Death in a Texas Desert is a fast-paced collection of 17 compelling true crime stories from the pages of the award-winning The Dallas Observer. From the "Phantom Killer" that haunted Texarkana in teh mid-1940s to the day of terror in 1991 when a crazed man began spraying bullets into Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, author Carlton Stowers recoutns the infamy and infamous from the crime files of Texas.

A search for a simpler, more rewarding lifestyle brings Trent Jones and his wife Olga to the ghost town of Terlingua, Texas so that Trent can accept the unusual job of teacher/principal/janitor of a one-room schoolhouse. So what if the princely sum of half his current salary would make it impossible for them to afford a telephone, or that they would have to haul drinking water from five miles away. It was a challenge whose rewards far outweighed any inconvenience. The colorful residents, the school children, the beauty of the vast and awsome Trans-Pecos all play their part in making this an unforgettable experience and inspirational triumph. Terlingua Teacher gives us a unique definition of what make a person a "success" and offers an insider's look at our hard-working educators and the sacrifices they often make. In its third printing since original publication in 1978. A afterword has been added to bring the reader up to date on the Jonses and the Terlingua School.

Engrossed by the short lives of innocent victims, Stowers uses "The Girl in the Grave . . . and Other True Crime Stories" to tell the tales of devastated parents dealing with evil forces and unanswered questions that invaded their once normal lives, and the effect on the law enforcement officers duty-bound to involve themselves in such evil and troubling situations, investigating and seeking resolve and justice.

Heisman Trophy winners, All-Americans, All-Pros, MVPs and record-setters have, throughout the glamorous history of football in Texas, been all but commonplace. For decades, one set of superstars routinely replaced another, constantly adding to the proud legacy of the state's favorite sport. In ""Texas Football Legends"" you'll meet the cream of a rich and talented crop, reliving those days when they climbed to stardom from high school stadiums in out-of-the-way places to the Saturday afternoon cheers as collegians, and finally in the celebrated ranks of professional football.As you read of their individual deeds, you'll hear the cherished echoes of championship games won and lost, high goals achieved and adversities overcome. Borrowing from a long-used cliche in Texas, football has been elevated to a form of religion. That said, this collection of biographies of the greatest of the great serves as the game's Sunday Best.

An unsolved murder spree that left a town frozen in fear...
In rural Texas, just before Christmas in 1984, a young nurse was found raped and murdered in her Wichita Falls home. Within weeks, a second woman was found-her brutalized body dumped in the frozen Texas plains. Over the next seventeen months three more women would fall victim to a faceless evil, fueling the city's fears and baffling authorities whose every lead came to a dead end. For one haunted man the case would never die.
A fight for justice as cunning and relentless as the killer himself...
Almost fourteen years to the day of the first murder, ambitious investigator John Little reopened the cold-case files determined to deliver closure to the victims' friends and families, and bring a killer to justice. Working on his instincts, following every imaginable clue, Little embarked on an ingeniously clever and exhaustive cat-and-mouse game to trap an elusive serial killer whose sick fantasies would finally be silenced forever.

When the bodies of three teenagers were found on the shores of Lake Waco, Texas in July, 1982, even seasoned lawmen were taken aback by the savage mutilation and degradation they had been subjected to. Yet only 52 days after the gruesome triple-murder was discovered, frustrated authorities suspended the case indefinitely.
Patrol Sergeant Truman Simons, who had been called to the scene that night, saw the carnage first-hand -- and vowed to find the ferocious killer or killers. He soon became a man with a mission, risking his career and his family's safety in search of evidence. Plunging himself into a netherworld of violence and evil, Simons finally got close enough to a murderous ringleader to hear his careless whispers--and ultimately, put him and his three accomplices behind bars for the brutal slayings.
Now, in his Edgar Award-winning account of the Lake Waco killings, acclaimed true crime writer Carlton Stowers lays bare the facts behind the tragic crimes, the twisted predators, and the heroic man who broke the investigation--with important updated information based on new developments in the case.

Down Farm Road 308, an hour's drive south of Dallas, amidst sprawling fields of cotton lies a small community--Penelope, Texas (population 211). Here, where the only thriving businesses are the granary and the post office, unless you count the soft-drink machine in front of the fire station, two-time Edgar Award-winning writer Carlton Stowers discovered a special town that came together, not only to support their six-man highschool football team--the Penelope Wolverines--through thick and a lot of thin, but also, and more importantly, each other. "Where Dreams Die Hard" is a warm and revealing portrait of the American heartland--and of one small town's love affair with the team that unites it. "Through his unforgettable depiction of innocence, goodness, loyalty, and friendship...Carlton Stowers gives us a moving portrait of a community that, in the words of one of the Penelope faithful, is like 'stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting.'" (Billie Letts, author of "Where the Heart Is") "High school football in Texas is both sport and religion, and Stowers brilliantly brings this to light in Where Dreams Die Hard." (Jim Dent, author of "The Junction Boys")