Kid Montana #48

Kid Montana's prized stallion is stolen by young Junie Mudd, setting him on a collision course with Greener Mudd's ruthless horse-thieving operation—but when a corrupt lawman working with the Mudds throws him in jail on trumped-up charges, the Kid finds himself trapped in a rigged system with a dangerous work crew. Framed and far from help, Kid Montana must figure out how to survive long enough to reclaim what's his and expose the truth about the Mudd family's crooked enterprise.

A young rancher named Tim comes of age watching the hired hands around him—learning their skills, their swagger, and their ways—until he's grown into manhood and must face a test of character when rustlers strike the herd. When his father asks what should be done about the culprit, Tim has to choose between the quick justice of the gunfighters he's admired and the kind of man his father has always been. It's a frontier tale about the difference between imitating a hero and becoming one.

When Spanish colonists brought cattle to America centuries ago, those longhorns had massive spreads and wild temperaments—but Eastern markets wanted meatier beef. Ranchers began crossbreeding their Texas herds with Herefords, gradually transforming the aggressive, long-horned cattle into stockier, shorter-horned steers that were easier to manage and brought better prices at the railhead.

When a stampede leaves rancher Harry Paige battered and his foreman dead, Kid Montana rides in from Billings to help his old trail-riding friend—only to arrive just as mysterious gunmen close in for the kill. Determined to uncover why someone wants the Paige ranch so badly, Kid Montana stakes out the property and takes on the hired guns, but the conspiracy runs deeper than a simple land grab, and the answers lie hidden in the very ground beneath Harry's feet. With enemies multiplying and a shadowy boss named Anton Bujon pulling the strings from the shadows, Kid Montana must dig out the truth before Harry loses everything.