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The Goodnight Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #1
1992
A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton stood six-foot-eight without his boots. He worked as a musician, a radio announcer, a songwriter, and a newspaper columnist. Mr. Compton began his writing career with a notable work, The Goodnight Trail, which was chosen as a finalist for the Western Writers of America "Medicine Pipe Bearer Award" bestowed upon the "Best Debut Novel". He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. In the last decade of his life, he authored more than two dozen novels, some of which made it onto the USA Today bestseller list for fiction.
Ralph Compton died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 64. Since his death, Signet Books has continued the author's legacy, releasing new novels, written by authors such as Joseph A. West and David L. Robbins, under Compton's byline.
Former Texas Rangers Benton McCaleb, Will Elliot, and Brazos Gifford ride with Charles Goodnight as he rounds up thousands of ornery, unbranded cattle for the long drive to Colorado. From the Trinity River brakes to Denver, they’ll battle endless miles of flooded rivers, parched desert, and whiskey-crazed Comanches. And come face-to-face with Judge Roy Bean and legendary gunslingers like Clay Allison. For McCaleb and his hard-riding crew, the drive is a fierce struggle against the perils of an untamed land. A fight to the finish where the brave reach glory—or die hard.
Benton McCaleb and his band of bold-spirited cowboys traveled long and hard to drive thousands of ornery cattle into Wyoming’s Sweetwater Valley. They’re in the midst of setting up a ranch just north of Cheyenne when a ruthless railroad baron and his hired killers try to force them off the land. Now, with the help of the Shoshoni Indian tribe and a man named Buffalo Bill Cody, McCaleb and his men must vow to stand and fight. Outgunned and outmanned, they will wage the most ferocious battle of their lives—to win the right to call the land their own.
Ralph Compton
Titles are listed in order of first publication. Series numbers are indicated in red.
NOTE: Several posthumous works, published under Ralph Compton's name but written by other authors, are not listed here.
Only the novels actually written by Ralph Compton are in this list.
The Western Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #2
1994
The only riches Texans has left after the Civil War were five million maverick longhorns and the brains, brawn and boldness to drive them north to where the money was. Now, Ralph Compton brings this violent and magnificent time to life in an extraordinary epic series based on the history-blazing trail drives. Set on rescuing their old friend Clay Duval who is trapped inside war-torn Mexico, Gill and Van Austin, nephews of Texas founder Stephen Austin, cross the border after him and soon discover half of Mexico's army wants them dead. Taken prisoner by Santa Anna's soldiers, the brothers make a daring escape and head into Durango country, where they stumble on a valley full of longhorns--and a chance to build a future north of the border. All they have to do now is break Duval out of prison and drive the cattle to safety. But faced with outlaws, soldiers and the cunning plans of a beautiful woman, the Austins are finding out that this isn't a trail drive, it's a war to reach the Bandera Range alive. And the only way to do it is the Texan way--figting for every bloody, dusty mile ahead.
The Bandera Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #4
1994
The Chisholm Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #3
1994
Armed with only a Colt rifle, a Bowie knife, and courage as big as the West, Ten Chisholm—the bold, illegitimate son of frontier scout and plains ambassador Jesse Chisholm and a Cherokee woman—arrives in the heart of Comanche country with a price on his head. His only crime: loving the beautiful daughter of a powerful New Orleans gambler who has promised her to a wealthy man she hates.
Now that Ten has returned to the harsh Texas brakes with a team of battle-toughened cowboys and ex-soldiers—and a vow to return to Priscilla and make her his wife—he must round up wild longhorns, ward off angry Comanches, and survive treacherous outlaw attacks as he crosses the Red River and sets off on a brazen quest to open a new trail to Kansas on the savage frontier.
Long John Coons, the Cajun son of a conjuring woman, was driving 2,000 head of cattle north from Texas to the railroad in Kansas--through Indian Territory and outlaw strongholds. At his side was a beautiful woman with a sordid past, three ex-cattle rustlers, some renegate Indians, Mexican vanqueros and a straight-laced young trail boss. And while Long John tried to keep his hot headed crew from killing each other before they reached the end of the line, the biggest dangers was waiting up ahead--where an all-out war in Kansas make the Texas fight together, or die at the same time.
Gold fever had hit California, and suddenly, the land was full of hungry pioneers. For Gil and Van Austin, two Texas brothers, it meant the chance to sell well-grazed longhorns after years of hard ranching and a treacherous cattle drive up through Mexico. The only trouble was that California was on the other side of a searing desert, swollen rivers, a barrage of Indian attacks, and a whole passel of outlaw trouble. And while the Texans and their men were ready and willing to take it all on, there was one thing they weren't prepared for: the ultimate act of treachery and deceit in a land of schemers, dreamers and gold!
The Shawnee Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #6
1994
The California Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #5
1994
Dodge City was a businessman's dream. And a cattle drive north-with thousands of unbranded longhorns and a remuda of stolen Mexican horses-was a dream of Texans like Dan Ember, who'd come home from the war to find a rich man's hired guns living on his land. Now Dan and his neighbors would risk everything on a drive across the Llano. Along the way, two bands of killers would fight over them, the gunslinger Clay Allison would join up with them, and Quanah Parker's Comanches would try to thwart them-in a bold adventure fueled by the courage to face death, the pride to keep going, and the knowledge that now, there was no turning back.
With a dream of building a ranching empire in Montana, Nelson Story sets off on one of the most extraordinary journeys in frontier history. By his side was a bunch of misfits and renegades-hard-fighting, war-bitten Texans with nothing left to lose. On his tail as the worst kind of enemy-brutal outlaws fixing to bleed his trail drive dry. Pushing his way through four harsh territories and three brutal seasons, Story would defy the Union Army, get a hold of a hundred Remingtons, and take on a thousand riled-up Sioux warriors, before he reached Virginia City-and came face-to-face with the man who wanted him dead...
The Dodge City Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #8
1995
The Virginia City Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #7
1995
Returning to his ruined Virginia home after the Civil War, Nathan Stone is horrified to find his family members murdered and takes a blood oath to track down the seven renegades who are responsible.
Lou Spencer, Dill Summer, and their fourteen Texas cowboys briught a herd up to Independence, Missouri, and sold half to a wagon train heading West. Then the Texans hired on, leading the battling greenhorn pioneers across the Missouri River, across Nebraska Territory, and into the wilds past Forts Laramie and Bridger. With winter closing in, Spencer's men were running out of time to reach the wide-open land of Oregon. And with a fortune in gold hidden in one of the pilgrims' wooden wagons-and outlaws circling like wolves-there were miles of shooting and dying still ahead.
The Dawn of Fury
TRAIL OF THE GUNFIGHTER #1
1995
The Oregon Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #9
1995
Nathan Stone is a living legend in the West as a lawman, an outlaw, a gambler, and a wanderer through the wildest towns and terrain. He has blazed a vengeance trail, giving no quarter and asking for none. Fearlessly, he plays his cards and uses his Colt .45s as best he can in games of chance, skill, and savagery, for stakes of life or death.
Now he is riding on a course that will test his rawhide nerves and lightning draw against the likes of Doc Holliday, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, the fleeing James brothers, and the incredible John Wesley Hardin—as he heads toward a fateful rendezvous with the one gunfighter as fast and deadly as he: the teenage kid who kills like a man and is Nathan Stone’s son....
It was the 1870s—Jesse and Frank James led daring raids on banks and trains. Doc Holliday’s name struck dread in the hearts of men, and Wild Bill Hickok played poker with bullets in the hole. A young killer named Billy the Kid was hunted by a determined lawman, and a General named Custer took the Seventh Cavalry into Dakota Territory.
One man rode this untamed frontier like a shadow of death. His name was Nathan Stone, and he had learned to kill on the vengeance trail. He would have stopped after settling the score with his parents’ savage slayers. But when you are the greatest gunfighter of all, there is no peace or resting place. And it was Nathan Stone’s destiny to fight for survival against the most famed and feared figures from Texas to the Black Hills on both sides of the law.
Autumn of the Gun
TRAIL OF THE GUNFIGHTER #3
1996
The Killing Season
TRAIL OF THE GUNFIGHTER #2
1995
Wes Stone was a lawman-until the Sandlin gang gunned down his legendary father. Now, he's giving up his badge for vengeance...
Between Kansas City and Montana Territory were a thousand ways to die-and a few bold men who would never turn back. Miners dug for fortunes. Soldiers died on open plains. And a few brave men drove the wooden freight wagons into the wild land. Now, master Western novelist Ralph Compton tells the real story of the touch-as-leather men who carried supplies, guns and gold into the untamed frontier. Dutch Siringo rose from modest beginnings and proved his skill with a team of horses and a gun. Betrayed by a woman, hunted by a desperate man, Dutch led a group of hard-fighting teamsters where no other shippers would go-through the heart of the Sioux territory, into the teeth of winder along the murderous Bozeman Trail. Now, between Fort Kearny and the mining camps in the Bitterroot Mountains, Dutch and his teamsters faced Montana blizzards, hungry wolves and the kind of enemies you have to bury to outrun.
The Border Empire
BORDER EMPIRE #1
1997
North to Bitterroot
SUNDOWN RIDERS #1
1996
Across rivers of blood and plains of tears, he led a wagon train toward a country fighting to be born. Miners dug for fortunes. Soldiers died on open plains. And a few brave men drove the wooden freight wagons into the wild land. Now, master Western novelist Ralph Compton tells the real story of the tough-as-leather men who first blazed the way into the untamed frontier. Texas! For the pioneers who streamed out of Missouri it was a land of dreams and freedom. Veteran wagon boss Chance McQuade, a man deadly with a pistol and Sharps, had signed on to take a hundred families there. But the man who hired McQuade was joining the wagon train, and turning it into a brawling, rolling city of sin and violence. Now, on the hard drive West, McQuade faces Kiowa, lightening storms, and killers behind his back-all to reach a promised land that's erupting into war.
Gavin McCord and his brawling cowboys came to Missouri with a problem: 3,500 longhorns and not one buyer. That's where Gladstone Pitkin came in. A man with money and a dream of ranching in New Mexico, Pitkin bought McCord's cattle and hired his Texans for a trail drive from Independence to Santa Fe. But with an ill-fated gambler on the drive, the courageous, hardened riders weren't just a thousand brutal miles from Santa Fe-they were heading into a death trap.
Across the Rio Colorado
SUNDOWN RIDERS #2
1997
The Santa Fe Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #10
1997
Missouri was closed to Texas cattle. Santa Fe was closed by murder. Now, they had one choice: cross desert mountains and hostile Indian land-- to a place called California. The only riches Texans had left after the Civil War were five million maverick longhorns and the brains, brawn, and boldness to drive them north to where the money was. Now, Ralph, Compton brings this violent and magnificent time to life in an extraordinary epic series based on the history-blazing trail drives. For the ranchers riding with Rand Hayes, things had gone from bad to worse. The Santa Fe man who'd contracted five thousand head of cattle was dead-- murdered by renegades. Now the Texans had a herd of longhorns and only one choice: cross two mountain ranges and the Mojave Desert to the gold-fevered market at Los Angeles. A trail blazed by ancient Spaniards, this was a route that would lead through a brutal, wondrous land, where a hostile Ute nation was only one danger the cattle drive faced, and California was a shooting war away.
On a frontier torn by war and renegades, they carried a cargo more valuable than gold. Miners dug for fortunes. Soldiers died on open plains. And a few brave men drove the wooden freight wagons into the wild land. Now, master Western novelist Ralph Compton tells the real story of the tough-as-leather men who blazed the way into the untamed frontier. Once they drove longhorns. Now Mac Tunstall and his band of Texans must take a shipment of Winchesters by rail and wagon all the way to the U.S. Army in Austin. But from the moment the wagoneers set out, violence and treachery stalk their trail. From Dodge to the Brazos, half the outlaws on the frontier are aiming to get hold of an arsenal that could blow the West wide open. And Mac and his men don't see one danger until it's too late-four beautiful, headstrong women determined to share a trail of courage and tears all the way to the end.
The Old Spanish Trail
THE TRAIL DRIVE SERIES #11
1998
The Winchester Run
SUNDOWN RIDERS #3
1997
In Mexico, Wes Stone picked up his father’s gun, rode his father’s horse, and took on his father’s enemies. In California, he planted a band of savage criminals in the ground. Now Stone is heading up to the plains of Colorado, where a new kind of war has begun. A dangerous band of mercenaries is going for the gold—enough to bankrupt the entire country. Their scheme: to raid four U.S. mints. Their weapon: an armored train tearing through the West like a fire-powered battle-ax on wheels. From Durango to Dodge City, across a rugged land stained with blood, gold, and treachery, Stone follows a violent trail of honor. All that stands between victory and death is a quick-draw reflex—and the kind of .44-caliber justice that could tame the West and turn Stone into a legend.
Wes Stone was once a lawman. Then the Sandlin Gang shot down his father, known as The Gunfighter. Swearing vengeance, he takes up his father?s guhns. But little does he know that the odds are even more against him than he thinks?and that to get revenge for a dead man, he might have to die himself?
Train to Durango
BORDER EMPIRE #3
1998
Sixguns and Double Eagles
BORDER EMPIRE #2
1998
Two Confederate soldiers are offered a choice: face their sentences or infiltrate a gang of whiskey runners. And when they meet up with these bandits, they might just wish they'd chosen the firing squad.
They are four hired guns who haul freight for a price into the treacherous, untamed wilderness. Having already risked their lives for the Confederacy, now they’re fighting for themselves—and for a stake in the future—on the great frontier. Led by the poker-playing Faro Duval, these soldiers of fortune are about to take the biggest gamble of all: delivering an explosive cargo from Santa Fe to southwestern Utah. Their destination is Devil’s Canyon…and a mountain of gold. But there’s a wild card in the crew: a man who is one jump ahead of an unsavory past and one piece of silver away from selling them out. In a land of savage outlaws and hostile Utes, with a rattlesnake named Hal Durham in their midst, Duval and his men are running out of time and out of luck…
Whiskey River
SUNDOWN RIDERS #5
1999
Devil's Canyon
SUNDOWN RIDERS #4
1998
Waylaid by a pack of murdering outlaws, Daniel Strange's lifeless body is left dangling at the end of a rope. Now, a mysterious gunslinger is on the vengeance trail, packing Strange's trademark twin Colts, and answering to the same name. And he won't stop until every last man who killed Strange shares the same fate...
Arlo Wells and Dallas Holt are two ex-cowpunchers who've hit a patch of bad luck-until a dying friend tells them of a lost gold mine. They jump at the chance to get the fortune. But Arlo and Dallas aren't the only ones who know about the mine-and their streak of bad luck is about to turn into a fight for survival...
Death Rides a Chestnut Mare
DANNY DUGGIN SERIES #1
1999
The Skeleton Lode
SUNDOWN RIDERS #6
1999