Roy Bean’s passion, as far back as his youth in Mason County, Kentucky, had been for gold. He tried his hand at being a merchant in Mexico, but then he killed a man in a gunfight and had to flee. A chance encounter with Jeff Kirker gives his life a new direction. Kirker masterminded the robbery of an Army payroll in California with the help of the bandit Joaquin Murieta and his gang. But he double-crossed Murieta and managed to hide the gold. Retrieving it will be dangerous, but it might be done with Bean’s help—and, of course, Bean will get his share. When Kirker is killed in a skirmish with Comanches on the Spanish Trail, he leaves behind some of the gold coins from the hidden cache, a map on one of the coins to where the payroll is buried, and a name: the Red Rosita. Bean has no alternative but to push on, but there is danger. Joaquin Murieta and his gang seem to be everywhere, and Bean is only one man against many. In this edge-of-your-seat yarn, Garwood proves himself to be a master of Western storytelling, making Roy Bean’s Gold a must-read for fans of the Old West.

Phantly Roy Bean, Jr. (1825-1903), self-styled “Law West of the Pecos,” was an eccentric American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas. According to legend, he held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande on a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of southwest Texas. Southwestern historian and folklorist, C. L. Sonnichsen, lived near Judge Bean’s house for several years and decided to pen this biography, first published in 1943, owing to his belief that it was “high time for somebody to look into his history and see how a Roy Bean ever came to be at all.” Roy Bean: Law West of the Pecos examines Judge Bean’s legendary, as well as factual background and makes for a fascinating read.

References to western movies scattered over some 250 works by more than 130 authors constitute the subject matter of this book, arranged in an encyclopedic format. The entries are distributed among western movies, television series, big screen and television actors, western writers, directors and miscellaneous topics related to the genre. The data cover films from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to No Country for Old Men (2007) and the entries include many western film milestones (from The Aryan through Shane to Unforgiven), television classics (Gunsmoke, Bonanza) and great screen cowboys of both "A" and "B" productions.

A lively account of a harsh but beautiful landscape and the characters who have inhabited it. Learn the truth about Judge Roy Bean and a few other heroes and rogues.

What turned Atlanta professional man John Henry Doc Holiday into a stone cold killer? What was Docs weapon of choice? Who really killed Pat Garrett? Did Wyatt Earp ever track down his brother Virgils killer? What minister of the gospel became the wests deadliest paid killer? Who was the wildest of Butch Cassidys Wild Bunch? What catastrophe almost wiped out the cattle business in 1888? What were the wests greatest gold strikes and how were they discovered? Does the ghost of pioneer Brit Bailey still stalk the prairie near Old Brazoria? Author Murphy answers these intriguing questions and many other in this book aptly titled Ghosts, Gold Diggers and Gun Slingers, which is the product of a lifetime of research and several years of writing and rewriting.