An ambush at the railway station makes clear that transporting his prisoner will be dangerous before the journey even begins.

After the Civil War, a Southern farming community faces the task of rebuilding its livelihood. Newly freed members of the Lewis and Swayne families consider whether to remain as paid workers or seek a different future elsewhere.

After fourteen years on their New Mexico farm, Clem and Susan Jones find a prospective buyer from Denver. But a neighboring landowner wants the property without paying their price and plans to use hired killers to obtain it.

Brownie Barker’s childhood is marked by bullying and cruelty toward other children. Even expulsion at nine fails to reassure his teacher, who recognizes that his increasingly violent behavior could become a danger beyond the schoolroom.

Released from prison, Charles Denton finds accomplices waiting with horses and a pistol. He sets his sights on revenge against a judge and governor, while Marshal Shorty Thompson also figures among the men he intends to target.

The Barber family's Colorado land attracts lumber companies eager for its timber. When threats replace purchase offers, young Ervin refuses to surrender, but his mother knows they need help from their cousin, Marshal Shorty Thompson.

Two gangs join forces to rob El Paso's banks, then escape north after a deadly gunfight. Marshal Shorty Thompson sets out across the desert, trusting his knowledge of its water holes to help him catch them.

A cattle raid and the onset of a brutal winter send Tom Calhoun and his cowboys into the frozen Texas wilderness. Recovering their herd becomes a struggle against hunger, grief, and the increasingly uncertain boundary between frontier justice and vengeance.

A messenger brings Shorty Thompson a threat from Brock Kirkland, who holds Commander Overton captive. The marshal has five days to reach Red Rock Station before the gang kills its prisoner and attacks everyone at Shorty’s ranch.

Bank robbers Lynch Campbell and Jiffy Cane use a stolen marshal’s badge to pass themselves off as Shorty Thompson. As they plan more robberies, the real marshal risks becoming the target of lawmen and bounty hunters.

Wounded bounty hunter Peter Turner resumes his pursuit of Jonas Creed before he has recovered. The outlaw leaves bodies, fires, and mocking warnings across the Texas Panhandle, turning a paid manhunt into an increasingly personal contest that Turner may not survive.

Before dying, Ola Jane Barr warns her two children to defend their debt-free farm against crooked men. Stacy and Kasy must manage the land and protect their inheritance with little more than their mother's final instructions.

Rita Slone's husband follows stolen cattle toward El Paso and is murdered on the trail. Left to run their ranch alone, Rita vows to hunt down the rustlers responsible and take revenge for his death.

Marshal Shorty Thompson and Texas Ranger J.C. Hulsey wait in Pecos for news of a gang raiding southwest Texas. When Fort Stockton's bank is robbed and buildings burn, the lawmen finally have a trail to follow.

Debt-free farmer Martin Riggs dreams of becoming rich enough to leave farming behind. His son treats the ambition as a familiar joke, but Martin's remarks about banks suggest his hopes reach beyond another season of crops.

Peter Turner finds an old friend accused of murdering a federal land agent and refuses to accept the charge. With partner Caleb March, he follows the evidence through ambushes and corrupt land interests determined to silence the deputy and anyone investigating his case.

Bounty hunter Peter Turner pursues Elias Kane across West Texas and the Guadalupe Mountains. The killer known as the Devil’s Shadow turns the chase into a series of traps and taunts, forcing Turner to confront fanatics, escaped prisoners, and his own past.

Brandy Lang’s arrival in Helena attracts attention from wealthy men and the local sheriff. After a shooting leaves her wounded, a young girl’s intervention draws attention to dangerous secrets beneath the Montana town’s public face.

After their husbands are murdered and cattle stolen, Ronda and Rose Bennett take charge of the family ranch. Leaving their children together, they saddle up to follow the killers and recover their herd themselves.

Texas Ranger John Hayes finds two murdered deputies at a burned station and takes charge of their dangerous prisoner. Killers pursue the transfer across hostile country, forcing Hayes to uncover why powerful men are determined to keep the captive from reaching Waco.

After gunman Kobe Naylor murders a twelve-year-old boy, Marshal Shorty Thompson obtains permission to pursue him. The hunt brings Shorty face to face with a killer whose customary warning gives his victims only three counts to live.

Colorado's governor sends U.S. marshals to Denver to confront rampant cattle rustling, adding veteran Mike Justice to an uneasy team. Among the thieves is a man with a personal grudge and deadly plans for Shorty Thompson.

U.S. Marshals Ezra Flint and Shorty Thompson join forces to find a young woman they regard as family. Her new husband may be Billy the Kid, drawing the lawmen into a dangerous mystery surrounding the supposedly dead outlaw.

Albuquerque celebrates Judge Malcolm Johnston's planned marriage to Jessica Williams, but armed young men see opportunity in the match. Their remarks suggest the wedding could put the law within reach of people already comfortable with murder.

Peter Turner and Caleb March interrupt an assault on a family and uncover a criminal operation controlling an entire town. When a gang takes hostages, the bounty hunters must gather allies and act before overwhelming force and corrupt influence bury the truth.

A dying land examiner brings evidence of widespread fraud to Crossroads, leaving Marshal Gideon Driscoll responsible for his frightened son. With armed riders watching the roads, Driscoll and his allies investigate forged deeds and powerful cattle interests willing to kill for control.

Texas Ranger John Hayes carries a warrant into the Sabine River country, where Arthur Ludwig controls logging and transport through violence. Rising water and armed patrols complicate Hayes's effort to dismantle the river baron's operation.

Sixteen-year-old Shelly Bishop's wealthy family makes her a target for Clint and Fritz Candleton. The pair plan to seize her at a school dance and demand a fortune, turning an ordinary celebration into a dangerous trap.

Texas Ranger John Hayes arrives in Dry Fork with an old warrant and finds a town terrorized by Digger Graves and his gang. Wounded and outnumbered, he begins a methodical fight against men who have made public violence their means of control.

Pursuing a murderer into an isolated desert mining camp, John Hayes finds the water supply destroyed and the fugitive hiding among desperate miners. Trapped with them in a sealed bunkhouse, the Ranger must identify his quarry before heat, thirst, and fear provoke more deaths.

Following a murdered settler camp's trail, Texas Ranger John Hayes discovers kidnapped boys forced to work an outlaw's mine. He must enter a dangerous canyon and navigate guarded tunnels to reach a child trapped below.

Twenty Western stories follow Shorty Thompson and other frontier figures through prisoner transports, range disputes, robberies and revenge. Lawmen, outlaws and women defending themselves confront violence across a landscape stretching from Colorado to Canada.

Presumed dead, gunfighter Eli Dallas finds that a bounty still draws killers to his trail. With his former pupil beside him, he encounters Silverjack McCall, whose pursuit of the Pascoe brothers leads toward further violence.

With Sheriff Max Long badly wounded, Shorty Thompson faces Mitch Bracken's gang as it threatens the town's bank. Refusing the sheriff's order to flee, Shorty hopes the townspeople will help him stand against the attackers.

A doctor heading west, a lawman seeking a safer town, and an outlaw driven by murderous ambition all imagine what they hope to accomplish before death. Their competing dreams unfold around a Colorado community struggling with crime and greed.

Young cowboy Cody Strickland is returning from a difficult cattle drive with his employer’s money when helping a wounded rancher draws him into a kidnapping. Rescuing the man’s daughter sends them fleeing gold thieves across Colorado and Wyoming.

After a bank robbery in Chloride, rifleman David Graham needs a weapon he can carry more easily. A friend's invention offers protection, but its unusual design attracts outlaws and manufacturers determined to obtain it.

Shorty Thompson brings two captured killers into Craig, Colorado, after weeks on their trail. The prisoners welcome the destination, knowing that the local sheriff and other allies are preparing a deadly surprise for their escort.

A newspaper owner's plea brings Marshal Shorty Thompson to Leadville, where outlaws steal the mining town's gold and silver. The gang intercepts his summons and prepares to use a crooked sheriff to stop him permanently.

Two criminals knock Shorty Thompson unconscious and throw him from a train before a planned Wells Fargo robbery. Stranded far from help, the marshal faces outlaws intent on escaping north with their horses and stolen money.

Nine-year-old Jesse Owens travels west with his family in a wagon train. When outlaws abduct his sister and two other girls in the Texas Panhandle, he joins a dangerous pursuit across unfamiliar frontier country.

Three cousins defy their elders and head for the river on a May morning. When two of the boys are kidnapped, twelve-year-old Marshall Pascoe steals a horse and sets off to bring his cousins home.