Merlin Fanshaw Western

It is the end of the year 1882 in Progress County in the Montana Territory, when young Merlin Fanshaw finds himself caught between the competing agendas of a ruthless outlaw, two very different lawmen, and one pretty girl.

Merlin Fanshaw is the "Bodacious Kid." After his parents death, Merlin had been semi-adopted by livery owner Walt Finkleman. But now old Walt is dead and Merlin is alone, except for the prized horse the kind old man left to him.

When cattle Baron Thane McAllister's daughter Julie disappears from her home and a ransom note signed by the notorious Coldwater brothers arrives at the ranch, the cattleman calls on his longtime friend U.S. Marshall Chance Ridgeway to deal with the situation. Marshall Ridgeway deputizes cowboy Merlin Fanshaw sends him and legendary tracker Hoodoo Hawks to deliver the ransom and rescue Julie. The job is supposed to be a simple one, but Merlin soon learns that a "simple assignment can sometimes be the most difficult of all."

The Crow Indians are on short rations, and hungry. Every now and then, they steal a steer or two from the cowmen. The cowmen strike back and steal the Crows' horses. Once in a while, somebody gets shot.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Merlin Fanshaw is out of town on the day George Starkweather and his outlaw band hold up the Cattleman's Bank of Dry Creek. Upon his return, Fanshaw's boss, U.S. Marshal Chance Ridgeway, suggests the deputy volunteer to infiltrate the

Sheepman Abel McKenzie and cattleman Zack Rainford were once the best of friends, but are now, in 1887 Montana Territory, mortal enemies. Their escalating feud threatens to throw the people of Meriwether County into a bloody range war. Three ranchers have already been killed, and the investigation into the homicides received only cursory review.

Butte City, Montana Territory, 1888 The chance discovery of a virtual mountain of copper brings incredible wealth and power to two men: Irish immigrant and miner, Marcus Daly, and merchant, banker, and investor, William Andrews Clark. The two men become bitter rivals, employing armies of workers from every corner of the world as they battle head-to-head for control of "The Richest Hill on Earth." And then, in the spring of that year, the stakes increase dramatically. Word reaches the U.S. Marshal's office at the Territorial Capitol in Helena that a sinister assassin is stalking Marcus Daly. U.S. Deputy Marshal Merlin Fanshaw is sent to Butte City to investigate the rumor. His assignment leads him into the heart of life in the booming camp and into a desperate race against time to save Daly's life-and his own!

When U.S. Deputy Marshal Merlin Fanshaw mistakenly kills an innocent boy during a bank robbery in Miles City, Montana, he abandons his career as a lawman and rides out into a vast and sparsely settled region known as The Big Open. Hired as a cowhand by ranch woman Billie Hart, Merlin is soon drawn into a deepening conflict between Billie and a ruthless cattleman who will stop at nothing to possess her ranch. When violence threatens, Merlin takes a stand, and exorcises the ghosts of his past.