Frank Carlson Library

Johnny Vermillion's theater troupe brings masterpieces to the Wild West. The four actors are versatile enough to wear many costumes and play many roles. A few props, a little makeup, a costume and-voilà-applause on the rugged frontier. Johnny also arranges a special attraction for each town. While his actors bustle in and out of costumes, on and off the stage in many roles, one plays the villain in the bank. Then the actors take their curtain...

"In prohibition-era Southern California, real life detectives Charles D. Siringo and Dashiell Hammett must solve a mystery involving a ruthless politician--Joseph P. Kennedy. With sharp dialogue and rich historical background, Ragtime Cowboys is an exciting, suspenseful tale in which the Old West and Hollywood collide. Los Angeles, 1921: Ex-Pinkerton Charlie Siringo is living in quiet retirement when Wyatt Earp knocks on his door and asks him to track...

A Crow Indian, two Mexican bandits, a libidinous preacher, and a Pinkerton agent join St. John's posse to bring in an imaginative con artist who has done his best to scam the entire breadth of the Old West.

Page Murdock has been sent to the tough New Mexico of 1881 to track down a man and bring him to justice. But more than a trail of revenge, Murdock finds himself on a desperate odyssey. For in the Southwest a friend can turn out to be one's cruelest enemy, an enemy one's finest friend. And the woman Murdock loves will be as voluptuous as Venus and wicked as sin. City of Widows shows western author Loren D. Estleman at the top of his game. At the...

In Loren D. Estelman's Murdock's Law, Special U.S. Deputy Page Murdock rides into Breen, Montana, on the trail of a menacing and elusive outlaw. But, before he can scout the saloons for his man, he is made town marshal in a territory heating up for the ugliest range war this side of hell. The big ranchers want a gunslinger marshal, and the small ranchers have their own hired gun. But, the badge on Murdock's chest means law, and he'll enforce it the...

For freed slave Honey Boutrille, "justice" is a word that no longer bears any weight. After he saves the life of a prostitute by shooting her white, would-be killer, the price on Honey's head sends him on the run. As he narrowly escapes scrape after scrape, he learns to keep one eye in front of him and one eye on his back. In California, "Twice" Emmerson begins a crime spree. His inflated pride and deadly temper make him a threat to anyone who...

Page Murdock doesn't know why someone wants him dead, but he knows where the hired killers are coming from. Thus begins Murdoch's descent into a hell more decadent, corrupt, and dangerous than even he has ever seen-San Francisco's Barbary Coast. With an unwilling backup man, Murdock takes up temporary residence among the gamblers, dope addicts, prostitutes, and cutthroats of the continent's foulest district. No man here is trustworthy. But perhaps...

"U.S. Deputy Page Murdock is ordered by Federal Judge Harlan A. Blackthorne to Cape Hell, Mexico, to verify a report that former Confederate Captain Oscar Childress is raising an army to take over Mexico City--and then intends to turn north to rekindle the Civil War. Childress, it seems, has the weapons, wealth, and moral compass to do it. Unable to talk himself out of the mission, Murdock heads south on a steam train named "El Espanto"--The Ghost....

Judge Isaac Parker inherits a lawless Arkansas territory of corruption and saloon violence, a region over which he assumes formidable control by publicly hanging convicted felons and handing down other severe sentences.

In the spring of 1896, after thirty years spent dispensing justice in Montana, Judge Harlan Blackthorne expires, leaving Deputy U.S. Marshal Page Murdock, his most steadfast officer, to escort his remains across the continent by rail. The long journey is interrupted from time to time by station stops for the public to pay its respects, and for various marching bands to serenade the departed with his favorite ballad, "After the Ball." This gives Murdock...