Kirk Hamilton

 Somebody Owes Me

by

Kirk Hamilton

(Keith Hetherington)

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ward Tracy found that out the hard way, when he chanced across a man in the desert who was more dead than alive, and against all the odds nursed him back to life. Before he knew it, however, he was accused of being an outlaw named Al Danton and standing trial for his very life.

What made it worse was the fact that the local lawman, a seedy prosecutor and a greedy judge all knew the truth, but they wanted to show the good folks of Darby that they knew how to deal with hardcases … with hang-rope.

Ward survived, though. He served five years in prison, breaking rocks day after day, week after week, month after month, in all weathers, and when he was finally released, he remembered the lawman, the prosecutor and the judge. And he decided that somebody owed him, big-time – and they were all going to pay the ultimate price.

Ward Tracy saves a dying man on the trail, only to discover he’s a notorious outlaw. Before Ward can explain, the local sheriff brands him as Al Danton, another wanted outlaw. The trial is a sham, the sentence is swift, and Ward is handed five years in prison. Lucky for him, because the rope was already waiting.

But prison didn’t kill the fire inside him. Three years later, after a desperate escape attempt, the truth finally surfaces and Ward walks free with a full pardon. Now he’s riding out to settle the score with the men who stole his life.

It isn’t simple. The crooked sheriff who framed him is running for mayor, and his hand‑picked man now wears the badge. Ward has enemies in every direction and none of them intend to let him live.

Then there’s the outlaw’s dying secret: a hidden cache of stolen loot. Everyone who knows about it wants their share, and Ward is caught in the middle. Greed, revenge, and old grudges collide, building toward a final gunsmoke showdown where only one man walks away.

This will be available from Piccadilly publishing through Smashwords when published. 

Kirk Hamilton

 Rawhide Breed

by

Kirk Hamilton

(Keith Hetherington)

Fate brought wounded gunfighter Logan Keogh to the Rancho Estrella. He certainly would have died had the beautiful Margarita Chavez not nursed him back to health. That put Logan in the debt of the girl and her father, and to repay them, he offered to go after Tonto Ramirez, the bloodthirsty bandit who was routinely stealing Estrella cattle.

But there were sinister forces at work on the Rancho Estrella, men who, for their own murderous reasons, didn’t want Ramirez stopped.

So they decided to kill Logan before he could reach the outlaw’s stronghold.

That wasn’t just a bad mistake … it was a fatal one.

In a land ruled by bullets and betrayal, one gunfighter will deliver frontier justice—no matter the cost.

After killing Lex Weaver—brother of the local sheriff—in a fair fight, Logan Keogh has only two choices: run, or face a man who won’t stop until he’s dead. Keogh chooses the latter and makes for Mexico. But before he gets far, an ambush leaves him wounded and near death. When he finally wakes, he’s in a warm bed at Rancho Estrella.

Once he’s back on his feet, Keogh agrees to hunt down Tonto Ramirez, a bandit stealing stock from the ranch. But nothing at Rancho Estrella is quite what it seems, and Keogh soon finds himself fighting for his life all over again. Add to that Earl Weaver—hell‑bent on avenging his kin and putting Keogh in the ground—and the odds of Keogh making it out alive shrink fast.

A great story: well written, packed with action, and every bit as entertaining now as the westerns I devoured in my younger days.

You can get the book from Piccadilly Publishing here!

Sundown McCabe

 Slade

by

Sundown McCabe

Find it here at Piccadilly Publishing!

Someone wanted Luke Slade out of the way so they could steal his land. So they framed him for murder and looked forward to watching him hang. But it didn’t work out that way. Oh, Luke had to pay for the crime he didn’t commit, sure – but with a lengthy prison sentence, not a noose. And when Luke got out of the penitentiary, he came straight back to the town of Pecos River, where he had a mystery to solve – and some old scores to settle.

Luke Slade was only eighteen when he was framed for murder. The case was wrapped up neatly, tied with a bow, and handed to the court as if it were undeniable. The judge sensed something wasn’t right, but instead of the noose, Slade got twenty‑five years—still a lifetime for a crime he didn’t commit.

Fifteen years later, he walked out on parole with one thought burning in his mind: he was heading back to Pecos River, and the people who set him up were going to answer for what they’d done.

But those responsible weren’t about to let Slade tear down what they’d built. Before long, there was a bounty on his head. He wasn’t entirely alone, though—someone in town had begun posting flyers claiming his innocence. The trouble was, Slade might not live long enough to see the truth come out.

Sundown McCabe (Roger Norris‑Green), an Australian author, wrote a mountain of westerns for Cleveland Publishing—stories known for their speed, grit, and relentless action. This one delivers exactly that. I read so many of his books growing up that I may have crossed paths with this one before, though I can’t swear to it. Either way, it’s a strong, satisfying western that won’t let fans of the genre down.

This book will be published by Piccadilly Publishing on August 1 2026.

5/5  

Kirk Hamilton

 Ride the Lawless Land

Bannerman the Enforcer #2

by

Kirk Hamilton

(Keith Hetherington)

Twenty one thousand dollars ... to get their hands on it, Reno Slade and his gang killed two innocent people and then high-tailed it into the Indian Territory. But they hadn’t reckoned on Sven Johansen’s daughter Anya, who would stop at nothing to bring her parents’ killers to justice.

She knew exactly the way to do it, too. She’d heard of Governor Dukes’ two ‘enforcers’, Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato. Though based in Texas, she knew they could flout jurisdiction and state lines, and ride the lawless land until the account with Slade was settled in blood.

She wanted that above all else. And nothing was going to stop her from being in at the kill!

Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato saddle up again in the second installment of Hetherington’s The Enforcer series, this time riding into the Indian Nations on the trail of Reno Slade, the man responsible for killing Sven Johansen. Johansen’s daughter, Anya, burning for justice, turns to the one person she believes can help her—Governor Dukes.

Dukes dispatches his two top enforcers to hunt down the killers, but there’s a complication: the strong‑willed Anya insists on going with them. Now Bannerman must not only face a ruthless gang of outlaws but also keep an impulsive young woman alive in hostile territory.

While it’s not the strongest entry in Hetherington’s series, it still delivers a fast-paced adventure packed with gunfights and tension. A solid, action-driven read that builds to a dramatic finale. 4/5.  

Marshall Grover

 Drift!

Larry & Stretch

by

Marshall Grover

(Len Meares)

With amiable drifters Larry Valentine and Stretch Emerson as her escort, a beautiful redhead ran the gauntlet of death, travelling many a violent mile to give her testimony in court. Only the boss-outlaw had been captured. The rest of the Sharkey gang was still at large ... and gunning for her! Here was a test of nerve and strength, a challenge no Texan could ignore. When the danger was greatest, the drifters battled on, out-shooting the lawless and thumbing their noses at law and order!

According to several sources, this story marks the very first appearance of Larry Valentine and Stretch Emerson — the pair who would become known throughout the West as The Texas Troubleshooters. Fittingly, when we meet them for the first time, they’re behind bars.

After the mistaken murder of a woman, their fine is unexpectedly paid on one condition: they must escort a young lady to Nash City to testify in a murder trial. Her testimony will send Curt Sharkey to the gallows, but his brother Gil and the rest of the Sharkey gang have no intention of letting that happen. What follows is a tense game of wits and a gun-blazing showdown at the end of the trail.

I grew up reading these books. Len Meares was incredibly prolific, and his long‑running Larry and Stretch series was always a favorite of mine. In this early entry, the Texas Troubleshooters are still finding their footing, but the trademark banter between the two friends is already firmly in place. The tone here is grittier than many of the later stories.

Overall, it’s a solid, well‑written read. The publication date of this particular edition is hard to pin down — early titles were reprinted multiple times — but it likely comes from somewhere in the 1960s.

It’s also available in eBook form if you want an easier way to revisit it. 

Find it here!

Cole Shelton

 The Death Riders

A Shane and Jonah Western

by

Cole Shelton

(Roger Norris-Green)

Twenty years earlier, Dan Eckert had been an outlaw with a desire to go straight. By selling out his companions, the notorious McCabe gang, he earned himself a full pardon. There was just one problem. Two decades later, the McCabe gang broke out of prison and came looking for revenge. Eckert, now the respected town marshal of Sweetwater, knew he couldn’t fight them by himself, so he hired Shane Preston and Jonah Jones to help even the odds. But the one thing nobody anticipated was the actions of Sweetwater itself. Fearful of the McCabe gang and what they might do if crossed, the locals decided to offer up Eckert as a sacrificial lamb … and there was no way on earth that Shane and Jonah could buck an entire town!

It had taken twenty long years, but McCabe was finally ready to claim his revenge—and he meant for it to be sweet.

Shane Preston and Jonah Jones never wanted the job, but they took it anyway: protecting Dan Eckart from the McCabe gang after their breakout from the pen. Eckart, once an outlaw and now a marshal, needed their guns not only to save his own skin but to keep his young son alive.

Sweetwater didn’t want them, and the townsfolk made that clear from the moment they rode in. So when a letter arrived demanding Eckart be handed over or an innocent family would die, the good people of Sweetwater were suddenly eager to comply. Shane and Jonah warned them not to trust McCabe, and when the inevitable betrayal came, the two riders were left to carve a bloody trail of justice across the frontier, determined to stop McCabe and his killers once and for all.

Like all Cleveland Westerns, this is a lean, hard‑riding 97‑page novella packed with gunsmoke and grit. Roger Norris‑Green (writing as Shelton) is a seasoned storyteller who knows how to keep the pages turning right up to the final showdown.

The tale sits within a sprawling 27‑book series, the first 26 following Shane Preston’s relentless hunt for the scar‑faced man who murdered the woman he loved. Each entry stands on its own, delivering a complete, satisfying yarn.

When I was young, Cleveland Westerns were my escape from the everyday world—and for what they were, they were the finest, most gripping stories I could get my hands on.

Stories like this are why I love writing westerns.

Kirk Hamilton

 The Buckskinners

by 

Kirk Hamilton

(Keith Hetherington)

Bannerman The Enforcer #41

They came out of the mountains, a tight-riding bunch just like a breath from the past in their blood-stiff, stained and reeking buckskins. They all wore beaver tail caps, and their hair was shoulder-length, their features almost completely hidden behind bushy, matted beards. They were the Buckskinners, and they robbed and often killed to get what they wanted.

But now it seemed that they’d gone into the kidnapping business, and the husband of the beautiful woman they’d abducted was very specific about what he wanted Yancey Bannerman and Johnny Cato to do about it.

If possible, they were to save his wife. But one way or the other, they were to kill the Buckskinners—every last one of them.

The tale begins in Mexico, where Johnny Cato pulls Yancey Bannerman out of a perilous scrape. A fierce gunfight erupts, and the two men barely manage to escape, crossing the border to safety.

Their respite is short-lived. When a brutal kidnapping shocks the region, Bannerman and Cato are charged with rescuing a woman held by the ruthless gang known as the Buckskinners. Yet the mission proves far from straightforward and nothing is quite as it appears.

This is classic Hetherington storytelling: a Bannerman adventure packed with relentless action, sharp intrigue, and unexpected twists. As the pair hunt for the missing wife of a powerful cattle baron—whose influence reaches all the way to Governor Dukes—the stakes rise dangerously high.

A gripping entry in the Bannerman saga, sure to satisfy long-time fans and newcomers alike.

Brett Waring

Paydirt in Scars

by

Brett Waring

(Keith Hetherington)

Clay Nash #25 

Wells Fargo’s top detective, Clay Nash, was transporting a wounded outlaw to San Antonio when he came across the town of Saguaro Flats. Immediately he sensed that the town was hiding a sinister secret. Marshal Mace Tanner ran things with a firm hand, and was not above cold-blooded murder when it suited him. That put him and Clay at loggerheads straight away.

Clay suspected that the town was involved in the smuggling of impoverished Mexicans across the Rio Grande, where wealthy cattle barons could exploit them as cheap labor. Before he could do anything about it, however, he had to prove it.

Technically, it wasn’t any of Clay’s business. But he’d just helped two Mexicans, Manuel and Rosa Alvarez, to cross the big river into the United States, and he hated like hell to think that he might have inadvertently condemned them to a life of pain, misery, starvation and ultimately … death.

Clay Nash rides one last time—and it’s a gripping tale.

From the moment he heads into Saguaro Flats, Nash is fighting uphill battles. Even before arriving, he survives two gunfights and a dangerous crossing of the Rio, all in the effort to drag Laredo Pitt back onto U.S. soil.

But the real trouble begins once he gets there. A crooked sheriff, a ruthless landowner exploiting Mexican laborers, and the slippery Laredo Pitt—who manages to escape again—stand in his way. Add to that a beating, getting shot, and the constant danger, and it feels like this could truly be Nash’s final ride.

As expected from the Cleveland stable, the pace never lets up. Hetherington delivers his trademark blend of sharp writing and relentless action, keeping the reader hooked from start to finish. I’m currently working through the installments I missed, and once I’m done, I may just circle back to revisit the earlier ones.

This was one I had to read in ebook form. 

Emerson Dodge

Home Like a Hero

by

Emerson Dodge

(Paul Wheelahan)

First published 1999

Val Tyrone was returning home from Mexico. He had left as a reckless young man but came back matured. However, some things remained unchanged—such as the deep-seated hatred between father and son. 

Other things, however, had shifted. His father was dying, a widowed woman sought to marry him for his wealth, and his oldest brother was after everything. Yet, upon Val’s return, it felt as though nothing had changed, especially the constant conflict with his father. The old man’s disdain for Val only grew when the ranch hands gave him a warm welcome.

Cole Tyrone, however, had a scheme to achieve his goals. He unleashed his unfaithful wife on Val, hoping to ensnare him. When that failed, only one option remained: ensuring his brother was laid to rest. 

Another fantastic Emerson Dodge (Wheelahan) tale, with just the right mix of mystery and scheming by those eager to take advantage of a dying old man. While it doesn't pack the level of action you'd typically expect from a Cleveland Western, it still delivers a solid and enjoyable story overall.

To read an interview with Paul Wheelahan, click here!

 

Emerson Dodge

 No One's a Winner

by

Emerson Dodge

(Paul Wheelahan)

First Published 1996

 Tom and Dane Hardy—brothers by blood, but little else binds them. When the story begins, Tom is serving a five-year sentence for cattle rustling, framed by none other than his own brother and the corrupt judge who oversaw the trial. On the outside, his sister Artella and a determined lawyer named Long are fighting to clear his name.

Inside the prison, Tom’s life is made unbearable by the judge’s allies. Pushed to the edge, he makes a daring escape into the snow-covered mountains, pursued relentlessly by a brutal prison guard and a pack of dogs. But Tom isn’t one to go down without a fight.

Meanwhile, Dane is deep in shady dealings, running rifles to Red Cloud’s Sioux warriors. He can’t afford distractions—but Tom’s escape throws a wrench into everything, and the stakes rise fast.

This isn’t just another shoot-’em-up western. It’s a gripping journey of transformation. Tom begins as a man of peace, but as the story unfolds, he confronts the fury buried within him. And when he finally unleashes it, the consequences are explosive.

Emerson Dodge (Wheelahan) delivers yet another compelling tale of the Old West—rich in character, tension, and grit. If you can track down a copy, it’s well worth the read. These books are getting harder to find, but any story penned by Dodge is bound to be a rewarding ride.

Brett Waring

MAKE ME AN OUTLAW

By

Brett Waring

(Keith Hetherington)

A Classic Western #117

First Published 1974

Jim Rainey was an ex-lawman who had settled down with his wife and children to leave his previous life behind. But he gets caught up in a range was and his wife and children are killed he is after answers and revenge.

Once again, a smooth, well told story from Keith Hetherington. As usual with the Cleveland westerns there is plenty of action to keep the pages turning. At only 97 pages per story, they are a quick and fun read.  

Cleveland Publishing Company started publishing their westerns in 1953. At their peak the published 18 digest-sized westerns. Eventually they fell victim to the electronic age and readership fell away. They finally shut their doors in December 2018. 

Cleveland Publishing Company publications: American Wild West, Arizona Western, Big Horn Western, Bison Western, Bobcat Western, Chisholm Western, Classic Western, Cleveland Western, Condor Western, Coronado Western, Dollar Western, Fighting Western, Halliday Western, High Brand Western, Iron Horse Western, Legends of the West, Lobo Western, Loner Western, Peacemaker Western, Phoenix Western, Pinto Western, Rawhide Western, Santa Fe Western, Sierra Western, Sundown Western, Texas Western, The Avenger, Top Hand Western, Tumbleweed Western, and Winchester Western.

Some of the more prolific authors were: Des Dunn, Roger Green, Keith Hetherington, Richard Wilkes-Hunter, Len Meares and Paul Wheelahan. 

Brett McKinley

Gut Instinct

by Brett McKinley

(Paul Wheelahan)

This is the story of two men and a woman. Clay Hathaway--the trail boss who fought for all he had--and Win Chambers--the outlaw killer. Both loved Carrie, but only one could have her. 

Hathaway first met Chambers on a trail drive. Deep down he knew he was trouble and that suspicion was eventually proven when he killed one of the trail hands and disappeared. Once they reached trails end, Hathaway gave up the drive to build himself a home and stock it with cows to marry Carrie. 

But then disaster struck, and Hathaway had to take to the trail again to make money for more cows. While he was away, Carrie married Chambers who soon went off the rails and turned outlaw.

Neither man was done with Carrie. Hathaway still wanted her for his wife. Chambers just wanted her. 

Two men riding head-on into a gun smoke showdown.

Originally published in 1965 as One Must Die. 

McKinley (Wheelahan) has written a rollicking adventure where the violent ending doesn't really come until the last page. 

The action scenes are vividly drawn with a stampede, gunfights, and a fistfight thrown in for good measure. Hathaway is a classic hero as far as westerns go, while after about halfway, we don't see Chambers until we get to the end.

Carrie on the other hand is torn between the man she loves and the man she eventually marries on the spur of the moment while Hathaway is away with a wagon train. 

Possibly the best part about reading the Cleveland Westerns is that they aren't too long and once you start the first page, you're right into the action. At 97 pages, they can't afford to get off to a slow start.

 I rather enjoyed this story as with most of Wheelahan's books that I've read over the years. 

Kirk Hamilton

 The Fury of a Woman

By

Kirk Hamilton

(Keith Hetherington)

Amber Dolan was a woman with hate in her heart and a thirst for revenge.

After her husband was murdered in a stage robbery, Amber went after compensation from Wells Fargo. They refused to pay.

So, Amber found a man to teach her how to use a gun. Gil Satterlee. 

She became good. So good in fact, that Amber got a taste for killing.

Enter Ben Russell, Texas Ranger. It was his job to stop her. If she didn't kill him first.

Fantastic fast-paced read. Twists and turns throughout and a wonderful story by a western master.

Keith Hetherington