Showing results by author "Stephen Bly" in All Categories

In an age when robber barons and get-rich-quick schemes abound, a charismatic land developer arrives in Carson City. It doesn't take Major Lansford Fallon long to win the affections of widowed Marthellen Farnsworth - Judith Kingston's housekeeper and dearest friend. And it takes Fallon even less time to win the financial backing of the town's leading citizens when he presents a plan to build a health sanitarium on a mineral spring outside of town.

When a wealthy woman is found battered and abandoned, her womanizing embezzler of a husband mysteriously vanishes. His sister arrives from the East to avenge his reputation, and Carson City's spunky and beloved Judith Kingston, wife of Judge Hollis A. Kingston, finds herself caught up in a hurricane of intrigue and innuendo. Will she stay safe in the eye of the storm until justice is served?

Christina Swan, the local schoolteacher, is fired when two overzealous suitors brawl at her school. Angry at the unfair treatment, she seizes the opportunity to manage a fledgling ranch for her uncle and runs into the obstinate Kern Yager, a neighboring landholder. As tempers flare between them, the two discover a common enemy in a land development plan that will swallow their ranches. They also discover the faith to meet their problems with God's support.

Martina Swan's business and marriage is falling apart. She grabs up her child and seeks to find her husband as armed outlaws chase her looking for their stolen treasure. She's determined to bring her man home as she faces one shock after another. Can she forgive and love again? A full and satisfying read from a woman's point of view in the old west.

Notorious outlaw Manitoba Joe Clark seems to have been caught red-handed this time, but he's begging Judge Kingston to find out who framed him. At home, life seems to be unraveling for the judge and his wife Judith. Will their widowed missionary son marry a most unlikely woman and return to India? Can evidence implicating Roberta's fiance as an embezzler and the father of an illegitimate child be true?

It's summer in Galena, Nevada, and everyone is leaving town for good! After the harshest winter on record and the shutdown of the Shiloh Gold mine, Nathan and his friends watch as businesses board up and houses empty. Rumor has it that even their school may close. Who will be the next to move away?

Nathan's got a real job for the summer - he'll be helping Push-Bill Horn freight supplies to the booming, brawling mining town of 10, Nevada. However, his dog Tona's disastrous fight with a bobcat on the second trip out thrusts Nathan into a dilemma. He wants revenge. And he desperately wants to save Tona's life. Will he take Push-Bill's advice to do the kind thing and put Tona out of his misery?

For only a dollar, Thunder is a terrific bargain! But, what does a boy do with a dangerous 2,500-pound buffalo that can break out of any corral ever built? Nathan Riggins has to find some way to keep Thunder from killing someone or being killed. He finally decides to donate his buffalo to the Carson City Zoo. But getting him there will be a problem. Thunder has already destroyed one rail car and damaged the train's engine. The railroad refuses to ship him again. The answer comes in a surprising way.

Onepenny is exactly the kind of horse Nathan has dreamed of owning - smart, loyal and easy to handle. What's more, this unusual horse with the spotted rump can do tricks. So, Nathan works out a trade with Onepenny's owner, Temple Cholach, and to his delight, the spotted horse becomes his. Before he can even show his parents his new horse, Nathan encounters a posse looking for a stagecoach robber who had ridden a spotted horse. It seems that Temple Cholach isn't the drifter he claimed to be.

Nathan couldn't believe it. He, his dad, and his friend Colin were going on a cattle drive. But as they set out, the trip took unexpected turns. Nathan's dad had to leave them to hunt down an escaped crook. Then, Colin's friend Leah finagled her way along. When Pepper the cook hurt his foot and had to return to camp, the three kids were on their own. How would they round up cattle when they had never done it before? And how should they deal with the coyote family living beneath their cabin?

Nathan Riggins heads out west to the Nevada desert to search for his parents after his grandmother died. He faces one danger after another: hostile Indians, a masked gunman, a blinding sandstorm, a rattlesnake. Now, he frantically hurried from one empty building to the next. Where was everyone? How could everybody in town just disappear? Then, a strange dog seems to adopt him and come to his rescue.

Retta Barre has faced a dizzying prairie storm, a stubborn buffalo, and a murderous Indian twice. But that's nothing compared to what happens when her family is left alone in the middle of the prairie. One life-threatening danger after another, and Retta's in the middle of them all.

Retta Barre has never met a hero, except for the ones she reads about in her books. She does know they're strong and courageous. And handsome and pretty. Everything she's not. Her world doesn't expect much from her anyway. She's just a plain-looking 12-year-old who's more stubborn than brave. She owes what little strength she has to her dull daily chores on the Oregon trail. And yet, when her friends are missing, Retta doesn't think twice. She heads out to help them. She has no idea the danger that's about to come her way.

Her life was like a bad dream that kept getting worse. Until the Lord awakened her to a future of hope.

Stuart Brannon heads home to his Arizona Ranch, but he finds it occupied by interlopers from the Casa Verde Land Corporation claiming to hold a Spanish land grant on the property. Enraged, Brannon drives them off. Stuart is soon joined by several friends and neighbors in defending his home, including a contingent of soldiers tracking down a band of Apaches, and Miss Harriet Reed who makes her attraction to the ex-lawman obvious. They are soon under siege by Casa Verde's 50 hired gunmen and a cannon sent to take back the property.

Stuart Brannon's friend, Peter Mulroney, has been wrongfully jailed by Dixon Rutherford, the corrupt Mayor of Paradise Meadow - Rutherford killed Mulroney's wife for standing up to him, and continues tyrannizing the entire town. Brannon comes to break his friend out, but finds himself drawn into the town's struggle by schoolteacher Rose Creek.

After months of digging, Stuart Brannon and Edwin Fletcher finally hit the mother load, only to find someone else is after their claim. Under attack, they ally themselves with three Ute Indians and fortify the mine. As the siege continues, Brannon rescues Fletcher from a band of kidnapping claim jumpers, and ends up with another companion in the bargain.

The hard winter at Broken Arrow Crossing couldn't have come at a worse time for Stuart Brannon. Having left his Arizona ranch sick with grief after losing his family and cattle, Brannon is caught in the teeth of the blizzard. He stumbles half-frozen into an isolated stage station, where he finds a wounded prospector.

Tap Andrews has left his past behind. He's no longer a Wyoming lawman backing down any mobs, nor a Brand Inspector dodging rustler's bullets. He has loaded up the wagon and is moving the very pregnant Pepper and their 11-year-old ward to a seemingly perfect new family life in Montana.

All Tap and Pepper Andrews want to do is settle down, buy a small ranch, get a few head of cattle, and start raising a family. But nothing is ever that easy for the ex-convict and his former dance-hall girl trying to break from the past. It seems no matter where they go or what they do, the past is already there ahead of them.