This award-winning book is a virtual history of frontier sagebrush justice in West Texas and the Oklahoma Territory told through a series of sensational murder trials recounted by veteran criminal lawyer, Bill Neal who, before his retirement, spent twenty years as a prosecutor and twenty years as a criminal defense attorney. Yet the reader will find no tiresome legalese burdening these tales for Neal is that rare combination of a master storyteller who is also a meticulous historian who documents his stories through exhaustive research—much of which is primary research based on court documents, contemporary newspaper stories, and interviews of local historians. This book is the first of a trilogy of frontier murder-trial stories Neal has written for Texas Tech University Press.

This award-winning book is a virtual history of frontier sagebrush justice in West Texas and the Oklahoma Territory told through a series of sensational murder trials recounted by veteran criminal lawyer, Bill Neal who, before his retirement, spent twenty years as a prosecutor and twenty years as a criminal defense attorney. Yet the reader will find no tiresome legalese burdening these tales for Neal is that rare combination of a master storyteller who is also a meticulous historian who documents his stories through exhaustive research—much of which is primary research based on court documents, contemporary newspaper stories, and interviews of local historians. This book is the first of a trilogy of frontier murder-trial stories Neal has written for Texas Tech University Press.