Jerry S. Drake Libri

Abandoned in childhood in pre-Civil War Texas, Tom Patterson grows up tough, wily, and surprisingly good-natured. These traits serve him well as a conscript cavalryman in the Confederate Army. His courage in combat and his resourcefulness in dangerous situations earn the attention, admiration, and friendship of his sergeant, Ben Haley. Slightly older and more levelheaded, Ben is a big brother mentor to the impetuous Tom during the war, and afterwards, they remain friends and partners. Seeking new lives in the West, the two young men sign on with the Union Pacific. Serving as mounted guards, their duty is to protect construction workers on the transcontinental railroad from marauding Indians. With the battles of the war behind them, new and exciting adventures await as Tom and Ben face the many perils and the violence of the expanding frontier.

In the sequel to The Gunfighter's Apprentice, former gunfighter Tom Patterson and his wife Betty are drawn into a scheme of assassination and avarice in 1880s California. Patterson seeks to find and warn the proposed victim of a failed murder attempt. He hopes to discover the criminal intent and the malevolent men who are behind it. Following a lead, Patterson's travels to various locations near the Nevada border bring him close to finding answers to the conspiracy, but the search has deadly consequences for others and offers many life-threatening dangers for him. Fighting for survival, Tom and Betty pit their skills, wits, and courage against a mysterious and malignant enemy.

Mitch Ellsworth wants a new, uneventful life. With a history that includes Civil War service with the notorious Quantrill raiders, post-war banditry and a consequential stretch in a Missouri prison, he hopes to put his past behind him. Responding to a plea for help from Bob Carlin, a childhood friend and companion in their youthful escapades, Mitch arrives only to discover Carlin wants his help with an imminent bank robbery. When Mitch refuses, he is shot by his angry friend and left for dead. After a lingering recovery, Mitch finds he is a wanted man, mistaken for a member of the Carlin gang who was wounded in the bank robbery violence. Mitch must now set out on a danger-filled journey to avenge his friend's betrayal and clear his name, all the while haunted by remembrances of his yesteryears.

During an attempted robbery in a Nebraska frontier town, a young storekeeper, Matt McKay kills the brother of a murderous gang leader, Jack Moss. Fearing the outlaw's revenge, Matt's father takes him to Colorado and hires and once-feared gunfighter, Tom Patterson, to teach him the gun skills needed for self-defense and survival. For a sizable sum of money, Patterson accepts the task even though he views the young man too gentle and innocent to survive a gun battle with an accomplished killer. On his rundown ranch high in the Rocky Mountains, the gruff, older gunslinger imposes days of gun-handling practices, hoping to instill a killer instinct in the easygoing Matt. In the nearby rowdy mining town of Gold Stream, Matt has the opportunity to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of his mentor. In eventful situations, Patterson's friends and enemies make Gold Stream a site of entertainment and danger. With the threat of the Moss gang's retribution ever present, Matt and Tom Patterson form a bond of mutual respect and resolve as they await a fatal showdown.