As he flees to the sanctuary of Mexico, Chacho Fernandez is unaware of the fuel he has added to the already simmering racial hatreds in and around the quiet town of Domingo, Texas. Through events set in motion by a misunderstanding, Chacho becomes a folk hero to his people and a dangerous fugitive to a group of zealous lawmen.First published in 1974 by Ballantine Books, ""Manhunters"", the tale of Chacho's legendary flight, was inspired by the story of controversial Mexican fugitive Gregorio Cortez. In 1901 Cortez, a young horseman, shot a sheriff during an argument, leading to the largest concerted manhunt in Texas history.This novel is alive with the idiom of Kelton's native West Texas and freely punctuated with his trademark wry humor. His characters, both the ignorantly petty as well as the quietly strong, ring true to life.

Welcome to Judge Roy Bean Country! The landscape is big enough and wild enough to contain any legend even one the size of Judge Roy Bean. Jack Skiles started with a determination to learn the truth behind the legend of Judge Roy Bean. Armed with a second-hand tape recorder in the 1960s, he interviewed Texas Rangers, ranchers, treasure hunters, and any Langtry old-timer with a good memory and a story to tell about the Judge. Forty years later, with a lifetime pursuing the truth, Skiles weaves that oral history and solid historical research into a compelling panorama of this harsh, forbidding land West of the Pecos. ""Judge Roy Bean Country"" sets right some of the most enduring myths about the Judge and Langtry. But here along the Rio Grande in the rugged Chihuahuan Desert there are many more tales to tell of heroes, villains, adventure, humor, and pure misery from the romantic Old West. Following Langtry native son Jack Skiles into the land West of the Pecos, prepare to meet one old reprobate by the name of Judge Roy Beanand history-telling at its very best.

Winner, Mitchell A. Wilder Award for Publication Design, Texas Association of Museums Folks across the West know a cowpoke named Jake. A good-hearted guy, he's always up to his eyebrows in debt or drought or prickly pears looking for them dad-blamed ole wild cows. In fact, he's so real a fella that it's hard to believe that Ace Reid made him up. This book brings together 139 of Ace Reid's popular "Cowpokes" cartoons, reproduced in large format to show the artistry and attention to detail that characterized Reid's work. Grouped around themes such as work, weather, bankers, and friends, they reveal the distinctive "you might as well laugh as cry" sense of humor that ranch folks draw on to get through hard work and hard times. In the foreword, Washington Post cartoonist Pat Oliphant offers an appreciation of Reid's "Cowpokes" cartoons, noting that "Ace's work has a magic of its own, and it owes nothing to anyone else." Reid's longtime friend Elmer Kelton recounts Ace's life and career in the introduction, describing how a shy boy who grew up on ranch work transformed himself into an artist-entrepreneur who never met a stranger and who made ranch work the subject of his real love, cartooning. This collector's volume belongs on the shelf of everyone who loves the "Cowpokes" cartoons, knows a fella like Jake, or enjoys the dry wit of the American cowboy.

Aging cowboy and bronco-buster Wes Hendricks just wants to be left alone on his poor ranch, even when town developers offer him big money to sell it. Wes's grandson reluctantly tries to convince him to give up his home, but that was before he, too, succumbs to the ranch's--and a young cowgirl's--wild beauty.

Caprock, Texas, is a sleepy cow town until oil is discovered in the 1920s. Suddenly thousands of people stream in to find their fortune. Some are honest folk like Elise and Victor Underwood, who pray for a little luck with their daily bread. But too many are two-bit swindlers. And then there's frontier mobster Big Boy Daugherty. Sheriff Dave Buckalew faces a whole different set of circumstances as his town springs to life -- in good and not-so-good ways.

The town of Caprock is loosely based on Crane in West Texas, where Kelton grew up, although Crane did not exist until the oil boom.

Honor at Daybreak represents a departure for Kelton. There is no single dominant figure. Although Sheriff Buckalew represents a quiet strength that binds his town together, this is a book in which an entire community joins together to save itself.

In "Joe Pepper, "the titular character, while awaiting a hangman's noose, tells the story of how he discovered a propensity for violence while seeking revenge. The irony is that Joe's keen sense of justice puts him on he wrong side of the law.
"Long Way to Texas," taking place just after the Civil War battle of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico, is the story of Lt. David Buckalew, whose remnant of Confederate riflemen is under siege and low on rations and water. Complicating matters is the young officer's self-doubt and fear of failure.
Thomas Canfield of "Eyes of the Hawk, "known to the Mexican citizens of his town of Stonehill, Texas, as "El Gavilan"--the Hawk--is not a man to forgive a wrong. He sets out to prove this to an insolent ranchman rival who intends to build a fortune at Canfield's expense. The Hawk has a radically different idea: he will destroy the town before yielding to his enemy.
This omnibus edition of three novels by Elmer Kelton features an introduction by Dale L. Walker, author of twenty-three novels and a past president of the Western Writers of America.

In "Texas Sunsrise", Elmer Kelton brings together two novels that tell the story of the Texas Revolution. In "Massacre At Goliad", tensions mount between Mexican authorities and American newcomers. Revolution is in the air, something Thomas Buckalew welcomes but his brother Joshua fears, since Joshua is in love with a Mexican girl. The story touches on the immortal battle of the Alamo but centres on the infamous Goliad massacre, and ultimately the decisive battle of San Jacinto, which made Texas an independent republic. "After The Bugles" begins where "Massacre At Goliad" ends - on the battlefield at San Jacinto. Joshua Buckalew tries to put the pieces back together but finds that starting over in the aftermath of war can be as challenging as the war itself. The racial differences that helped foment the conflict have not gone away. And Texas finds that being an independent republic can be more difficult than being a colonial extension of Mexico.

"Ranger's Law" brings together the fourth, fifth, and sixth of Elmer Kelton's novels on the formative years of the Texas Rangers. Kelton's young heroes, Rusty Shannon, and one-time Comanche captive, Andy Pickard, fight Indians, outlaws, feuding ranchers, smugglers, and all manner of lawbreakers while trying to make lives for themselves in the tumult of post-Civil War Texas. In "Ranger's Trail "it is 1874 and retired Texas Ranger Rusty Shannon is urged to rejoin the force to assist in protecting settlers from Indian raids and outlaw bands. After the girl he loves dies, Rusty goes on a vengeance trail, determined to find and kill the man who has ruined his life. But the trail Rusty is following may lead him to an innocent man.
"Texas"" Vendetta"" "takes the young ranger Andy Pickard into the midst of a hate-filled and bloody post-Civil War feud between two Texas families. Pickard, who survived a childhood as a Comanche captive called "Badger Boy," also becomes involved with the young son of an outlaw, a boy who has been "adopted" by the rangers at their San Saba River camp, earning his way as a cook's helper. The boy's father, now released from prison, comes to take his son back, and into a life on the run.
In "Jericho's Road, "Andy Pickard is assigned to the Texas-Mexico border and finds an ominous notice on the edge of a great tract of ranch land above the Rio Grande: "This is Jericho's Road. Take the Other."" "The sign signifies Jericho Jackson's land and Jackson is at war with a similarly ruthless cattle baron on the Mexican side of the river, Guadalupe Chavez. The two rustle each others' cattle, raiding and killing on both sides of the border, heading for a bloody showdown -- with the Texas Rangers standing between them.