Edge-of-your-seat thrillers from the greatest Western author ever.There will never be another Western writer like Louis L'Amour. A legendary author and indisputably the greatest storyteller in his genre of all time, L'Amour captivated millions of readers and has sold well over three hundred million copies of his works, which includes nearly ninety novels and countless short stories.Mistakes Can Kill You highlights an essential selection featuring nine of L'Amour's earlier short stories, sometimes written under the pen name Jim Mayo, that exemplify the rugged morality of the best Western writing. In “Black Rock Coffin-Makers," two men ready to kill over ownership of a ranch get more than they bargain for when a stranger is caught in the crossfire. And in “Four- Card Draw," Allen Ring wins a ranch in a poker game, only to find out an unsolved murder was committed there years ago and law enforcement thinks Ring knows more about it than he's letting...

When beautiful Angelina Foley presents Tom Radigan with a Spanish grant and claims ownership of his land, he realizes he's up against a cunning and deadly opportunist. Foley wants him off Vache Creek immediately, and with three thousand head of cattle, an outfit of hardcase gunfighters, and winter coming on, she is unwilling to take no for an answer.But Radigan has worked four hard years building up his ranch. Fighting for it--and, if he has to, killing for it--is something he is more than willing to do. If Angelina Foley and her men think he is the kind of man to give up without a fight, they are dead wrong.From the Paperback edition.

As part of the Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures series, this edition contains exclusive bonus materials! Joe Harbin hadn't killed a man for a fortune in gold just to sit in prison and let Rodelo collect it. But when Joe and his men break out and head for the stash, they end up with a pair of unwelcome partners: Rodelo and a beautiful woman with a hidden past. To get fifty thousand dollars in gold across fifty miles of desert, the desperate band quickly learns how much they need one another—and how deep their greed and suspicion can run. At the end of the journey lie the waters of Baja and a new life in Mexico, but first they have to survive the savage heat, bounty-hunting Yaqui Indians, and the shifting, treacherous nature of both the desert sands and their own conflicting loyalties.Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures is a project created to release some of the author's more unconventional manuscripts from the family archives. In...

Book DescriptionFrom the American West to the Siberian coast, from Hollywood to the boxing ring, here are timeless tales of war, mystery, romance, crime, and punishment as only Louis L'Amour can tell them.These stories are vintage L'Amour: A hard-bitten cattle driver is pitted against a man trying to steal his woman, the disappearance of a thousand head of cattle, and a plot to frame him for murder....A private eye visits a remote mining town on a case involving a sexy widow, an uneasy lawman, and a fortune in gold buried in an abandoned mine shaft....A country boy with a good right hand must fight not only his vicious opponent in the ring but the ruthless gangsters who'll do anything for profit-even commit cold-blooded murder....A young woman stranded in an isolated harbor must survive the wilderness and a brutal battle of wits with a sadistic fortune hunter.Here is the trademark blend of action, suspense, historical detail, and unforgettable characters that have made Louis L'Amour one of the world's most extraordinary writers.From the Paperback edition.From Publishers WeeklyWritten in the 1940s and '50s, the 10 stories in this collection, none previously published in book form, come complete with curvy Hopper-like heroines "shaped to please" whose "eyes you could lose yourself in." The heroesAboxers, detectives and gunslinging cowboysAsleuth, shoot and slug their way valiantly through plots that seem like dress rehearsals for the full-blown L'Amour novels. Surprisingly, there is just one true western, a melodramatic horse opera loaded with cattle rustlers, gunfighters and hayseed dialogue. "Meeting at Falmouth," an unconvincing historical fiction, imagines a proud and tragic Benedict Arnold on a rainy night in 1794. "The Money Punch" and "Sideshow Champion" make prizefighting (an early occupation of L'Amour's) the theater for drama, suspense and moral conflict as ambition calls the loyalty and honesty of two young boxers into question. The collection's most successful story, "Under the Hanging Wall," is a clever whodunit with a chiseled gumshoe investigating a murder in a California mining town. Smart foreshadowing and snappy plotting reveal L'Amour to be a skilled mystery writer. Though not sophisticated psychologically, L'Amour's brassy women and dusty men keep the action of these cinematic stories hot. Entertaining and of interest to the devotees of L'Amour's 100-plus books, these adventure tales offer their share of the high drama L'Amour is famous for. Three more collections of yet-unpublished work will follow. (May) FYI: Louis L'Amour, who wrote 90 novels, was the only novelist to receive both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. There are more than 260 million copies of his books in print.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The Inside FlapRiver of gold, river of blood...Callaghen's business is soldiering. For twenty years he's fought all over the world--from China to California--now he's a private in the U.S. cavalry, poorly paid, his enlistment about to run out. He's ready to move on. Until he saves the lives of his patrol in a brutal encounter in the harsh Mohave Desert and comes across a startling discovery: a treasure map belonging to a dead lieutenant who may not have been all he seemed. The map points the way to an underground river of gold...or does it? To find out, Callaghen will have to fight the toughest war of his life: against a fierce Indian warrior, a vindictive commanding officer, and a ruthless gang of outlaws who'll turn what may be a river of gold into a river of blood. About the AuthorLouis L’Amour is undoubtedly the bestselling frontier novelist of all time. He is the only American-born author in history to receive both the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal in honor of his life's work. He has published ninety novels; twenty-seven short-story collections; two works of nonfiction; a memoir, Education of a Wandering Man; and a volume of poetry, Smoke from This Altar. There are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide.From the Hardcover edition.

As part of the Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures series, this edition contains exclusive bonus materials! His father killed by the British and his home burned, young Tatton Chantry left Ireland to make his fortune and regain the land that was rightfully his. Schooled along the way in the use of arms, Chantry arrives in London a wiser and far more dangerous man. He invests in trading ventures, but on a voyage to the New World his party is attacked by Indians and he is marooned in the untamed wilderness of the Carolina coast. It is in this darkest time, when everything seems lost, that Chantry encounters a remarkable opportunity. . . . Suddenly all his dreams are within reach: extraordinary wealth, his family land, and the heart of a Peruvian beauty. But first he must survive Indians, pirates, and a rogue swordsman who has vowed to see him dead. Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures is a project created to release some of the author's more unconventional manuscripts from the family archives. In Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures: Volumes 1, * Beau L'Amour takes the reader on a guided tour through many of the finished and unfinished short stories, novels, and treatments that his father was never able to publish during his lifetime. L'Amour's never-before-seen first novel, No Traveller Returns, will also be released as a Lost Treasures publication, followed by Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures: Volume 2*. Additionally, many beloved classics will be rereleased with an exclusive Lost Treasures postscript featuring previously unpublished material, including outlines, plot notes, and alternate drafts. These postscripts tell the story behind the stories that millions of readers have come to know and cherish.

Book DescriptionCattlemen ride alone across the open range under the deadly aim of roving desperadoes. Gamblers stake their fortunes and their lives on a deck of cards. Strong-willed senoritas seek independence through an enticing combination of beauty, audacity, and spirit. Lawmen and outlaws walk the same dusty streets and speak a common language: Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson. Gritty, tough, and unflinchingly authentic, here is the West as it really was: a land where for every friend there is an enemy, for every handshake a fist, for every dispute a resolution--usually in an explosive showdown of blood and bullets. In these remarkable tales, Louis L'Amour--like the very heroes he depicts--blazes a trail across the American frontier and takes us on an unforgiving journey into the heart of our western heritage.

Book DescriptionMajor James Brionne brought Dave Allard to trial for murder. Just before the hanging, Dave swore his brothers would take vengeance. Four years later, the brothers returned to settle the score. Only the Major and his son escaped. His family murdered, Brionne and son seek a new life out West. But he knows the Allards are still on his trail and he vows to be ready this time.

Book DescriptionConagher, a tough drifter thinking about settling down, must face a band of renegade Apaches and a deadly gang of rustlers before he can find peace.

Book DescriptionTom Chantry wore no gun and wished no man harm. French Williams was a ruthless cattleman more than willing to use his weapon. But Tom needed Williams to help him drive a herd north to Dodge. Setting off together on a trail alive with danger, soft-spoken Chantry and hard-bitten Williams faced storms, treachery, and Indian attacks. Now the man some call a coward and the man many call a killer have no choice but to trust each other with their lives-for both have enemies and both are pursued by a violence from the past.

Louis L'Amour is now one of the most iconic western writers of all time, but once upon a time he was Jim Mayo, a regular writer for the pulps. And some of the stories he wrote in those days stuck with him enough that he revised and expanded them into novels."The Trail to Peach Meadow Cañon" first appeared in Giant Western in October, 1949. The text was expanded and substantially changed when it subsequently was published as an original paperback titled Son of a Wanted Man in 1984."The Trail to Crazy Man" was first published in West in July of 1948, and was later expanded into a paperback original published by Ace Books in 1954 as Crossfire Trail, and was later made into a film starring Tom Selleck. But there was a special magic to the original stories, and after research and restoration, the stories appear here in their original version.