In the rowdy times of the Old West, a lawman’s partner could be the most important thing keeping him alive when all else is lost… …what about when that partner is a horse? This is the story of how Matthew Slade, the Pinkerton detective agency’s best man-tracker and gunslinger, befriended his most loyal companion. Note: This 3800 word story is an introduction of sorts to the characters in ‘The Gaslight Gunslinger’, a series set in 1870’s San Francisco and available here on Amazon from Sugar Lee Ryder. A sample chapter of the first book in the series is included with this story.

1878: San Francisco’s changed from a Gold-Rush era boomtown into a bustling city full of money, Victorian-style bawdy houses, and a loose sense of the law at best. Enter Matthew Slade. Formerly the Pinkerton Detective Agency’s best gun-hand, investigator, and tracker. No sooner does he arrive at San Francisco’s stockyard than he rescues Mai Lee, a little Chinese girl, from a pair of thugs intent on kidnapping her. Slade finds out that the girl is wanted by Huang Sun, the leader of the dominant tong – a Chinese crime syndicate that runs opium dens, fan-tan parlors, and prostitution in the city. And Slade can’t walk away, even if he wanted to. His first paid job as a free agent is to keep Mai Lee out of Sun’s hands – no matter the cost! Can a gunslinger used to the open plains and prairies of the West deal with the criminal underworld of a crowded metropolis? Even with the help of his friend, sea-captain Amos Harding and the backing of a pair of bawdy-house madams, the odds are long at best!

Gunslinger Matthew Slade and his friend Captain Amos Harding take up a plea for help from the fledgling wine country to the north. As soon as the two would-be investigators arrive, they find themselves up to their spurs in trouble. Slade learns that the Napa Valley’s primed like a powder keg to blow over a dispute between a winery, a cattle ranch, and the railroad. What are the stakes? Land, pride, the loss of one man’s woman and the love of another’s wife. With every person lying through their teeth and primed to kill, Slade and Amos have their work cut out for them.

1863: Sergeant Matthew Slade of the Illinois 6th Cavalry brigade must battle for his life during the siege of Port Hudson when a Rebel bullet knocks him out of the saddle and into a deadly swamp! Only with the help of freed slave Horatio ‘Hojo’ Johnson does he live to fight and ride another day. Fourteen years later, Slade’s joined and left the Pinkertons. He’s arrived in the bustling post-Gold Rush San Francisco to start a new life with Molly B. Denim and Captain Amos Harding. All seems tranquil…until Slade receives a call for help. A call which will take him back to the steamy bayous and dirt-poor towns of 1870’s Louisiana. A call which will bring back echoes of Slade’s past…but this time with deadly results!

When Huang Sun’s tong attempts to murder Mai Lee, Matthew Slade learns that the ruthless human trafficker means to attack her father, the Chinese Prince Zailan! So the gunslinger and his sea captain friend Amos Harding need to beat Huang Sun to the Far East city of Shanghai…by going via the new wonder of the age, a self-propelled airship! Slade and Amos travel the ocean winds across the Pacific, battling hostile islanders, Huang Sun’s allies, and Chinese bandits along the way. Can Slade overcome all if he is to win the day and save his adopted family?

Gunslinger Matthew Slade and Captain Amos Harding follow the evil tong leader Huang Sun across the Pacific to the Far East city of Shanghai…only to face disaster! Imperial China teeters on the edge of revolt as commoners and nobles alike are roiled by Huang Sun’s machinations. Entangled in a web of intrigue, Slade and his friends must fend off assassins, turncoats, traitors, and unscrupulous ambassadors. Their only weapons are the swivel guns of their armor-plated airship, the loyal soldiers of Captain Sima Yang, and the smartest horse this side of the Yellow River. But can an American gunslinger protect both his friends and the Emperor of China from an entire legion of Huang Sun’s fanatical highbinders?

1883: Slade and Captain Harding triumphantly return to the U.S. aboard the Sea Bird. But a squad of San Francisco’s finest waits for the airship to land, ready to question the crew about a mysterious death that took place at the very same dock! An over-zealous policeman, Sergeant George O’Malley, treats Slade like an already-convicted murderer. And at the Two Queens supper club, a silver-tongued widow arrives and takes an uncommon interest in the former Pinkerton man. Matthew Slade starts showing up on ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ posters all over the city. The police hound his every move, and even his friends are watched day and night. Slade’s only option is to fade into the shadows and find out who’s really after him. But can even the west’s best gunslinger deal with a villainess bent on revenge, helped by a lawman blinded to the truth?

It’s a new century for Matthew Slade. He and Molly live the good life as ranchers in Helena, Montana. But Slade’s peace is shattered the day he’s caught in the middle of a bank robbery at the bank in Bozeman. Suddenly, the safe and secure world around him begins turning treacherous and violent. Stagecoach passengers are murdered. Trains are robbed. And the crime spree is heading right towards Slade and his family’s ranch. More troublingly, an old friend and former mentor, Destiny Robishaw, appears out of nowhere in Helena. Slade’s darkest suspicions about the man makes him pick up the guns he’d set aside more than twenty years ago. But can Slade face the unthinkable and go up against the man who taught him all he knew about being a gunfighter?