Shorty Thompson US Marshal — 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.

With an eye toward New Mexico, or perhaps the Arizona Territories, M D "Shorty" Thompson is a young cowboy looking for winters warmer than those of the deep-in-your-bones cold of the Texas plains. But just north of the former Republic's border Thompson runs afoul of cattle rustlers and killers. The ensuing ordeal lands the young Texan in Wyoming where he crosses paths with the stolen cattle's illegal new owner, a retired Army General more crooked than a dog's hind leg. But crooked or not, the nearby Army fort carries more weight than local law enforcement and they are solidly behind the retired General. So in hopes of finding justice with a little more backbone, Thompson strikes out for Washington DC.

But instead of finding Justice, Thompson himself becomes justice when President Rutherford Hayes sees just the Marshal he was looking for in the gutsy Texan. Now to get the justice he wants, Thompson must fight the cattle rustlers of the entire New Mexico and Wyoming territories--all while wearing a tin star target.

Narrated in the authentically seasoned dialect of a southwestern storyteller, this first volume in the Marshal Thompson series begins a 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.