Books with author Charles Ray West

A DANGEROUS RIDE Cam Sutton is ready to make his name prospecting for gold in the Black Hills. But his quest for riches is interrupted when he happens upon a stagecoach holdup and ends up rescuing Mary Bishop and her two young daughters. Before striking out on his own, Cam decides to help Mary search for her husband, who disappeared while mining. Turns out Mr. Bishop was murdered—but not before finding enough gold to make Mary a very wealthy woman. Unwilling to leave them unprotected, Cam offers to help escort the ladies on the long journey back to Cheyenne. But with the threat of bandits constantly looming, and a greedy, cold-blooded killer on their trail, the road is even more treacherous than Cam anticipated....

A DANGEROUS RIDE Cam Sutton is ready to make his name prospecting for gold in the Black Hills. But his quest for riches is interrupted when he happens upon a stagecoach holdup and ends up rescuing Mary Bishop and her two young daughters. Before striking out on his own, Cam decides to help Mary search for her husband, who disappeared while mining. Turns out Mr. Bishop was murdered—but not before finding enough gold to make Mary a very wealthy woman. Unwilling to leave them unprotected, Cam offers to help escort the ladies on the long journey back to Cheyenne. But with the threat of bandits constantly looming, and a greedy, cold-blooded killer on their trail, the road is even more treacherous than Cam anticipated....

Garden of the Bear by C. R. West is a fictional tale of young siblings Billy and Katie, ages eleven and eight, respectively. They live in the small town of Normanville, not far from the idyllic Lake Pumpkin where Will, Aunt Lucy's fiancé, owns a farm, including the lake and the woods surrounding it.The story begins with Billy dreaming, as usual; little did he know that day he would soon learn things he never could have expected and find himself in the middle of an investigation. Much of this information would come from an old man with long white hair that would come to be known as Uncle Noble and believed to be Will's uncle, and of Cherokee ancestry. He would share with them the secrets of the woods…of creatures, both seen and unseen…and how they work together to protect the tranquility of the land.While this story is fiction, the author has woven a tapestry which depicts what can happen when unscrupulous people propose development projects…the results of which may not necessarily benefit the residents of the community.About the Author:C. R. West is a native of Lakeland, Florida, and an alumnus of the University of Florida. He spent time as a U.S. Air Force flier, is a retired newspaper journalist, and has traced his ancestry back to the Jamestown settlement in the early 1600s.When not writing from his lakefront home in Lakeland, he enjoys reading, traveling, sports, entertaining his cat Katie, and walking along the lakeshore while watching birds and other wildlife, and feeding many of the birds. The author also has a great interest in history and Native American folklore, due to pioneer and Cherokee heritage.

When Ed Lazenby let his friends talk him into being a volunteer tutor at a local middle school, he figured it would be boring, but easy, and it was only for a couple of hours, three days a week. It’s not as if he had anything more important to do, anyway. But, when the school principal is found stabbed to death in his office, by Ed of all people, life becomes anything but simple. There’s no shortage of suspects, but Ed has to find out how the killer got into the school with the weapon, and out again without being seen. His motives are personal; on the one hand, he’s an amateur sleuth who can’t resist sticking his nose into a crime, and the other—he’s one of the suspects. He knows he’s innocent, but can he find the real killer before a couple of overzealous detectives decide he’s their man?