Lyle Brandt – författare

In this brand-new Ralph Compton Western, the drovers of the Bar X ranch will face sandstorms, renegades, and outlaws along the historic Cimarron trail.After a child is accidentally killed in a shootout, Art Catlin decides to give up his life of bounty hunting and finds a new career as a drover, working for the Bar X ranch. The trail is 770 miles from Santa Fe to Independence, Missouri, and Art isn't fool enough to think it'll be an easy journey. As they head east, they seem to come upon countless threats, from environmental to personal. If they're to make it all the way with the herd intact, Catlin will need to use all of the skill and knowledge he's acquired over his long and violent career.

JAILBREAK ON THE TRAIL U.S. Marshal Jack Slade is tasked with escorting four prisoners to Leavenworth, Kansas. It’s a 250-mile, ten-day journey across a hot, barren landscape with only a green deputy to help him keep the outlaws in line—and the brooding thoughts of his troubled relationship with Faith Connover to otherwise occupy his mind.    When some kin of prisoner Fergus Mayfield ambush the marshals and free the convicts, they make one mistake—leaving Slade alive. Badly wounded, horseless, and unarmed, Slade will stop at nothing to survive the dangers of the desert and pursue the escaped outlaws to the ends of the earth…

Jack Slade pulled up his roots a long time ago to take life one day at a time, risking his living, and his neck, at gambling tables across the west. A disappointment to his family, he’s been estranged from them for years. Then he receives word of his brother’s death—under mysterious circumstances—in Lawton, Oklahoma.   It’s been four years since Jack saw Jim, who planted his roots to become a successful rancher. In addition to acres of land and herds of cattle, Jim left behind a fiancée who has been fending off offers on her property—as well as cattle rustlers.   The mysterious circumstances behind Jim’s death are starting to become clear. And when fate pins a badge on Jack, he finds himself walking the line between justice and revenge…

A QUEST FOR VENGEANCE

It was the happiest day of Deputy U.S. Marshal Jack Slade’s life—until a gang of roughnecks broke it up and shot his bride. Now in a coma, Slade’s bride-to-be faces a slim chance for a full recovery. With his heart broken and filled with vengeance, the Lawman sets out to pursue the gang that broke up his Oklahoma wedding and raided the Cherokee reservation.

Teaming up with Little Wolf, Slade follows the gang south toward Mexico, passing through the perilous areas of Texas. And as Slade attempts to exact justice for his fiancée, The Lawman will be tempted to break any law that stands in the way…

A MOONSHINE TRAIL

When his fellow U.S. Marshal Bill Tanner is found dead, Jack Slade picks up his trail, hot on a gang of moonshiners. A reformed drinker and gambler himself, Deputy U.S. Marshal Slade vows to uncover the truth behind Tanner’s death and pull the plug on the bootleggers—liquor and all!

But Slade’s pursuit of justice comes with a heavy price: His longtime love, Faith Connover, has a quest of her own. While Slade is off hunting illegal moonshine, Faith makes arrangements to leave Oklahoma territory and head east. But all bets are off when Faith discovers something neither she nor Slade saw coming... 

Five days after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, President Abraham Lincoln is mortally wounded by an assassin’s bullet. Scattered Confederate forces ignore the armistice, determined to continue the Civil War despite the Union victory. American citizens, tired of years of bloodshed, want nothing more than to rebuild a country vulnerable to corruption and criminal enterprises.   Disgraced ex-Deputy U.S. Marshal Gideon Ryder has been given a second chance to serve his country—as an agent of the newly created United States Secret Service. Assigned to investigate a smuggling ring operating out of Galveston Island on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Ryder must navigate his way through the population of immigrants, sailors, former slaves, and ex-Rebels to infiltrate a gang of outlaws more deadly and dangerous than the Secret Service could have imagined…  FIRST IN A NEW SERIES