South Dakota Fiction

Deadwood, Dakota Territories, 1876: Legendary gunman Wild Bill Hickcock and his friend Charlie Utter have come to the Black Hills town of Deadwood fresh from Cheyenne, fleeing an ungrateful populace. Bill, aging and sick but still able to best any man in a fair gunfight, just wants to be left alone to drink and play cards. But in this town of played-out miners, bounty hunters, upstairs girls, Chinese immigrants, and various other entrepreneurs and miscreants, he finds himself pursued by a vicious sheriff, a perverse whore man bent on revenge, and a besotted Calamity Jane.

The Wild West has made legends out of many men, but it also forged a lasting legacy for a few of the West's most legendary towns, and alongside the city of Tombstone, Arizona, perhaps the most famous of them was Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Deadwood owes its notoriety to some of the colorful people who called it home, and a recent critically acclaimed television series about the town that brought it to life for millions of modern viewers.

What happens when a giant man rides a vintage motorcycle across America? Sunny Kinnion is about to find out. He’s 6’ 10” and 350 pounds, and he’s leaving his home in Oregon for a journey of self-discovery. His destination: the Black Hills of South Dakota, where he hopes to connect with his heritage and the legends of the Wild West. But along the way, he gets caught up in a shocking incident that changes his life forever. ‘Welcome to South Dakota’ is an action-packed adventure that follows Sunny as he tries to survive and find his true identity. Author Nicholas Thorp creates a ...

In May 1971, Pam Jackson and Sherri Miller were two seventeen-year-olds driving to an end-of-the-school-year party in a rundown Studebaker Lark, when they seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. Police back then didn't do enough to try and find them. Investigators thirty years later did too much. Two families endure decades of pain as they await answers of what happened to their girls. When a third family is pulled into the mystery, they quickly learn their nightmare is just beginning.

From the author of the Carnegie Medal in Fiction winner The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu comes a tantalizing, American West saga about a Chinese American family trying to survive on their Dakota farm as a powerful, mysterious, and morally dubious military secret shapes their lives. When Saul Keng...

I suppose some of us have to get really dirty before we can become truly clean. I was allegedly South Dakota's most famous Old Lady. Sixteen years ago, I had survived my Old Man's murder. Never again. Never again will I surrender my heart. Never again will I sacrifice to the Club. But that all changed in one night. I came home and crashed into him, and my past and present blew up in my face.

A historical epic about a girl from a remote Tongan island who becomes her people's queen. Talking corpses, poetic parrots, and a fan that wafts the breath of life—this is the world young Kōrero finds herself thrust into when a mysterious visitor lands on her island, a place so remote its...

“Sunny Kinnion has escaped his past and found a new home in the Black Hills of South Dakota. But his peaceful life is shattered when he visits a horse sanctuary and meets two Native girls who are later assaulted by a ruthless tycoon. Sunny vows to protect them and seek justice, even if it means risking his own life. ‘Welcome to Pine Ridge’ is a thrilling adventure that exposes the darkest side of power and wealth. Author Nicholas Thorp creates a captivating story with unique characters and a surprising plot that will keep you hooked until the last page. If you love books that blend ...

Discover the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum’s intrepid wife, Maud, in this richly imagined novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse. “A...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE BLOCKBUSTER JACK REACHER SERIES THAT INSPIRED TWO MAJOR MOTION PICTURES AND THE STREAMING SERIES REACHER “Reacher gets better and better. . . . [This is the] craftiest and most highly evolved of Lee Child’s electrifying Reacher books.”—Janet Maslin...

Jennie Arnsby wants nothing more than to turn around and go home. Her family is on their way to Deadwood, South Dakota, when Aiden finds his way to their small wagon train. His teasing and banter leave her wanting to toss him out the back and in the dust. When they are separated outside the city, she is left wondering if she'll ever see him again. Aiden Bradly wants to find his gold and return home. Nothing more. He can't afford to get tangled with a woman. He's doing just that until he meets the feisty Jennie.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE BLOCKBUSTER JACK REACHER SERIES THAT INSPIRED TWO MAJOR MOTION PICTURES AND THE STREAMING SERIES REACHER “Reacher gets better and better. . . . [This is the] craftiest and most highly evolved of Lee Child’s electrifying Reacher books.”—Janet Maslin...

Visit the Mount Rushmore State! Learn about South Dakota's history, geography, weather, people, and more in this book that's all about our 40th state.

Gertrude thinks she's got a knack for proving that ghosts don't exist, but this time she's taking on a celebrity phantom: Seth Bullock. She and Calvin pack the cats into the camper and head to Deadwood, where she will attempt to prove herself right once again. But shortly after she gets there, a movie star drops dead, and she finds herself with two cases to solve. Maybe the two cases are even connected?

Eva Arnsby can’t stay indoors, her need to draw the woodland creatures around her home near Lead, South Dakota gets her in a heap of trouble. And none more troublesome than a shadowy stranger who steals her notebook and her spirit. Ranger, Captain George Roth, is suspicious when he finds a small woman in man’s trousers sneaking around in the woods. Determined to discover the woman’s secrets, he takes on an assignment, ready to investigate her under the guise of a harmless town dandy.

Unexplained and bizarre supernatural influences have an affect on customers while playfully messing with the living by showing themselves to the diners, but only to their peripheral vision, and then quickly disappear when any attempts at making full contact are made. In other realms, a few irritated spirits are happy inhabiting a quiet space where supernatural beings contentedly exist outside of the unaltered world, feeding their need for personal space where they can openly exercise and violate the natural powers that only entities that have passed on can understand.

A Midwestern girl balances her dreams of becoming a dancer with the complications of growing up on her own, far from her working-class family, in this “stirring, stunning novel about the desire for a certain kind of life and the quest to find it” (Meg Wolitzer). “The sharp physicality of...

Brayden and Aria Aria moved back to her home town of Lennox to work as a nurse and give back to her community. But when she heads to a wedding dance in Spring Creek, she runs into Brayden – the quietest of the Brooks brothers. He runs the family ranch and helps at the sale barn on sale days. Trope List: Small town, western, horses, instalove Series Order: Book #4 in Spring Creek: Brooks Brothers Aria When I finished my nursing degree, I moved back to my hometown of Lennox to give back like the community did to me when my dad passed away from cancer. When I’m not at work, I love spending...

After being thrown in the clink for private investigating without a license, she's fled the state to go where her talents will be more appreciated: South Dakota. She has big plans to set up shop, but an injury halts her journey shortly after crossing The Sunshine State's state line. She and Calvin are forced to hole up in a struggling campground, and when Gertrude finds the body of the campground owner, she is certain the man has been murdered.

Hattie Arnsby’s been a slave to men and whiskey for the last year. She’s drowned herself in drink to avoid her life at the Red Garter Saloon in Keystone, SD. When a handsome deputy finds her after a year of searching, she finally sees a sliver of hope. Hugh Bradley is deputized to find Hattie and bring her home, but her captors aren’t ready to set her free. He must help her be rid of the drink and the binds of the brothel. But when Hattie’s handed temptation, will she run back to her past or embrace the love growing between them?