Frank Carlson Library

"In the brutal, unforgiving wastes of the Arizona desert, Chet Byrnes built a cattle ranching empire with his bare hands, steel will, and a fast draw. As the U.S. marshal, he risks his life to bring law to a lawless land. When a new railroad route is planned to pass through Navajo territory, Chet fights to get the Indians a contract to supply the locomotives with coal. But the corrupt politicians in Tucson and D.C. have other ideas. The coal contract...

Chet Byrnes is building a new life in Arizona Territory as he expands his ranching operation, but trouble just keeps coming. First, there's a brutal Apache attack on his cattle drive. Then a friend's young daughter is abducted, and the search leads Chet and his men to the wild town of Tombstone and then south of the border, where life is cheap. As much as he longs to stay close to home, Chet's friends and family continue to need his brand of help....

In his latest Byrnes family novel, Dusty Richards tells of the blood that was spilled trying to make Arizona Territory a good place to live. Building a ranching empire is one thing, keeping it out of the hands of the no good opportunists crawling through the Arizona desert is a daily grind for Chet Byrnes. But nothing will stop Chet from bringing his ranch into a bold new era.

Gil Slater is quick on the draw and has a head for running a ranch but he's also a lonely man with nothing more than a cot in the bunkhouse at the TXY Ranch to call home. But when the foreman drops dead of a heart attack and the owner picks Gil to take his place his world turns upside down. One day life is simple; the next he's running the outfit and married to a woman who has never known affection. Between wild horses, outlaws, rustlers, an ambitious...