Melody Groves Livres

"A history of the first stagecoach line to connect the East and West coasts"--

Award-winning author Melody Groves brings back the Colton Brothers for another action-packed, show-stopping adventure! Andy Colton, the youngest of the Colton brothers, leaves Mesilla to pursue gold mining in New Mexico's Black Range. However, he finds little gold and is captured by a runaway slave while fleeing from a band of Apache. Andy recovers from his wounds with the help of the slave but soon realizes that the man wants a "boy of his own." When news reaches Mesilla that the Apache have raided Santa Rita and Pinos Altos-areas where Andy was last known to be-his brothers Trace and James set out to search for him. Meanwhile, their third brother, Luke, arrives in Mesilla from Kansas for a visit but stays behind to help James and Trace's wives. After being sold to the Apache by the slave, Andy is used as bait to lure James in for revenge-James had killed the Apache leader's brother. A fight ensues between the Coltons and the Apache at the church in Pinos Altos, ensuring an explosive showdown not soon to be forgotten.

"How hard can it be to drive three thousand longhorns one thousand miles across the Sonoran Desert and up to California? It's the end of the Civil War, and the demand for beef is high. In Mesilla, James Colton convinces his three brothers there's money to be made. And lots of it. However, the Colton clan is definitely new at this. The brothers climb into their saddles only to encounter problems they had never considered previously. Whid MacGilvry, determined to exact revenge for his wrong belief that James Colton stole his sweetheart, stays one step in front of James and his cattle drive. Devious, Whid dreams up ways to torment not only James, but his brothers, too, deciding that killing James is not enough. Destroying the entire family will have to do. Problems plague the Coltons from the start. Poisonings, Indian attacks, false accusations by the army, a fabricated anthrax alert keeps Tin Town from buying the herd. In Tin Town, James and his brothers confront Whid and his delusions. James shoots Whid, ending the nightmare"-- Provided by publisher

"Gold fever hits Andrew Colton & Thomas O'Malley. Raided by Apaches O'Malley is killed. Andy stumbled upon a cabin of a runaway slave named Dawson who abuses him. The other Colton brothers come looking for Andy which leads the Apaches, the Coltons and Dawson in a fight for their lives"--

Women in the 1870s have little control over their lives and the women of Dry Creek, California, look to Sheriff Maud Overstreet, a thirty-something spinster, as an example of women's progress. Following a disastrous fire that leveled the school, Maud appoints a woman as fire chief. Inspired, several women step forward to run their own businesses-a bakery, charm school, and newspaper-much to the consternation of the male town councilors. While searching for the school arsonist, Maud witnesses a shooting which left a man dead, questions the new concept of insurance, and assumes the salesman was the arsonist. She also takes on the role of campaign manager for two of her friends, both vying to be Mayor. Toss in more fires, a wild romance, a rowdy town dance, establishing a school for Chinese girls, and mysterious threatening notes, Sheriff Overstreet faces each new challenge with determination. She is, after all, a Lady of the Law.