2007 Spur Award for Best Paperback Novel by the Western Writers of America Heading For A Showdown. . . Towering, flame-haired Alf Bolin is a ruthless young outlaw with a passion for quoting fine literature, slaughtering anyone who gets in his way and keeping the body parts as souvenirs. Already with forty murders under his belt--and counting--the locals of Branson, Missouri, live in a state of constant terror. . . .In Hellfire Canyon Zach Thomas is a federal trooper with a personal vendetta strong enough to send him deep undercover--into the dark heart of Bolin's vicious gang. Fueled by hatred and justice, he soon wins Bolin's confidence and waits for the killer to turn his back... Max McCoy's westerns have been called "powerful" by USA Today. Now comes a gripping new novel inspired by the true story of one of America's first serial killers--and the lone federal trooper who took on the most daring mission of all.

USA Today bestselling author: When a frontier household is brutally attacked, one woman is bent on vengeance . . . The Kerrigans have fought long and hard to carve out their own piece of heaven on the Texas frontier. And when evil comes knocking at their door, with guns blazing, there'll be hell to pay . . . No sympathy for the Devil It begins with a simple act of kindness—and ends in a shocking night of violence. A homeless family shows up on Kate Kerrigan's doorstep, seeking refuge from a vengeful rancher's wrath. Seeing their desperation—and fear—the West Texas matriarch welcomes the family into her home. But her charity turns out to be an invitation to disaster. First, the rancher and his henchmen come gunning for her houseguests. They break into Kate's mansion. They shoot her butler, brutalize her staff, and try to force themselves on Kate. Then the real slaughter begins. When the smoke clears, Kate vows to send these murderous bastards straight to hell. Even if she has to dance with the devil himself . . .

In Tender as Hellfire, first-time novelist Joe Meno limns a near-fantastical world of trailer park floozies, broken-down '76 Impalas, lost glass eyes, and the daily experiences of two boys trying to make sense out of their random, sharp lives. Dough and Pill are brothers bound by more than blood. The anguish of their past, the terror of their present, and the uncertainty of their future all underscore the only truth that is within their grasp: Each other. For beneath the cruel surface of their trailer park community lies a menagerie of odd characters, each one strange yet somehow beautiful. There's Val, the blowsy bottle blonde who shows surprising maternal instincts when the boys need it most. And El Ray del Perdito, the "Undisputed King of the Tango," a widow who dances nightly imagining his wife in his arms, as Dough peers through the window contemplating a love that seems not to die. In Tender as Hellfire it is the unexpected beauty that means the most, and this important literary debut provides all the beauty and pain that we can bear.

Max McCoy, the Spur Award-winning author of Damnation Road, continues his American Western saga of the Ghost Rifle as the violence and bloodshed the weapon caused return to haunt the man who created it . . . THE WEAPON AND THE WILDERNESS Ten years have passed since Jack Picaro lost his Ghost Rifle—the firearm he invented, the one that never missed its target. The loss of the rifle calmed the hellraiser in his soul. Instead of returning to the gambling halls and whiskey bars of St. Louis, Jack has spent the last decade as a fur trapper in Wyoming’s Wild River Range, married to Sky, the daughter of an Arikara war chief. Then, after helping rescue U.S. soldiers captured by Crow Indians in the Rocky Mountains, Jack hears the familiar bell-like report of his Ghost Rifle. Determined to retrieve his deadly property, he travels deep into Lakota territory, facing down old enemies—and resuming old sinful habits—unaware of what awaits him when he eventually returns home to his family. “Few Western writers today can spin a tale with style, wit, and rawness better than Max McCoy.” —Johnny D. Boggs, Western Heritage and Spur Award-winning author of West Texas Kill

From a two-time Spur Award-winning author comes a gritty and violent Western novel about two feuding brothers who join forces to secure a lifetime of riches. Original.