Reading Recommendations: Pistols, Petticoats, and Poker, The Real Lottie Deno: No Lies or Alibis, Jan Devereaux with an Introduction by Robert G. McCubbin

Battered by the hard times of some of the roughest towns in Texas, Lottie Deno in her youth earned a reputation as a stalwart survivor in a particular locale of a man's world, the frontier saloon. She reportedly bested none other than Doc Holliday at poker and was otherwise competent, in demand, and profitable "after hours." But when other ladies of the night faded sadly and prematurely, into penury and sad obscurity, Lottie Deno would in time marry well and reinvent herself as a respected lady of the town of Silver City and Deming, New Mexico. Not persuaded by the myth-makers of the past, author Jan Devereaux presents and annotates the fact and tells a good story, to give us the real Lottie Deno, one of the Wild Wests most fascinating characters.

And, Scone Island, An Ike Schwartz Mystery, Frederick Ramsey

Ike Schartz, Sheriff of Picketsville, Virginia, and his fiancée Ruth Dennis, the President of a local university, cannot find peace and quiet at home after a trying year of academic and local politics. So, they elect to seek asylum on Scone Island, a rocky island four miles off the coast of Maine. Its lack of electricity, reliable water supply and phone service guarantee their seclusion and peace. The fact that a suspicious accident resulted in the death of the mysterious Harmon Staley should not concern them at all. And it doesn't until Ike's past as a CIA agent rolls in on him like the area's famous twelve foot tides. Two more murders involving former colleagues elsewhere in the country send Ike's old CIA friend Charlie Garland searching the files for a connection. Stonewalling by the CIA and conspiracies, real and imagined, leave Ike and Ruth facing an unknown number of determined assassins alone on the island.

As if that were not enough, Ruth's mother decides to drop in on them just as the excitement begins.

And, The Hot Country, A Christopher Marlowe Cobb thriller, Robert Olen Butler

Christopher Marlowe Cobb, known as "Kit," is an intrepid American newspaper was correspondent who travels to Mexico in 1914 to report on the country's civil war, the American invasion of Vera Cruz, and the controversial presidency of Victoriana Huerta, El Chacal (The Jackal). Covering the war in enemy territory and sweltering heat, Cobb fall in love with Luisa, a beautiful young Mexican laundress who is not as innocent as she seems.

While investigating a German ammunition ship docked in the marina, Cobb finds himself fired upon by unknown assailants, then witnesses a priest being shot with markmanship like precision right in the cross the holy man wears around his neck. Cobb employs a young pickpocket to help him find out the identity of the sniper and more importantly, why German officials are coming into the city in the middle of the night from the ship at the port. Soon Cobb finds himself wrapped in a web of secrets that could change the fate of myriad world leaders, redefine the destiny of two continents, and end his life at any moment.

An action packed chronicle of passion and war, Butler's powerful crime fiction debut is a thriller not to be missed, from a writer who is a true master of his craft.