A lighthearted history of ten of Texas’s most notorious outlaws, including Clyde Barrow and a bank robber dressed as Santa Claus. The Wild Westerners were a tough breed. They started young and tended to die young, grow wilder, or fizzle into oblivion. Those outlaws that had the most feuds, gunfights, and robberies within the state lines are profiled here along with their associates, enemies, and accomplices. A rough chronological order of events spanning from pre-Civil War to 1935 tracks significant people and events. With so few lawmen available to police the state, troublesome youths quickly developed into heinous individuals. John Wesley Hardin killed a fellow classmate in a one-room schoolhouse, and eight-year-old James Miller was arrested for murdering his own grandparents. Beginnings and endings for each individual varied. While Sam Bass and Bonnie Parker were cut down in their twenties, Dock Newton didn’t rob his last train until age seventy-seven. Other members of the Barrow Gang lived into their fifties and sixties after transforming themselves from dangerous criminals to ordinary citizens. Texans are often described as being larger than life. Their lives were legendary, their demeanor solid, their illegal activities dramatic and varied from beginning to end. The same lighthearted take on Western history that permeated Dan Anderson and Laurence J. Yadon’s previous works resonates in their latest popular history. True stories, tall tales, and numerous anecdotes comprise this book of ten of the deadliest outlaws to cross the Texas line. Praise for Ten Deadly Texans “Picking the top ten of virtually anything is difficult if not impossible, but [Yadon and Anderson] have presented a strong argument that this grouping belongs at the top of any list of deadly fighters. In their own way, each one chose a deadly path filled with violence, bloodshed, high drama, and excitement.” —Chuck Parsons, author of John B. Armstrong: Texas Ranger and Pioneer Ranchman “A well-researched and highly readable account of the Lone Star State's meanest men and women.” —Mike Cox, author of The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821–1900 “Yadon and Anderson have done their homework to separate the truth from the legend, because not only are they good historians, they know that the real story is quite often better than the legend. Ten Deadly Texans takes you from the Civil War to the Great Depression, from cow ponies and six-guns to Ford V-8s and automatic weapons, through the real lives of some of Texas’s most notorious sons.” —James R. Knight, author of Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-First-Century Update

In the Old West, upright lawmen were scarce. Often, the men who were bound to keep the peace were just as corrupt as the men they pursued. These dishonest deputies chose their professions based on convenience rather than conviction, and the most revered were often the wiliest. These men held grudges, ruled with violence, and instilled fear in all who crossed their paths. Offered here is an untainted perspective of these outlaws that discerns fact from myth. Legends such as Wyatt Earp and renegade lawman Dirty Dave Rudabaugh are presented as real men with quirks and weaknesses. The authors deconstruct not only the Dalton's last stand in Coffeyville, Kansas, and the gunfight at the OK Corral-among other famous heists-but also the triumphs and flaws of their organizers. The Old West's former outlaws turned good, former lawmen gone bad, and honorable citizens who moonlighted as robbers and rustlers are presented in these pages. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Laurence J. Yadon is an attorney, mediator, and arbitrator who presents on various legal subjects, Oklahoma history, and crime history. He has assisted the Department of Justice in litigation matters before his local United States district court and has successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court. He is the co-author of Pelican's 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen: 1839-1939; 200 Texas Outlaws and Lawmen: 1835-1935; Ten Deadly Texans; Old West Swindlers; and Arizona Gunfighters. Yadon resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Robert Barr Smith is a History Channel commentator and the author of more than thirty articles and five books on the American Old West. He has edited several titles, including Pelican's 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen: 1839-1939; 200 Texas Outlaws and Lawmen: 1835-1935; Ten Deadly Texans; and Arizona Gunfighters, and he co-authored Old West Swindlers, also published by Pelican. A retired colonel, Smith served more than twenty years in the Judge Advocate General's Corps and earned the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit while serving in the United States Army. He is a former deputy attorney general of California and a retired professor of the University of Oklahoma College of Law. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma. Dirty Dave Rudabaugh � Hoodoo Brown and Company � Henry Newtown Brown � John Larn � Bob and Grat Dalton � Wyatt Earp � King Fisher � Ben Thompson � Henry Plummer � Joseph Alfred Slade � Doc Middleton � Frank M. Canton

A New York Times bestseller, The Midnight Assassin is a sweeping narrative history of a terrifying serial killer--America's first--who stalked Austin, Texas in 1885. In the late 1800s, the city of Austin, Texas was on the cusp of emerging from an isolated western outpost into a truly cosmopolitan metropolis. But beginning in December 1884, Austin was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London's infamous Jack the Ripper. For almost exactly one year, the Midnight Assassin crisscrossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women from every race and class. At the time the concept of a serial killer was unthinkable, but the murders continued, the killer became more brazen, and the citizens' panic reached a fever pitch. Before it was all over, at least a dozen men would be arrested in connection with the murders, and the crimes would expose what a newspaper described as "the most extensive and profound scandal ever known in Austin." And yes, when Jack the Ripper began his attacks in 1888, London police investigators did wonder if the killer from Austin had crossed the ocean to terrorize their own city. With vivid historical detail and novelistic flair, Texas Monthly journalist Skip Hollandsworth brings this terrifying saga to life.

WHEN COULD SHE STOP RUNNING? A thug had attempted to abduct Julia Daniels at gunpoint in broad daylight. In the very diner where the waitress worked—and across from the sheriff's office. Clearly, whoever was after the widowed mother would stop at nothing, including shooting a police officer. The handsome deputy sheriff who'd taken a bullet for Julia and saved her life vowed to protect her and her traumatized daughter. First, though, Eric Butler needed the truth about why she'd sought refuge in Wildflower, Texas. But how could Julia tell him when it meant putting all their lives in grave danger?

True stories of nineteenth-century crooks, con artists, and quacks—including the man who “sold” the Brooklyn Bridge. Gunslingers and outlaws weren’t the only ones who made the West wild. The nineteenth century was the golden era of riverboat gamblers, crooked railroad contractors, and filthy-rich medical quacks. These crooks made a living deceiving people who took a stranger at face value and left their doors unlocked. Throw in some get-rich-quick schemes and a generous mixture of whiskey and there was never a shortage of suckers. Conman George Parker was able to stay in business for forty years by “selling” public structures such as Madison Square Garden and the Statue of Liberty. He even “sold” the Brooklyn Bridge as often as twice a week. For most, the Salted Gold Mine or the Magic Wallet cons were enough to satisfy their greed. However, the more ambitious grifters tried the Big Store, an illegal underground betting parlor like the one seen in the movie The Sting. With an honest-looking face and a lack of morals, these scammers played a big role in giving the frontier its lawless reputation—and this book tells their stories.

Someone murdered her coworker… Is she the next target? When her assistant’s death is ruled a suicide, wildlife biologist Emma Copley knows the authorities got it wrong. The killer is still out there, threatening Emma’s work and her life. Launching her own investigation, Emma turns to Beau Kingston, who’ll do anything to protect her—even resist their growing attraction. But the handsome rancher has secrets of his own, secrets that could cost them everything…

Can fear of repeating past mistakes Hinder a sheriff’s search for a serial killer? Rayna Coombs has enough on her plate, juggling single motherhood and working as a sheriff. So she's determined to resist the white-hot desire she feels for Parker Norton. But when Parker enlists Rayna's help to find a missing friend, she can't ignore the sparks flying between them. As passion flares, though, bodies start turning up. Can Rayna and Parker track a lethal killer while guarding their own hearts? From Harlequin Romantic Suspense: Danger. Passion. Drama.

The childhood bond of a rookie PI and a troubled FBI agent is put to the test as they track an elusive killer in this gripping romantic suspense novel. Disgraced FBI agent Nolan Colton returns home to lick his wounds . . . only to find death on his doorstep. After a woman’s body is dug up in a parking lot, his longtime friend PI Summer Davies enlists his crime-solving expertise. Nolan can’t help but admire all-grown-up Summer’s tenacity, but new leads take their case in a killer direction—one that threatens the future of their entire case . . . and their own lives.