First time in book form! The short story and full-length novel that make up The Man Without a Gun find Lauran Paine writing at the height of his talent.

In Lost Valley, Douglas Hyland, the third-generation owner of a family ranching empire, is faced with the possible destruction of the empire by settlers who arrive on the land, claiming they have legal titles to it. Iron Marshall tells the story of Jim Collins, a marshal who should, according to some, move on and let someone else take over. But when a stranger comes to town, Collins enemies look to him to take action.

"Two western stories about lawmen who receive unexpected help in bringing justice to wrong doers"--

"The close arrivals of a fast-drawing drifter and an unconventional preacher --who turns out to be an ex-convict with a reputation as a gang leader--cause Ballester's Deputy Sheriff Percy Whittaker to wonder if they are plotting something together"--

Long Bow Ranch was huge, even by standards of landholdings west of the Missouri River. The Long Bow riders couldn't patrol the entire ranch -- it was just too big -- and they were losing cattle in the Lost River Country to the Arapaho. When ranch owner old Jim Welsh had had enough, he went directly to the Arapaho and over four parlays, came to an agreement -- the Arapaho would take no more than ten cattle a year. And that arrangement was still in...

Charley and Hank were sent to the south desert of Arizona to find and arrest an old outlaw named Peter Harkness. It was rumored he lived in Parral, a town that had a terrific water source, a boon in the desert. They found Pete, and when people heard who they were looking for, they found plenty of trouble, too.

Three men met in the little New Mexico cow2town of Shafter. The only thing they had in common was that each rider had an ivory butt on his sixgun. They had robbed a bank in Laraime, Wyoming, and had previously arranged to meet in isolated, insular Shafter. But the fates that pull at men decreed that each of those three riders would end one phase of his life in Shafter, and begin another phase-and before this all happened, there would be a gunfight....

"A feud between the biggest and richest cattleman, Richard DeFore, and the local stage line couldn't have come at a worse time to Winchester, Colorado. The town's new sheriff, John Klinger, young, inexperienced, and hot-headed, hasn't been in the job for a month yet when DeFore, who has never sold or donated the right of way for the pass which is on his land, demands the stage line pay a toll for passage, which the company is refusing to do..."--Back...