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NEW WHR SERIES “GUN FOR HIRE” KICKS OFF WITH A BANG! by Cheryl Pierson

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There’s a new series in town! GUN FOR HIRE is a multi-author series that focuses on ten men who must rely heavily on their guns throughout their lives. They don’t expect to ever settle down and have a normal life, much less ever fall in love! But, and there is a big but…they didn’t ever expect to meet “the” woman who can make all of that fall into place for them, either!

GUN FOR HIRE includes books by some present and past fillies, and many other talented authors, including Charlene Raddon, who put the series together. It was her brainchild and she made all the gorgeous covers! I was so thrilled to be asked to participate because I had a story in mind I’d been wanting to write and it fit right into the broad premise that Charlene had come up with.

Linda Broday kicked off the series with her book, CREEK, yesterday. Oh, my stars, y’all. Let me just say, I think I’m in love with every one of these men – and that’s before I’ve even read their stories! I’ve ordered CREEK and am just waiting for the perfect time to be able to sit down and immerse myself in his tale.

Next comes DUSTIN by Margaret Tanner. Her story will be available on March 30, but you can pre-order NOW! Charlene Raddon’s story, KIRK, follows on April 15. (So pay your taxes and then treat yourself to a great story!) LANCE by Heather Blanton follows two weeks later, and then DEVON by Carra Copelin.

Jo-Ann Roberts’s hunky hero is named ASH, and SHAD is Caroline Clemmons’s heartthrob. Tracy Garrett’s story is CLINT, and my LANDON is next in the lineup, rounded out by Winnie Griggs’s  story, LUKE.

My LANDON won’t be out until July 15, but boy, there’s lots of great reading in the months ahead, and of course, Winnie’s story just after mine, at the end of July.

Some of these stories will be available not only on KINDLE, but also in print, including my tale about LANDON. Aren’t these covers gorgeous? 

Here’s the blurb to whet your reading appetite! You can pre-order LANDON now, as well as many of the others, and the availability to pre-order the remainder of the others will follow soon.

Landon: Gun For Hire Sweet Western Romance Series #9

Alissa Devine finds herself in an unthinkable situation when her father is murdered, and she’s left to raise her young brother, Zach. With $22 to her name and her no-account gambler father’s burial to pay for, Lissie has no choice but to carry on with her father’s plan to take part in the Oklahoma land run. But single women aren’t allowed on the wagon train.

Landon Wildcat’s mission for months has been to find the man who abducted his younger sister. His search ends when crooked gambler Happy Devine gets what he deserves at the end of Land’s gun. But that act of vengeance leaves Lissie and Zach alone with no man to accompany them on the wagon train.

Wagon Master Bill Castle hires Land as his scout; a devil’s bargain—for both of them. Land offers Lissie his protection, suspecting the unscrupulous Mr. Castle has indecent intentions toward her.

When one of the settlers is murdered, Land takes the outlaws on in a desperate battle to protect the only witness, and nearly pays the ultimate price. Land’s life hangs in the balance, but the wagon train moves on, callously deserting him and the teen boy he saved, along with Lissie and Zach.

Through the hardship, Lissie and Land both realize how much they love one another, and what they have come so close to losing. Though danger lurks around every curve in the road, Lissie believes with all her heart there is a place for their small band of settlers in this untamed Territory. Now that love has finally come, will Fate allow a miracle for their happiness with this new beginning?

Our GUN FOR HIRE series page is still populating, but the first four are up if you want to go take a look at them, too, and pre-order. Here’s the link for the series page. Here’s the link for the series page, and keep checking back to see more as they are added there. The link for LANDON is just below–he hasn’t made it to the series page yet, but he’s coming, along with the rest of the gang!

AMAZON GUN FOR HIRE SERIES PAGE

PREORDER LANDON HERE! 

I love series like this one. The heroes and heroines are all different because they come from varying backgrounds and places, but the heroes have something in common that holds the thread of the series together. 

CHERYL’S AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

 

Two Winners for Karen Kay’s Giveaway

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Howdy!

Hope your evening is goingn well, indeed.

Well, because there was a good turnout yesterday on the blog, I decided to up a person’s chance of a win and give away two books instead of one.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a large selection of RED HAWK’S WOMAN on hand and so I’m going to give RED HAWK’S WOMAN , book #3, to the first name I picked and then the book, THE SPIRIT OF THE WOLF, book #2 in The Lost Clan series to the second name I picked.

Here are the winners:

BONNIE

and

MEGAN

Bonnie and Megan, please message me at karenkay(dot)author(at)startmail(dod)com — What I’ll need from you is a physical address to send the books to.  And again, CONGRATULATIONS!

The Legend of Nancy Hart by Jo-Ann Roberts

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“Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.”  

Eleanor Roosevelt

If you’ve read any of my blogs here on P&P, you’ll recall I’ve often gone down the rabbit hole while researching my books. Which is exactly what happened a few weeks ago while I was researching information for an upcoming Civil War romance set to release in 2026, and came across a book, “The Cotillion Brigade” by Glen Carey.

Based on the true story of the celebrated Nancy Hart Rifles, “The Cotillion Brigade” is an inspiring story of the Civil War’s ravages on family and love, the resilient bonds of sisterhood amid devastation, and the miracle of reconciliation between bitter enemies. Twenty-one-year-old year-old Nannie Colquitt Hill and her “Fighting Nancies” stand between their beloved homes and the Yankee torches.  The all-female unit was composed of wives and daughters of Confederate soldiers.

While this book caught my interest, it was the mention of the Nancy Hart rifles that sent me tumbling down that tangled web. So, in honor of Women’s History Month here is the legend of Nancy Hart…

Nancy was born Ann Morgan in 1747. According to contemporary accounts, “Aunt Nancy,” as she was often called, was a tall, gangly woman who towered six feet in height. Like the frontier she inhabited, she was rough-hewn and rawboned, with red hair and a smallpox-scarred face. She was also cross-eyed. One early account pointed out that Hart had “no share of beauty—a fact she herself would have readily acknowledged, had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking into a mirror.”

Hart’s physical appearance was matched by a feisty personal demeanor characterized by a hotheaded temper, a fearless spirit, and a penchant for exacting vengeance upon those who offended her or harmed her family and friends. Members of the Cherokee Indian tribe soon began to refer to her as “Wahatche,” which may have meant “war woman.” She was also a domineering wife. Many remembered that she, rather than her husband, ran the Hart household, which eventually included six sons and two daughters. Although she was illiterate, Hart was amply blessed with the skills and knowledge necessary for frontier survival; she was an expert herbalist, a skilled hunter, and despite her crossed eyes, an excellent shot.

Nancy was known for being a devoted Patriot, who strongly disliked the British and their cause. She dedicated most of her life to fighting against it. She also fought British and Loyalist soldiers on her own property in the Georgia backcountry on multiple occasions. In one such instance, Nancy was making lye soap, and the liquid was extremely hot. Her daughter noticed a pair of eyes peeking through the wall of their log cabin. She alerted her mother, and Nancy stopped to throw a ladle of steaming soap mixture right into the eyes of the British soldier. She tended the soldier’s wounds before surrendering him to the Patriots.

Perhaps the most famous legend states that British soldiers entered the Hart property looking for a local patriot leader they had been pursuing. When they knocked on the door, Nancy refused to give them any information. Convinced she was lying, the soldiers slaughtered the last turkey on the property, barged into her house, and demanded Nancy cook it for them.

As the soldiers made themselves comfortable, Nancy served them plenty of her corn liquor, getting them drunk enough that they would not notice her sneaking their weapons outside the house each time she walked by them. Then, her daughter snuck outside and used a conch shell to alert the neighbors that they needed assistance.

When the soldiers caught on to what Nancy was doing with their muskets and threatened her, she turned the weapon on them. The soldiers ignored her warning, so she shot and killed the first to approach her. Nancy and her daughter held the remaining at gunpoint until the neighbors arrived. The rest of the soldiers were hanged on a nearby tree.

While this story is steeped in legend, it was given credence in 1912 by the discovery of six bodies on the Hart property. It was said that the skeletal remains were buried three feet underground and had been there for at least a century.

In 1853, the state of Georgia formed a new county from parts of Franklin and Elbert counties and named it Hart County after Nancy Hart. She is the only woman with a county named after her in Georgia. Near the city of Hartwell, G.A., the U.S. government dedicated a monument to her that says, “To commemorate the heroism of Nancy Hart.” In 1932, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps, rebuilt Nancy’s cabin. The DAR gave the cabin to the state of Georgia, and the area, about 14 acres, was turned into a state park.

My May 30th Release!

An outlaw looking for a fresh start. A schoolteacher who might hold the key to the entire town’s salvation.

Ash “Shotgun” McCrae can never make up for all the wrong he’s done. After leaving a notorious outlaw gang, he thought he’d discovered the peaceful existence he’d been looking for when he found work laying tracks for the railroad in Rivers Bend. Yet, when trouble shows up in town, he fears he may never free himself from the burden of his past.

Schoolteacher Kate Cummings stands as the one bright light in contrast to the curious looks and behind-the-glove whispers blowing through the town. The arrival of Padraic “Patch” Rooney and his gang challenges the small-town serenity she holds dear. Still, her steadfast trust in Ash awakens the strength of courage within them all, giving rise to the collective defiance against the approaching danger.

In a deadly game of dangerous outlaws and secret schemes, Kate and Ash must decide whether they are willing to risk everything for their love, including their lives.

 Pre-Order Link

 

 

 

 

Mailing Children

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I read  an interesting question the other day — “When did it become illegal to mail children?”

The answer is in June 1920. After that date you could no longer have your children delivered to relatives by the US Postal Service.

The US Parcel Post Service began January 1, 1913, allowing rural communities to receive packages that weighed more than four pounds without relying on the private delivery services. This was a huge boon to both mail order companies and the rural recipients of their goods.

The original regulations for what could or could not be mailed through the Parcel Service were vague, leading to people mailing all kinds of unusual things, like bricks and snakes, just because they could. Regulations during those early years varied from post office to post office depending on how the postmaster interpreted the rules. Just weeks after the parcel service began, an Ohio couple, Jesse and Matilda Beagle, mailed their eight-month-old son to his grandmother who lived a few miles away. The postage cost 15 cents and he was insured for $50.

In February of 1914, four-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed from Grangeville, Idaho and traveled by train to her grandmother who lived 70 miles away. She was accompanied by her mother’s cousin, who worked as a mail clerk. The 53 cents postage was much cheaper than a train ticket and the stamps were affixed to her coat.  When the Post Master General heard of this incident, he banned the mailing of human beings.

The ban didn’t slow some people down. In 1915 a woman mailed her six-year-old daughter 720 miles from Florida to Virginia by train for 15 cents. All in all there are seven verified cases of children being mailed. In August of 1915, three-year-old Maud Smith was mailed 40 miles to visit her sick mother in Kentucky. The postmaster got called onto the carpet for that incident and that was the last recorded child mailing.

People still tried to mail their children, however, and in June of 1920, the assistant Postmaster General refused the request to mail two children as “harmless animals” and the practice was officially outlawed. It was still legal to mail bees, bugs, baby chicks and other harmless animals, but not those of the human variety.

Wells Fargo’s Wild West and a Give Away!

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In my latest book, my little town of Fiddler’s Gap has been hankering for Wells Fargo to visit their tiny hamlet to see if Wells Fargo would set up a branch there. After all, when the frontier was as unpredictable as the weather, a lot of people entrusted their hard-earned money and valuables to Wells Fargo—a company that quickly earned a reputation for rigorous security. Stagecoaches, the workhorses of the time, weren’t just a means of transportation; they were mobile vaults carrying gold, silver, and other treasures safely from town to town. Problem for my little town was, the nearest bank was eight miles away, and it was darn inconvenient to have to try to make it to the next town, (especially in winter) to take care of one’s money. But as the railroad was finally coming to Fiddler’s Gap, the townsfolk figured they’d give it a shot!

They knew Wells Fargo didn’t take any chances. Valuable shipments were packed in robust wooden boxes, often stowed away in the front boot of a stagecoach or secured within an iron safe. Yet, despite these heavy-duty precautions, the allure of treasure was too great for outlaws. Robbery attempts were a common hazard on the dusty trails of the American West, and it was no different in Oregon for my little town of Fiddler’s Gap.

To counter this, the company introduced a clever two-pronged security strategy. First, armed messengers were assigned to “ride shotgun” alongside the drivers, providing a visible deterrent against would-be robbers. Second, in the aftermath of a heist, a dedicated force of special agents sprang into action. And I’ve got two that come to Fiddler’s Gap.

These special agents were the unsung heroes of the Wells Fargo story. Though they didn’t hold official arrest powers, their knack for piecing together clues and tracking criminals set them apart. Their work involved more than just chasing down bandits—they collaborated with local law enforcement, organized pursuits, and even printed reward posters. A standard reward package typically included $250 and a quarter of any treasure recovered, a generous incentive that underscored the company’s commitment to justice.

Notable figures like James B. Hume and John N. Thacker became synonymous with this relentless pursuit. They honed their skills to such a degree that Hume even maintained a “mugbook”—a collection of photos and detailed descriptions of known outlaws—to aid in identifying repeat offenders.

One standout case from 1871 illustrates the ingenuity of Wells Fargo’s investigative force. After a stagecoach was ambushed between Marysville and Downieville, California, Hume arrived at the scene and immediately observed something others might have overlooked: two distinct sets of boot tracks. By carefully measuring these tracks and noting the unique impressions made by boot nails in the dust, Hume gathered crucial evidence. That’s some pretty spiffy early detective work!

At trial, his findings made a compelling case. A pair of boots matching one set of tracks was linked to suspect George Rugg—a known bandit who had previously evaded harsh penalties by turning informer on his accomplices. This time, however, Rugg and his partner Ephraim White faced conviction, their mugshots forever adding to Hume’s infamous collection.

Then in 1885, Hume and Thacker further cemented their legacy by publishing the “Robbers Record.” Their report cataloged 347 robberies and attempted heists on Wells Fargo shipments—both by stagecoach and train—spanning from 1870 to 1884. It even included comprehensive descriptions of 205 convicted robbers, serving as a vital tool for law enforcement across the West. Thanks to this meticulous documentation and relentless investigation, the conviction rate for stage and train bandits soared to an impressive 70 percent during that era.

While the days of stagecoach bandits and dusty trails are gone, the spirit of vigilance and security that defined Wells Fargo’s early years endures today. That and they make for some great story telling! Have you ever read any books involving special agents from say Wells Fargo, or even Pinkerton agents? I know authors have used both in stories. I’m giving away one free ebook copy of Miss Clementine, The Brides of Fiddler’s Gap, Book 11. Here’s a little more about the book:

Imagine Captain Stanley Finbar Merriweather’s surprise when in one day he finds out that he not only has a grandniece who’s on her way to live with him, but a son! Imagine Clementine Potts’ surprise when she finds out her grand uncle wants to whisk her off to some nothing of a town called Fiddler’s Gap to see her wed! But Fiddler’s Gap has more than a few bachelors available, it is also the home of her Great Uncle Stanley’s son.

Tensions are high when Great Uncle Stanley insists he travel incognito. For all he knows, his son Ives would be better off not knowing him. But a man of his word, he’s also determined to find Clementine a husband, even if it is in the same town where his son lives. But can he hold out long enough to see the job done? Can she? Add a couple of suspicious townspeople, not to mention Wells Fargo agents, and poor Stanley and Clementine have their hands full trying to keep up their ruse! But worst of all, what if Hansen Merlot, the young man Clementine is falling for finds out? Will everything fall apart?

 

“GO-TO” RECIPES–PEPPER STEAK IN A CROCK POT–EASY AND GREAT! by Cheryl Pierson

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Hey, everyone! I am SO excited! No, it’s not a book or a character this time around that’s got me all “hyped”—but, of all things, a RECIPE. Now, hear me out, and I think you’ll be just as happy to get this on your kitchen table as I was.

Y’all know, my “recipe” for a great RECIPE is that it has to be two things: EASY AND GOOD. This takes the cake for both of those things, and also, I was able to make about 3 meals from it. Now if hubby had not been sick, he’d have helped me and it wouldn’t have lasted even that long! I DID have to purchase three items I don’t use that much when I cook (bouillon cubes, cornstarch, and soy sauce), but that’s okay, because I’ll be making it again.

I simplified this even more by buying beef fajita strips already cut (they were perfect!) and I did add about 4 small sweet colored peppers that I already had in the fridge—you know the ones, yellow, green, red, orange, and much smaller than the bell peppers—they added some pretty color! Our Sam’s store carries a brand of spices that makes a blend of salt, pepper, and garlic—that’s what I used on the beef strips.

Don’t be concerned if the beef bouillon cube doesn’t completely dissolve. I stirred in the cornstarch when it was about half dissolved and heated the entire mixture (water, bouillon, cornstarch) up again in the microwave for about 30 seconds, and broke it up at that point.

 

I can’t say enough how easy this was and how GOOD. I served it over some rice, and ate a small salad with it the first night—and the 2nd time I ate it I made corn on the cob to go with it. There are lots of other things you can serve with it—I was sure wishing I’d bought some rolls! LOL

 

Look at this scrumptious feast! All cooked up in one big ol’ crock pot and ready to eat with very little tending once it’s all assembled. This is definitely going to be one of my “go-to” recipes, summer or winter, now that I’ve made it!

Here’s the recipe, and I sure hope you enjoy it. I was thinking, you could probably serve it over noodles, too, if rice is not up your alley. I cooked it for 4 hours on high in my crockpot and the meat was so tender, and everything blended great.

 

PEPPER STEAK IN A CROCK POT

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 2 inch strips

¾ teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cube beef bouillon

¼ cup hot water

1 tablespoon cornstarch

½ cup chopped onion

2 large green bell peppers, roughly chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

 

DIRECTIONS

Sprinkle beef sirloin strips with garlic powder. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sear beef strips, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a slow cooker.

Mix bouillon cube with hot water in a separate container until dissolved, then mix in cornstarch until dissolved. Pour into the slow cooker with beef strips. Stir in onion, green peppers, stewed tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and salt.

Cover, and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

ENJOY!

Do you have a “go-to” recipe that’s easy and wonderful? I’m always on the lookout!  Would love for you to share if you have something your family loves that’s not too complicated to make (cooking is not my forte!) LOL 

Karen Kay’ Winners! Yay!

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Good Evening!

Hope your day was great and hope y’all are doing well!

I know I’d said there would be two winners, but becaue there were more people who came to the blog yesterday, I decided to have five instead.  I figured no one would object.  : )

So names were drawn and here are the winners:

Shirley M. Zigler

Pam Hamlin

Deborah D

Ashley Macias

Patricia Collins

Oops!  In looking at the tags I’d drawn, there was another name attached to one of the others … so we have one more winner.  And that winner is:

Cassie

To claim your ebook, please email me personally at karenkay(dot)author(at)startmail(dot)com

Put a (.) for “dot” and the @ for “at.”

Hope the rest of the week — and the rest of the year, too — is beautiful and filled with lots of love and joy!

Thank y’all for coming to the blog yesterday.