WL Cox's Books

Hunt's men head to Colorado's gold fields to solve a murder and recover stolen gold threatening to bankrupt a mining company. Meanwhile, Beth falls for an adorable girl at a rundown orphanage, and after visiting the cramped cabin it operates out of, Hunt leaves determined to help. Earl arrives from Chicago to discuss new federal laws, and he and Hunt travel to Topeka searching for missing deputy Kelly Morrison, uncovering a surprise along the way. Back home, a cunning cougar terrorizing the Percheron ranch proves too much for hired hunters, killing one and injuring three, forcing Hunt to take on the hunt himself, with painful results.

Hunt faces a grueling recovery from the cougar attack, haunted by fears of forced retirement, though Earl gives him time before any career decisions. During his recovery, a man falsely claims Hunt bought his home illegally and, after a failed lawsuit attempt, plots to ambush and shoot him instead. Meanwhile, when Deputy Asa fails to return from an arrest in Bailey, Hunt rides out and finds him near death, forcing a rescue along with the arrest of the wanted man. Hunt also turns to ranch business, estimating livestock for market, while a Montana rancher illegally claiming land and killing trespassers draws Hunt's men into an arrest that erupts into gunfire and a full cattle roundup.

Hunt juggles the trial and the sale of ranch with his own livestock sales while sorting the BSMR cowboys into new jobs and locations. His men hit the trail with a new replacement Earl has assigned, and fifteen-year-old Rudy Brown returns asking for work. Though Hunt longs to ride out with his men, orders keep him in Denver, where he receives a surprising letter from his long-lost sister. Meanwhile, Horse suffers a devastating loss, and Hunt worries about his friend's state of mind and tries to help him through it.

Hunt's men are called to the town of Akron to resolve the murder of a ranch hand by a neighboring ranch owner's son and prevent a range war. Traveling twenty miles to the train depot after the arrest allows the killer's father time to gather his ranch hands and reach them before the train arrives to...

Hunt and his men close in on a serial killer targeting lonely widows, only for a nosy newspaper reporter to leak their plans and blow the operation. The killer strikes once more before fleeing to New Orleans, where Hunt's men track him with help from Ace Sterling, a former deputy now serving as U.S. Marshal there. Back in Denver, the same reporter tries to force his way into the Marshal's office for a story, while longtime Sheriff Drake Collins faces a tough election challenge. Meanwhile, Hunt borrows Winston's wolfdog to guard the office from a break-in, with dramatic results.

Hunt turns his attention to his Green River ranches and expansion plans, pausing to help Horse retrieve his daughter's stolen pony from a farm family. Meanwhile, a violent gang cuts a bloody path from Los Angeles through Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, and Hunt's men pick up the chase in Utah, dodging ambushes along the way despite Hunt being ordered to stay in Denver. When Earl arrives to discuss the pursuit, the conversation turns personal, as Hunt begins to realize his days as a lawman are numbered and starts planning for who will carry on after him.

Hunt is shocked when escaped prisoner Howard Yancy kills two guards and swears revenge, then leaves a trail of violence from Alabama to Colorado. As Hunt spreads his men across Colorado and New Mexico to handle local trouble while waiting for Yancy to surface, he also loses one of his best men to replace a marshal in Kansas City, leaving him to find a replacement. Yancy's luck runs out when he raids a Texas Panhandle ranch, murdering the rancher's pregnant wife and hands while the rancher is away. An ex-Texas Ranger, the grieving rancher joins forces with U.S. Marshals from Austin to hunt Yancy down, tracking him across three states through a trail of bodies and stolen horses.

Hunt closes the book on Howard Yancy when a sheriff and a grieving widow arrive in Denver to confirm his identity, while his men keep chasing thieves and killers across rough terrain. Hunt tests the livestock market with some young bulls and Razer goes off to Chicago for marshal training. During a manhunt across Colorado, Hunt's men discover a stagecoach massacre with one survivor: a badly injured eight year old girl. With no one else to care for her, they bring her to Denver, where Beth takes her in and grows attached. But when distant relatives show up claiming the girl, Hunt suspects their motives have nothing to do with her wellbeing, and he and Beth must take drastic steps to protect her.

Hunt and Beth adopt Tabitha and settle her trust at the Bank of Denver, while John Ewing heads to Indiana to learn pig farming. Back home, Hunt's deputies push him to help reverse the sentence of Lester Barlowe, a man they believe was wrongly imprisoned, leading Hunt to seek Judge C.W. Crawford's help and a new trial. Meanwhile, romance stirs when Razer takes a liking to widow Catherine Waters before leaving for Chicago, and Walker's dog Scar is quarantined after a coyote fight. On the crime front, Hunt sends men to Utah to help intercept a dangerous fugitive, and a brutal attack on the Purgatory River Ranch leaves the family dead, prompting a cavalry-assisted manhunt to save the remaining cattle. Amid it all, Deputy Marshal Bridge falls for the ranch's surviving daughter and proposes, though she has conditions of her own.

Hunt sets his sights on capturing the Golden Stallion, a wild horse that has evaded capture with its herd for five years. Meanwhile, Deputy Marshal Roy Thatcher escorts young Antonio Lopez back to Mexico, eventually promising to bring him and his mother back to Denver for a fresh start. Back home, Hunt faces a personal threat when a stranger challenges him to a gunfight, and soon after, he and his men brace for an attack from a gang of Georgia marauders bent on robbing and burning the town. Ex-Deputy Jerome Bridger arrives reporting stolen cattle, prompting Hunt to defy orders and lead a chase that erupts into gunfire. Hunt hires a new deputy to replace Bridge, a choice some doubt but Hunt trusts enough to send him to Chicago for training.