Matt Braun Lords of the Land Hank Laird had never laid claim to sainthood. Truth is, his enemies would be quick to swear that the man was the devil himself-a reputation Laird earned as one of the most hardscrabble men ever to grace the soil of South Texas. With grit, gold and gunpowder, he forged an empire out of chaos in the wake of the Civil War. But now the vultures are coming home to roost-and it's up to Laird whether Santa Guerra ranchlands will be heaven or hell.

Matt Braun is the author of more than forty novels and four nonfiction works, including Black Fox, which was made into a CBS miniseries, and One Last Town, which was made into a TNT movie called You Know My Name. Western Writers of America awarded Braun the prestigious Golden Spur Award for The Kincaids. He is also the recipient of the Cowboy Spirit Award and was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1999.