Luke Starbuck

IN THIS TOWN Five thousand dollars. That was what a slick Denver lawyer-representing a mysterious client-offered to pay the legendary manhunter Luke Starbuck. The job: to find a way into Wyoming's infamous Hole-in-the-Wall outlaw stronghold and shoot a bad man dead. Starbuck knew there was something wrong with the deal. And, by the time he reached the foothills of the Big Horns he had a good idea what it was: he'd been set up to be killed. ANY MOMENT COULD BE YOUR LAST... Now, making his way among lawmen, gunmen, and free spirits riding on both sides of the law, Starbuck is traveling to Salt Lake City and all the way back to Denver to find the mystery man who wants him dead. But, with key players dying every step of the way, Starbuck must find his answers within his own violent past-and in a Badlands town called Deadwood, where secrets are sealed in blood.

Some men were digging for gold. Some men were digging graves. And, someone was getting away with murder... You went through a rugged paradise to reach Virginia City, Montana. Then you came to hell: a ramshackle town where fifty-six men have been killed, dozens of stagecoaches have been robbed, and a fanatical vigilante leader is threatening to blow the town sky-high. In Denver, Luke Starbuck was hired to stop the epidemic. But, when he gets to Virginia City, he finds a tough sheriff already hanging outlaws as fast as he can, a mystery swirling around a young woman's murder, and a whole lot of people with blood on their hands. Working undercover with the help of a beautiful stage star, Starbuck soon discovers that the chaos of Virginia City is really a well-oiled and murderous crime machine. To take it apart, the West's most legendary detective has to find the Judas lurking behind every violent crime-and then he has to kill him...

TOMBSTONE In 1878, a struggling prospector found silver in the jagged mountains of Arizona. Within a year the town of Tombstone was filling up with merchants, tradesmen, gamblers, whores, and gunslingers. And then the Earp family came to Tombstone-five brothers and their women and their wives. Along with Doc Holliday and a band of thieves, Wyatt Earp treated the Arizona territory as his personal stomping grounds-until Wells Fargo decided to put an end to a string of savage stage robberies. With the legend of the OK Corral shoot out fanning out across the frontier, private detective Luke Starbuck was sent to Tombstone to find the truth. And when he got there, Starbuck's mission turned into one burning, personal obsession: to kill Wyatt Earp... THE SPOILERS Private detective Luke Starbuck has been hired to ferret out the Judas working for Central Pacific-the mastermind behind a string of train robberies. The target: gold shipments from the Frisco mint. All Starbuck has to do is pass himself off as an outlaw and infiltrate the pack. But getting inside this hellhole of crime is dangerously easy if you make the right moves. Make the wrong ones, and getting out could be murder.

"MATT BRAUN IS A MASTER STORYTELLER OF FRONTIER HISTORY." -Elmer Kelton In a place called No Man's Land Texas rancher Ben Langham hired Luke Starbuck for his loyalty and toughness gained by riding with Rip Ford's Texas volunteers. But when Langham sent Starbuck after a band of horse thieves, a loyal man left behind the only home he had ever known-and met the stranger in himself. One man found a home... To track down a thief, Starbuck posed as an outlaw, misled his woman, and killed to protect his own life. Then he rode into a kingdom of vicious horse thieves and entered into a fierce duel with a criminal mastermind hiding behind a respectable life. Somewhere along the line, honest, hardworking Starbuck discovered that he was a changed man-one who had forged himself a freedom and a future in a place where other men died... "BRAUN IS ONE OF THE BEST!"-Don Coldsmith, author of the Spanish Bit series

In a land of death and corruption Texas rancher Ben Langham left his sprawling inheritance to the man he trusted most: Luke Starbuck. Once Starbuck had dreamed of having land of his own. Now he dreams of finding the man who gunned down Langham-and bringing him to justice. One man found a calling of his own... With the Cattlemen's Association behind him, Starbuck has all the authority he needs to ride into New Mexico on the path of a murderous band of thieves. But, he didn't count on coming face to face with a scrawny killer named William "the Kid" Bonney, a shifty sheriff named Pat Garrett, or the true story behind the legendary Lincoln County War. Suddenly, Luke Starbuck finds himself dead center in a powerful conspiracy-and heading straight into the line of fire...

When Luke Starbuck takes on a wealthy banker as a client, the only thing more compelling than the paycheck is his prey. The James-Younger gang has confounded countless detectives, including the men of the Pinkerton Agency. Now it's Starbuck's chance to bring down the most notorious group of outlaws the West has ever seen-led by none other than cold-blooded killer Jesse James. From Kansas City straight through the Indian Territory, Starbuck's mission is about to becomes a down-and-dirty vendetta that will leave one man standing…and the other six feet under. Five thousand dollars. That was what a slick Denver lawyer offers to pay the legendary manhunter Luke Starbuck. The job: to find a way into Wyoming's infamous Hole-in-the-Wall outlaw stronghold-and shoot a bad man dead. And no sooner does Starbuck enter the foothills of the Big Horns does he realize that he is the one who's being hunted. Now, Starbuck must make his way among lawmen, gunmen, and free spirits riding on both sides of the law to figure out who wants him dead…all the way to the Badlands town called Deadwood, where secrets are sealed in blood.

"MATT BRAUN IS A MASTER STORYTELLER OF FRONTIER HISTORY." -Elmer Kelton On a fierce frontier In 1878, a struggling prospector found silver in the jagged mountains of Arizona. Within a year the town of Tombstone was filling up with merchants, tradesmen, gamblers, whores, gunslingers…and, eventually, Wyatt Earp. One town earned a legend of its own… When Earp arrives in Tombstone, nothing is ever the same. Along with Doc Holliday and a band of thieves, he turns the Arizona territory into his personal stomping grounds-until Wells Fargo puts an end to a string of savage stage robberies. With the legend of the OK Corral shoot-out fanning out across the frontier, private detective Luke Starbuck is sent to Tombstone on a mission: To learn the truth about Wyatt Earp. And to lay his legend to rest… "BRAUN IS ONE OF THE BEST!" -Don Coldsmith, author of the Spanish Bit series