Richard S Wheeler

The Canyon of Bones: "Mountain man Barnaby Skye takes work guiding wealthy Englishman Graves Mercer on an exploration of the Yellowstone and Missouri River valleys. Mercer has come to the American wilderness seeking thrilling, preferably salacious, material for British tabloids. He takes an ancient bone that's sacred among certain tribes--and the act may cost the party their lives." -- Amazon.com. North Star: "Barnaby Skye faces radical change as...

When three people need to leave Virginia City, they face a jarring stagecoach ride across the plains toward Salt Lake through an area infested with ruthless road agents.

If Barnaby Skye had not wanted the new Henry repeating rifle so badly, he would have thought more than twice about leading this particular group of pilgrims from Fort Laramie into the new Idaho territory. The company includes Alvah Riddle, a marriage broker, escorting three mail-order brides; Goldtooth Joyce and other sporting women from a house in Memphis, looking to get rich quick; Blueberry Hill, a runaway slave and piano player; and the man calling...

From the moment Abner Dent spotted Eve in a Maiden dance hall, he knew he wanted her for his wife. He promised her everything and kept his word. He built her the finest white house in Judith basin and ordered the finest furnishings.

But suddenly--so it seemed to Abner--everything was falling into ruin. He was living in a mansion he could barely afford with an unhappy bride. Someone was stealing his calves and others were stealing the market for

...

"Collected here for the first time are all the Western short stories of Richard S. Wheeler, winner of four Spur Awards and the Owen Wister Award for his lifetime achievement in the world of Western literature by the Western Writers of America, with a cast of vividly drawn characters including madams, miners, morticians, detectives, newsmen, and lawmen."--

"On his graduation from Harvard, Jay Warren, son of a self-made rich man, receives a ticket to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and five hundred dollars with instructions to find himself and shape his own destiny. He hopes to find Easy Street, but instead has some brutal lessons and plenty of opportunity to succeed or to destroy himself"--

Capitalism comes to the American West -- and the Copper Kings of Butte, Montana, wrestle each other and Montana's fledgling government for control of the "richest hill on earth." When newsman John Fellowes Hall arrives in Butte, he sees a mess of smoky mine boilers and makeshift sheds. It's ugly as sin, but it's the best place to get rich. It's also a city full of stories. As an employee of mining titan William Andrews Clark, Hall finds himself involved...

"A widow must defend herself and her property from the greedy townsfolk of Marysville, Montana"--