National Network for Equitable Library Service

In the midst of a long-standing family feud, three Rangers must fight to keep order in the tenuous state of post-Civil War Texas.

As aging diehard cowboy Hewey Calloway is critically injured by a wild horse, he must admit that his world -- and the pre-automobile age -- are passing away.

Even in his old age, Josh Buckalew sometimes awakens in a cold sweat as he relives those horrifying moments at Goliad so long ago. And yet every time he retells the tale of Santa Anna's lesser known massacre, his heart fills with gratitude for those brave Texans who gave their lives so others might live free.

The Barfield brothers are separated by a Comanche raid. Years later, they are destined to be reunited and discover how their separate lives have changed them.

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 homestead of Noah Wheeler and his virtuous daughter. But Monahan refuses to quit.

Returning to his farm, Texas Ranger Rusty Shannon hopes to marry, but discovers home is not what it used to be. His former sweetheart is already hitched, and disgruntled soldiers from both sides are spreading across the land. The real trouble brews when Rusty finds Badger Boy, a white child raised by the Comanches. A former captive himself, Rusty agrees to return Badger Boy to his Indian family--even though the trail is perilous.

When her husband dies on the eve of their impending European vacation, housewife Emma Hanley watches her dreams of world travel vanish even as she becomes more immersed in the lives of her two living children.

Cutter is determind to sabotage the sale of her family's dilapidated ancestral home. Her sister Ginny (in the midst of an affair with a professor) doesn't seem to care either way. When the professor's reclusive wife gathers up the courage to leave her own home and confront the Other Woman, she instead meets Cutter, and the two begin a quirky, comforting relationship.

In 1897, in the rural southwestern area of Alabama known as Mitcham Beat, an aspiring politician is mysteriously murdered. Seeking retribution, his outraged friends--mostly poor cotton farmers--form a secret society, Hell-at-the-Breech, to punish the townspeople they believe are responsible. The hooded members of this gang wage a bloody year-long campaign of terror that culminates in a massacre, where the innocent suffer alongside the guilty.

Since it's always a good idea to fly under police radar, Serge figures the Keys are just the place to lie low. Plus, he has two missions to accomplish--re-invent himself and get married, although he hasn't picked the lucky lady yet. But what he doesn't know is that enough serial and spree killers are headed his way to have a parade of psychopaths. Are the Keys big enough for all the lunatics?