Russ Clayton has always enjoyed a good cowboy story, whether it’s a book, a TV series, or a movie! One of his favorites is Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove (both the book and the TV series) – which he has watched again and again! There’s nothing like the Old West to capture the imagination.

Russ decided to set his US Marshal Cal Cooper series in Hays City, Kansas, because of its colorful history and the reputation it once had of being one of the most violent towns on the Kansas frontier. But this is fiction, so he has taken some license by including establishments and lawmen that you won’t find in any history of Hays City (as well as some that are!)