Elmer Kelton

The Buckskin Line tells of Texas' chaotic early years, when a ragtag group of irregular volunteers fought to defend the far edges of settlement from incursion by Indians and frontier outlaws. In time, they would become known as the Texas Rangers. This is a story of the early days when... An...

As he flees to the sanctuary of Mexico, Chacho Fernandez is unaware of the fuel he has added to the already simmering racial hatreds in and around the quiet town of Domingo, Texas. Through events set in motion by a misunderstanding, Chacho becomes a folk hero to his people and a dangerous...

Recipient of seven Spur Awards, Elmer Kelton "just keeps getting better and better" ( Tulsa World). When a ruthless cattle baron and his men destroy Doug Monahan's property, his old friend and mentor is gunned down. Pistol whipped and now flat broke, Monahan finds refuge on the sprawling...

Donovan: Donovan was supposed to be dead. The town of Dry Fork, southern Texas, had buried him years before when Uncle Joe Vickers had fired off both barrels of a shotgun into the vicious outlaw's face as he was escaping from jail. Now, Uncle Joe has been shot - in just the same way. And Judge...

In Bitter Trail, Kelton tells the story of a tough teamster named Frio Wheeler whose wagons haul cotton from Texas to Mexico. Sounds like a peaceable enterprise? The problem is that the Civil War is raging throughout the South and Wheeler's cotton is to be sold for gold--gold used to buy guns...

In the aftermath of a bitter and bloody war for independence, Texans have finally claimed their freedom from Mexico - but they don't have much else to brag about. Joshua Buckalew has left behind the deserted battlefields that claimed his brother Thomas. The war has cost him much, but it has also...

Young Andy Pickard, known among the Comanches as Badger Boy, is now a teenager, and has been learning to live with the Texans from whom he was stolen years before. His divided loyalties between the Comanches and the whites lead to another kidnapping....

Six-time winner of the Golden Spur Award, Elmer Kelton crafts stories that carry listeners into some of the most vivid years of the American West. Texas Rifles is an action-filled tale of courage in the face of divided loyalties. In 1861, men are enlisting in the Texas Mounted Rifles to keep the...

In the early days of the Texas panhandle, starting a new life is hard - but keeping it is even harder. Espy Norwood is a troubleshooter who's got troubles of his own, and more troubles find him when he lands a job on a ranch on the Texas plains. Bitter landowners plot against him, determined...

In the 1870s, buffalo hunters moved onto the High Plains of Texas. The Plains Indians watched hunters slaughter the animals that gave them shelter and clothing, food, and weapons. The battles at and near the ruins of a trading fort, Adobe Walls, became symbolic of the struggles between hunters...

By 1873, the great buffalo herds have been all but wiped out, and the hide hunters are looking for other work. So, when Gage Jameson hears of one remaining herd, he sees a final opportunity to make a huge profit. But to find the buffalo, he will have to take his line of wagons deep into Comanche...

Seven-time Spur Award winner Elmer Kelton sets this "completely absorbing" prequel to his award-winning classics The Good Old Boys and The Smiling Country in 1889 Texas. Hewey Calloway and his kid brother Walter head for West Texas - hoping to live their cowboy dream. But when Walter's crush on...

Elmer Kelton, beloved chronicler of the Old West and recipient of an unprecedented seven Spur Awards, recounts the story of Santa Anna's lesser known massacre through the eyes of a lone survivor. Even in his old age, Josh Buckalew sometimes awakens in a cold sweat as he relives those horrifying...

In Hard Trail to Follow, by seven-time Spur Award winner Elmer Kelton, young Texas Ranger Andy Pickard vows to track down the bank robber he thinks killed his friend and mentor. But as he traverses the rugged terrain, Andy's perplexed at the glowing reports of the felon's kindness and integrity...

Here are 16 stories, where good meets bad, and everything in between, from the legendary author of the West, Elmer Kelton. Law of the Land chronicles some of his most exciting and dangerous tales of the Old West, collected together for the first time....

When former cattle man Dundee wanders into the town of Titusville, he's broke, tired, and itching for a fight. Instead, he gets a job offer...from none other than the top man in town, John Titus. Titus recruits Dundee to find out who's rustling his extensive herd of cattle. But for Titus, it...

Elmer Kelton, author of over a dozen popular westerns, was named the Greatest Western Writer of All Time by the Western Writers of America. He has won multiple Golden Spur Awards. The Smiling Country, filled with pathos and humor, is set in the last days of the Old West. Hewey Calloway may be...

The Texas Frontier, 1865 The Civil War is over and Texas is reluctantly yielding to the Union soldiers spreading across the state, even into the dangerous Comanche country. David "Rusty" Shannon, proud member of a "ranging company" attempting to protect Texas settlers from Indian depredations...

Chosen by his peers as the best Western writer of all time and honored with an unprecedented seven Spur Awards, Elmer Kelton is “one of the giants of the Western genre” (Booklist). In Other Men’s Horses, a young 1880s Texas Ranger must track down a fugitive who gunned down a notorious...

Before he set down his pen, seven-time Spur Award winner Elmer Kelton—the Western Writers of America’s “Best Western Writer of All Time”—cut 50 notches on his gunbelt of classics. In this final novel of the Texas Rangers, a young lawman finds his mettle put to the test while bringing...