Showing results by author "Max Brand" in All Categories

When a mysterious man on a white horse robs a series of stagecoaches on their way from the little town of Appleton to the Concord railroad station, everyone in town suspects a young and enigmatic man named Slim Malone. The newly elected mayor decides to bring in outside help, a deadly gunfighter named Lefty Cornwall.

As an intern in the accident room of the local hospital, Jimmy Kildare cannot accept any money for his work. Circumstances force him to perform emergency operations while he is in town on and for local toughs. They try to pay him, but he always refuses. Then he learns that his mentor, Dr. Fearson, is being threatened for not paying his gambling debts. Kildare is called to perform another secret and dangerous operation. Will he finally accept payment and save his mentor?

Young Jim Curry's father is killed unjustly by an enraged mob, and the boy barely escapes the same fate. He shoots two pursuers and assumes they are dead, and in desperation becomes a most unusual outlaw, the Red Devil. He never kills, takes only ill-gained money, secretly returns it to the rightful owners, and escapes every pursuit on his remarkable horse, Meg. Spoiled Charlie Mark has left home to seek thrills and easy money. He vows to find the Red Devil and discover why he is so merciful and so particular about his victims.

Includes three Max Brand Westerns: The Gift, Jerico's Garrison Finish, and Sunset Wins.

Recently, a number of Western stories have been discovered among Max Brand’s unpublished works and the first story in this book, "The White Streak", is one of them. Its protagonist is 21-year-old Jimmy Babcock, a former football star, but now a worker at the local bank run by William Parker in the town of Dresser, which has changed from cattle country to one made up of oil and alfalfa fields. When Parker fires Jimmy, all Jimmy can think is how he will hurt Muriel Aiken, his fiancée, who wants to marry.

In the dreary kitchen of a rough hotel in a lonely one-horse town a tough-talking young woman toils amid endless abuse from crude and cruel cowboys. The wildness starts after a stranger spots the beauty behind the grease. A sagebrush cinderella story

The knife missed him by a fraction of an inch! Then he reached under his pillow, grabbed his gun and fired into the darkness. If Alvarez survives, he'll look for one man, an unbeatable bodyguard or the assassin who wants him dead. Either will do.

As he comes of age, Ed Raleigh disobeys his wealthy rancher father, Pete Raleigh, and escapes to the Bald Eagle Mountains to prospect for ore. When he stops at the town of Sierra Padre, he visits his father's old haunts and meets up with many of his father's old friends. One former friend, Jim Martin, however, is now his father’s sworn enemy who he has vowed to kill Pete Raleigh for taking away the woman they both loved, now Ed Raleigh's mother. Ed Raleigh is shocked and worried, for how will a declared murder attempt on his own father be prevented?

In Pete's Bar in the Bowery in New York, Pete tells some newspaper friends the story of Morgan the Fearless, a notorious desperado in the West. After terrorizing the Bridgewater region, the mayor hires Buck Christie to confront and defeat Morgan. Christie makes sure his challenge is heard. One night, Morgan enters the bar in Bridgewater with both guns trained on Buck Christie. The bar patrons freeze, and the atmosphere turns deathly quiet. Which one will walk out alive?

Jargan is a summer gambler wintering in the western town of Big Horn when he saves the life of Don José Cordoba and unwittingly acquires a new job. Soon he finds himself on a boat to Buenos Aires, having gained passage as the horse handler of two extraordinary horses: one called El Pantera, and a killer named Asesinato. He must use his innate wisdom and survival skills to protect himself and his charge against malignant men with a brutal love of cruelty.

A weeklong dust storm has almost destroyed Bob Lindsey’s ranch and the surrounding region. He soon learns that the storm has also put his friend Andy Barnes’ cattle at risk, and the only clean water for them is at a cost of 10 cents per head from his former friend, John Street. Why would Lindsey jeopardize his life to save someone else’s cattle and risk the rage of two former friends?

Speedy probably had a last name, but no one knows it--a young man, a loafer, a drifter, a tramp. He does not usually use a gun, although in "Nighthawk Trail" he does, but it is only an elaborate illusion. Speedy is regarded as one of the most dangerous men in the West. The object of his quest is to find the great horse Nighthawk, bought for $7,000 by old Joshua Crane.

Young Chip lures his friend Joe deep into Mexico to rescue the beautiful Doloritas Ruan. Master storyteller, Texas-born and raised Barry Corbin, horseman, rancher, and star of the hit TV series Northern Exposure reads this classic Western story by Max Brand.

"One way only - Death." This was the message that Walt Devon intercepted by chance in the gold-crazy town of West London. A murder was being arranged and Devon intended being around when the shooting started. What Devon didn't know was that he was to play the part of the corpse...Max Brand at his best - pure Western adventure! One rancher defends his land against those who want it by any means possible.

When Dick Rutherford, known as The Colonel, loses all his money in a horse race heads into the Far West to seek his fortune. His companion in this is Christy Deever, whose inventiveness and quick thinking prove valuable assets on the frontier. After a series of exciting adventures, they find themselves adopted members of the Mandan Indians.

Jack Sherry and Bill Garvin are both dealers in wet cattle until Jack Sherry is caught and forced to take the grim trail to the gallows. Bill Garvin is left behind, bitter and distraught, but hopeful that somehow he will be able to mend the bullet-frayed fabric of a broken faith.

Hagger is a man on the run, a thief and would-be killer. He's no good on a horse, and feels miserable and out of place in the snowbound high country. But, then, Hagger comes upon a white bull terrier, abandoned in a mountain cabin, and his whole life begins to change.

"Trailin’!" is a western novel by Max Brand. Excerpt from the book: "Take off the blinder," he ordered. "Look here, lad, I know this hoss. The minute the blinder’s off he’ll up on his hind legs and bash you into the floor with his forefeet." "Let him go," growled one of the cowboys. "He’s goin’ to hell making a gallery play." But taking the matter into his own hands Woodbury snatched the coat from the head of the stallion, which snorted and reared up. There was a shout from the man, not a cry of dismay, but a ringing battle yell.

King of Rats features Max Brand’s unforgettable Reata, a virtuoso of the lariat, who must steal a horse to flush out the desperado, Pop Dickerman, who wants to kill him. With some luckless partners and a gypsy girl he loves, will Reata finally deliver Pop Dickerman to justice?

City boy Frank Quigley was secretly sent west to try to break up the impending marriage of his wealthy boss’ daughter, Cecelia, to her ranch foreman. When he arrived, Cecelia’s prize bull, Red Thunder, escaped into the woods, sending the ranch into chaos. All hands were called in to try to capture the escaped wild and angry bull. How would they be able to capture Red Thunder, and who will tame this raging menace?