Yaqui Gold (BADLANDS Book 1)

Sam Coffey and Tom Vanse hit a bad streak of luck when the daughter of the man they were working for was killed in a freak accident with a bull and a mad cow. Feeling the need to change their lives, the two partners drift down into southern Arizona, where Sam's sweetheart lives.

In Arizona, they meet up with an old man who has found a hidden treasure of gold and silver in the middle of Yaqui Indian country. He convinces them to go after it.

This sounds like a pretty good idea until the partners are caught with the gold by the Yaquis.

Sam manages to save Tom at the last harrowing minute, but now he is in the grasp of the brutal Yaquis, and trying to survive the most horrendous trek imaginable to get out of the Mexican desert.

This book was co-authored with Clint Walker, of "Cheyenne" fame, one of the most popular Western series of its day. If you are after a book that is clean, has little profanity and is minimal on the violence, then this is the book for you. But there is no scrimping on the realism, and a more authentic Western is not written than the books penned by Kirby Jonas.