Reading Recommendations:

The Distant Hours

Edie is an only child of respectable if dull parents who, when she was growing up, did little to nurture her natural love of words or mystery.

But now, a letter that should have been delivered fifty years earlier arrives for her mother and sends Edie on a journey into the past. It takes her to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house in Kent, where the Blythe spinsters live and where, she discovers her mother was billeted as a thirteen year old child during World War II. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper who hasn't been the same since her fiancee' jilted her in 1941.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother's past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst. The truth of what happened in "the distant hours" of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it. Morton pays homage to the classics of gathic fiction, spinning an intricate web of mystery and suspense that will stay with the reader long after the last page.

What a page turner!

The Reasons for Marriage

Miss Lenore Lester was perfectly content with her quiet country life, caring for her father, and had no desire for marriage. She took steps to remain inconspicuous when managing her brother's house parties and tried her best to show indifference, but to no avail!

Though Lenore hid behind glasses and pulled back hair, she couldn't disguise her beauty. The notoriously charming Jason Montgomery Duke of Eversleigh, could easily see behind Miss Lenore's brilliant disguise and clearly signalled his interest. However, although she was determined not to be thrown off balance by this charming rake, Duke Eversleigh was equally determined to loosen the hold Lenore had on her heart.

200 Texas Outlaws and Lawmen 1835-1935

Beginning with Texas's Declaration of Independence in 1835 and stretching into the turbulent Depression Era a century later, many ruthless criminals and daring deputies and rangers kicked up dust within the states' borders. Billy, the Kid; Machine Gun Kelly, Bat Masterson, and Belle Starr are familiar faces. Other characters included Texas Jack, Rowdy Joe, Mysterious Dave, Longhair Jim, Buckskin Frank and Curly Bill.

In this book, accounts of gunfights, robberies, and kidnappings follow selected profiles. In a borrowed costume, Marshall Ratliff, the Santa Claus Robber, held up cashiers while several of his "elves" pulled weapons to help St. Nick fill his sack. Mishaps, accidents, and misunderstandings lighten the mood between truly heinous crimes such as that of the Bender Family. Owners of a small hotel, the four family members would kill lone travelers for their possessions.

While pursuing his undergraduate degree at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, Laurence Yadon considered himself fortunate to have studied under William Settle, a Jesse James scholar. This experience served as his inspiration to become a lifelong student of American history, especially that of the southwest.

Dan Anderson is a former news writer, photographer, features writer and columnist. He has been honored with multiple awards from the Associated Press for spot news reporting, investigative reporting and news writing.

Anderson and Yadon are also the authors of 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters and Lawmen: 1839-1939, published by Pelican.

See you at Rylander.