<p><em><strong>One Murdered Girl. One Unknown Killer. One Legendary Lawman.</strong></em></p> <p>A lone man sits his horse atop a bluff near the southern Missouri border. There's a story in the country ahead of him. A dark tale of murdered girls and a killer not caught, of an old friend asking for help, and a letter from a frightened young mother that has arrived too late to save her daughter. A letter that now rests in this man's pocket....</p> <p><br /> Marshal Coble Bray isn't subtle. He's known as "The Deacon, '' and when local lawmen come across murderers and thieves too tough or ruthless for them to handle, he's the one they call. He's got guts and brains and an itchy trigger finger, and he hunts men like others hunt wolves. But none of this will help him with the challenge he now faces.</p> <p><br /> Innocent young girls are being murdered in a ritualistic fashion. What evidence there is has turned out to be useless, and every trail turns into a dead end. Between an ambitious judge, a useless sheriff, and a gang of bloodthirsty vigilantes, the countryside is primed to explode. Dodging danger, hot lead, and the advances of two beautiful women, Coble pushes forward in his mission. He knows the murderer is near, but how do you find a killer who hides in plain sight?</p>
<p>Mennonite farm boy Lance Roark's faith is as big as the challenges he faces on his family's drought-ravaged Dust Bowl spread on the old Chisholm Trail. He can also run over, around, and away from people on the football field and is a natural-born aviator. These abilities lead him to college gridiron glory and bring him into contact with famed aviators Charles Lindbergh and Wiley Post, entertainment icons Will Rogers and Bing Crosby, best-selling young author John F. Kennedy, and President Franklin Roosevelt. </p> <p>As war clouds gather across the seas, Lance finds romance first with teenaged Chickasaw cowgirl and stunt flying sensation Sadie Stanton, then with beautiful oil heiress Mary Katherine Murchison, whose mesmerizing voice carries her to the heights of Big Band Era stardom. Nearly all of this crashes against his pious, peaceable ways. And it leads him into the dangerous world of America First, the Lindbergh-led organization that opposes the popular Roosevelt's covert drive toward American involvement in World War II, now ablaze in both Europe and the Pacific. </p> <p>When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Lance, with his lifelong commitment never to raise his hand against another human being, faces his ultimate decision--whether to accept command of a B-17 Flying Fortress in which he would face, and inflict, mass slaughter in Nazi-occupied Europe amidst history's most fearsome war.</p> <p> </p>
<p>With the authenticity of a real cowboy, bestselling author Dusty Richards weaves a moving coming-of-age story set against the cattle trails and open vistas of South Texas.</p> <p>Twin brothers Andrew and Jackson Franks have lived and worked under the iron fist of their father, Prior, for as long as they can remember. But when a petty household argument turns violent and Prior shoots and kills their mother before turning the gun upon himself, the boys are left with nothing but each other and the family's hardscrabble South Texas ranch. Andrew's a planner and a thinker, while Jackson's a workhorse with a stubborn streak a couple miles wide. They've both got dreams of climbing out of the dust to become real Texas cattleman, but they'll need a hell of a lot more than hope to make it happen. They'll need luck, too, a whole damn heap of it... and it comes in a form they never imagined.</p> <p>Texas law--enforced by the crotchety county judge--says they need a guardian, and the judge finds a cousin from Arkansas, a widow woman named Sophie Grenada, willing to come to Texas to take the two pigheaded boys in hand. When she arrives, though, she's nothing like what any of them expect. Sophie's smart, tough, worldly, more than a little sassy... and most surprising of all, she cares. </p> <p>Through Indian raids, range wars, and the tough business of building a real, working ranch, they form an unbreakable bond--two boys thrust into a man's world before their time, and a woman who loves and cares for them as her own. If they can avoid a fetched arrow or a .45 slug in the back, with Sophie's help, Andrew and Jackson might just build the empire they're hoping for, and fulfill their destiny to become <em>The Pride of Texas</em>. </p>