Joseph A. West

A broken man finds a reason to fight in this riveting Ralph Compton western.
Requiem, formerly known as Apache Creek, is a town that has seen better days. After a plague of cholera swept through the streets, the only folks left behind are ghosts, including Marshall Sam Pace. Even though he’s still living and breathing, three years of solitude have turned Sam into a phantom—a lonely man who’s more than a little touched in...

Newspaper reporter Lester T. Booker sets out to interview legendary lawman, ex-gunfighter Ransom March. But the dime novel hero turns out to be little more than an old ex-lawman of questionable moral fiber who doled out death to unsuspecting-- and sometimes unarmed-- enemies. One criminal who escaped Rance's brand of justice is the man known as the Gravedigger-- a man who earned his moniker for buryng his victims alive. Rance comes out of retirement...

Ordered to head west when a New York gangster puts a price on his head for killing his son, Detective Sergeant John McBride ends up in High Hopes, Colorado--a lawless boomtown where McBride quickly runs afoul of corrupt saloon owner Gamble Trask and his vicious hired guns. When beautiful card dealer Shannon Roark asks for his protection, it's high time for one of New York's finest to dole out some frontier justice of his own.

John McBride is a former New York City lawman who's moved west to pursue a more peaceful existence. But easy living just isn't in the cards. And when a town sheriff with a Texas-size chip on his shoulder decides to make trouble, McBride knows that one way or another, somebody's headed for an early grave.

When Charlie Pike's old commanding officer call him to action, he cannot refuse. General Dryden was a blustery, demanding leader, and he saved Pike's life in the war. Now a judge in the wilds of New Mexico Territory, Dryden is dying--and he wants Pike to escort him back to his native Texas. But a powerful gang leader wants vengeance on Dryden, and Pike is about to find out that paying some debts can cost a man everything.

"When the Apache surrounded the settlement of Alma, New Mexico, the 'respectable' townsfolk began hanging those who weren't. Town drunk Eddie Oates was lucky to be banished from the town, left for the Apaches to kill. Oates never thought he was a survivor. But now, he's discovered a reason to go on--and he's about to unleash a raging fury upon those who would prey on the helpless, the hopeless, and those who others think aren't worth fighting for"--Publisher's...

John McBride purchases a restaurant in the eerily named town of Suicide. But marauding Apaches, rampaging outlaws, and even the townsfolk are driving tensions sky high--and McBride isn't exactly a welcome newcomer.

Keeping the peace is no trouble at all in a town of one. The only folks left behind in Requiem are ghosts - and after three years of solitude, Marshal Sam Pace has turned into a phantom of sorts. Sam is sure that actual people - rather than the ghosts he sees in his mind - will return and bring the town to life again. But when a woman on the run stumbles into town, Sam turns his attention to what he must do as caretaker of the town, and dons the mantle...