Silver of the Black Range Author:Paul L. Thompson The 1870s. As opposed to the myths of popular culture, not everybody was swaggering around with six-irons strapped down and leading lives of mayhem. But there were the exceptions--every bit as evil, bloody and deadly as legends portray. And so too, was the law that handled these outlaws. In the mold of men like Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp, M... more » D "Shorty" Thompson is just that kind of lawman: Short on stature but tall on guts. Hand-picked by President Rutherford B. Hayes, he is one of best. And since United States Marshals of the 1870s handle desperados, this means just about everybody does seem to be using those strapped-down dragoons and wreaking havoc. For Marshal M D Thompson, its the life of a lawman. In Silver Of The Black Range, Marshal Thompson is riding out of Socorro and toward the New Mexico Territory in search of his long-time partner, Buffalo Blackburn. Blackburn was to have recently bought a ranch and Thompson is looking forward to some time with his "pard." What the lawman gets instead is trouble without having to search for it. Riding headlong into murderous silver thieves, he fights a fever-pitched gun battle in which he is wounded. A beautiful blonde who nurses the Marshal back to health, another confrontation with the silver thieves and a trip to San Francisco for the gang's honcho round out this fast-paced account of hot lead and journeys across the far-flung west. Narrated in the authentically seasoned dialect of a southwestern storyteller, the Marshal Thompson series pays tribute to the thrilling and heartbreaking hardships of our nation's western history. Accurately reconstructing the sweeping landscapes of the old west, these novels document the times and historical locations largely ignored by writers who have not been there. Paul L Thompson actually has been there, and you will feel like you were there, too.« less