TOO MUCH TUMBLEWEED IN THEIR BLOOD TO SETTLE DOWN
 
 
 
Contemporary fiction with "classic" western themes, settings, or characters
 
Ridgerunner

by Gil Adamson

In 1917, after his father, a notorious thief, leaves him in the care of the formidable Sister Beatrice, 12-year-old Jack Boulton breaks free, taking with him something the nun is determined to get back – at any cost.
 
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House of the Rising Sun

by James Lee Burke

Escaping with a stolen artifact after a violent encounter with Mexican soldiers, a Texas Ranger is pursued by a bloodthirsty Austrian arms dealer, who, believing the artifact to be the Holy Grail, targets the man's estranged son. 
 
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The Whistling Season
by Ivan Doig

Hired as a housekeeper to work on the early 1900s Montana homestead of widower Oliver Milliron, the irreverent and perpetually whistling Rose and her font-of-knowledge brother, Morris, endeavor to educate the widower's reluctant sons while witnessing local efforts on a massive irrigation project.
 
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The Flicker of Old Dreams
 
by Susan Henderson

Petroleum, Montana, is a town easily missed, a place without fast-food chains or cell service, where people know the true meaning of hard work. Rocked by tragedy decades earlier, Petroleum never recovered. Neighbors hold tight to resentment, and the population dwindles away.
 
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Where the Dead Sit Talking
 
by Brandon Hobson

After his mother is jailed, a young Cherokee boy, Sequoyah, bonds with another Native American, Rosemary, in the foster home where they both have been placed and experienced deepening feelings for each other while dealing with the scars of their pasts.
 
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The Cold Dish

by Craig Johnson

After twenty-five years as sheriff of Absaroka County, Walt Longmire's hopes of finishing out his tenure in peace are dashed when Cody Pritchard is found dead near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.  (first title in a series)
 
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Train Dreams

by Denis Johnson

Robert Grainer is a day laborer in the American West at the start of the twentieth century-an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world. As his story unfolds, we witness both his shocking personal defeats and the radical changes that transform America in his lifetime.
 
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The Weight of an Infinite Sky

by Carrie La Seur

A story inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet follows the experiences of a Montana cattle rancher's son whose career disappointments give way to the death of his father, his scheming uncle's advances toward his mother and a mining company's designs on his family's land. 
 
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Nail's Crossing

by Kris Lackey

Bill Maytubby, an officer in the tribal Lighthorse Police of Chickasaw Nation, is a clever tracker and book lover with catholic interests. He's investigating the murder of Majesty Tate, who was stabbed to death with a custom-made Bowie knife that Maytubby believes belongs to Austin Love, a meth dealer seen with the victim.
 
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Heaven, My Home

by Attica Locke
 
  Bluebird Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is on the hunt for a boy who's gone missing -- but it's the boy's family of white supremacists who are his real target.
 
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Leaving Cheyenne

by Larry McMurtry

As the world enters a new century, three teenagers forge a future for themselves on the wild Texas grasslands.
 
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No Country for Old Men

by Cormac McCarthy
 
Texas welder Llewelyn Moss makes a dubious discovery while out hunting antelope near the banks of the Rio Grande: a dead man, a stash of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash. Moss packs out the money, knowing his actions will imperil him for the rest of his life.
 
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Prairie Fever

by Michael Parker

Set in the prairie town of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, in the early 1900s, two sisters find their special bond tested when they both fall for a newly-arrived teacher in the town’s one-room schoolhouse.
 
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Wonder Valley

by Ivy Pochoda
 
During a typically crowded morning commute, a naked runner is dodging between the stalled cars. The strange sight makes the local news and captures the imaginations of a stunning cast of misfits and lost souls. 
 
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The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave

by Bill Pronzini

1914. Nothing much happens in Peaceful Valley, Montana ... and that's just how Sheriff Lucas Monk likes it. He hasn't had to resort to his fists or sidearm in years. Then the theft of a wooden cigar store Indian sets off a crime wave like nothing Lucas has ever seen.
 
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A Prayer for Travelers

by Ruchika Tomar

Set adrift when her grandfather passes away, Cale takes a waitressing job and reconnects with Penny, a former classmate who runs side-hustles to finance her dreams, but when Penny vanishes, Cale sets off on a dangerous quest across the desert to find her.
Don't Skip Out on Me

by Willy Vlautin

Determined to prove his worth, a half-Paiute, half-Irish ranch hand who was abandoned by his parents leaves his aging guardians to become a champion boxer before matches organized in Mexico and Las Vegas lead to his realization that he cannot change his identity or outrun his destiny.
 
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As Good as Gone

by Larry Watson

One of the last cowboys, Calvin Sidey, a steely, hardened man with his own personal code who lives off the grid in a trailer on the prairie, agrees to help his adult son out and stay with his grandchildren for a week during which he solves problems the Old West way.
 
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August

by Callan Wink

Struggling to adapt when his parents' divorce takes him away from his father's dairy farm, 12-year-old August flees to a Montana ranch in the wake of a violent act before uncovering dark local secrets. 
How Much of These Hills is Gold

by C Pam Zhang

Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence. Fleeing the threats of their western mining town, they set off to bury their father in the only way that will set them free from their past.