WL Cox's Books

An epic saga of Huntley "Hunt" Porter, sheriff of a small Tennessee town controlled by a ruthless mayor. Fired for punching the mayor and arresting his son, Hunt becomes a bounty hunter, tracking a fugitive from Boston to the Missouri River. Along the way, he meets a U.S. Deputy Marshal who recruits him into the service, launching the story of Hunt, U.S. Marshal.

This episode is packed with surprises and shootouts, starting when Hunt intervenes to protect his adopted daughter Phyllis from an abusive boy, earning the wrath of the boy's vengeful father. Amid a string of missions, Hunt puts a reluctant Horse in charge of one, which succeeds and leads to a memorable meeting with a frontier legend. A bigger threat looms when a gang terrorizing California and Oregon turns east, evading the Army and heading straight for Hunt's ranches and Denver itself. Hunt leads his men to intercept them, and a fierce gun battle leaves several deputies wounded and one ranch worker dead, with the Cavalry arriving just in time to prevent disaster. Later, Marshal Earl Jefferson visits to tour Hunt's Green River ranches, and while there, a bank robbery draws Hunt into another shootout, this one revealing a surprising motive behind the crime.

Hunt and his men keep fighting crime on the plains, though the work costs him one of his most experienced deputies in an ambush. Personal drama follows when Cal and Phyllis announce their engagement, sparking a confrontation with jealous rival Timmy Galloway, whom Hunt had already banned from coming around. Meanwhile, Beau Hamlin visits from New York to discuss selling his father's Green River ranch, but a trip there turns deadly when a ranch hand claims the land was promised to him instead. A visitor from Washington asks Hunt to help track down a mountain man serial killer responsible for over thirty gruesome murders marked by decapitation, grisly staging and worse.

New deputy marshal Ace Sterling returns from Chicago just in time to help bring order to a small Utah town overrun by a family of ruffians. Meanwhile, the Phillip-Armour Meat Packing House asks Hunt to source hogs and cattle to fill vital contracts running low on supply. On the way back from Green River, bandits rob the train Hunt and his men are riding, setting off consequences for a rancher's family that ripple further than expected. Amid the unexpected turns, Hunt crosses paths with the grandson of the man who once owned the land now known as Hidden Valley.

Hunt and his men keep tracking criminals while Hunt works to sort and deliver cattle from Meeker and oversees the start of hotel construction in Green River, hoping it's not a mistake. Men are sent on many missions, and one deputy is rushed to Denver with a gunshot wound, and Horse finds himself in an unexpected bind, forced to marry a woman to prevent bloodshed. Meanwhile, trespassers discover a gold vein on Hunt's Hidden Valley Ranch and hire an attorney to try to take the land from him.

Hunt sends his men to Utah to hunt down bandits responsible for a deadly stagecoach robbery, and a telegram from Duke soon reveals they're facing a small army led by a man known as Satan. Hunt arrives just in time to help fend off repeated assaults on the Marshals' mountaintop stronghold. Afterward, transporting the surviving prisoners goes wrong when an escape attempt leaves two deputies hospitalized, one clinging to life. Amid the chaos, Hunt also finds time to rush a young woman in labor to the hospital, then offers her husband a job on the Green River ranch.

Hunt and his men take on a formidable gang, remnants of a Seattle crime ring that has grown in size crossing several states, requiring backup from the Cavalry at Fort Lewis to bring them down. Closer to home, Horse and his pregnant wife Nascha are locked in a bitter fight over their baby's name, one so public that Hunt has to step in to calm things down. As Nascha's temper escalates into threats and jealousy, worsened by language barriers, Gray Wolf travels to her father, Chief Hok'ee, hoping he can help save Horse's marriage before it's too late.

Hunt's life stays hectic as he balances business with lawkeeping, starting with a courtroom battle against newspaperman Jason Fellows, who claims Horse tried to kill him. A family weekend in Green River turns into a work trip when Hunt has to step in and resolve the growing problem, giving Fellows fresh ammunition to accuse the law of abusing its power. Meanwhile, Hunt sends his men on a mission of mercy to help a lawman hold off a lynch mob threatening his prisoner.

Hunt travels to Green River, impressed by the training progress there, and is soon offered the chance to buy the Wiseman ranch in Cottontail Gulch at a surprisingly good price, though he's unsure what he'd do with it. His men take on a bank robbery case, quickly suspecting the wounded local sheriff of being involved. Meanwhile, Hunt leads his men into New Mexico to confront a Mexican militia raiding ranches and killing families, but when his request for Army backup goes unanswered, he and his men are left to face the armed force alone.

Hunt and Roberto return to Denver to a telegram confirming Roberto's amnesty, along with praise from Colonel Markland and President Grant. Hunt sets Roberto up on the Clydesdale ranch, where he quickly proves himself capable. Back home, Hunt takes ownership of a large cattle herd that promptly stampedes through town. Meanwhile, his men race to Grand Junction to stop a gang of marauders tearing through towns, ranches, and Wells Fargo stations, robbing banks and killing lawmen along the way, including in Green River, where they hijack a train after their rampage. Despite warnings reaching Grand Junction ahead of them, the gang strikes again, and Hunt sends his men after the seven outlaws before they can do more damage.

Hunt's adventures continue as he and his men track criminals and protect the vulnerable. Ike returns from training with a changed outlook toward his family, put to the test when two cousins arrive in Denver intent on killing him for leaving. Hunt defuses the situation by hiring the cousins on at Green River under the farming manager. As he moves forward with plans for a new hotel in Salt Lake City, Hunt finds himself alone with his thoughts, weighing whether it's time to retire and focus on the ranches or keep serving as U.S. Marshal.

Torn between his growing empire and his work, Hunt decides to get back into the field, riding along on missions again. He soon confronts a corrupt mayor, sheriff, and deputies terrorizing a county and killing anyone who won't sell out. He also leads his men after a gang responsible for a brutal ranch raid, tracking stolen cattle to a shootout, then burying the dead and returning the livestock home. Afterward, a minister begs him to release son Hunt imprisoned so he can attend seminary, but the boy himself refuses to go.