Michael Zimmer Books In Order

Publication Order of American Legends Books

Publication Order of MichaelZimmer Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Michael Zimmer is best-selling American author of Westerns, History, and Historical Fiction novels. He was born in Indiana but grew up in Colorado but now resides in Utah with his lovely wife and their two dogs. He has authored over dozen novels including the famous Charlie Red (2016) and The Poacher’s Daughter (2016). His books have been praised by the Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Historical Novel Society and the Library Journal. Zimmer’s book, City of Rocks, was listed by Booklist amongst the top ten Western novels in 2012 and was also a finalist during the Western Writers of America Spur Award.

The Poachers Daughter

The Poachers Daughter is the tale of Rose Edwards, a blend of many real life women who transforms from a horse thief to a homesteader and then to an outlaw. Like a rock pounded by storms and seas, Ross is at odds with the forces that are beyond her control- class warfare, economics, nature, and deadly enemies, but she is a beautiful and an enduring heroine with a gentle heart but steel on her spine.

Rose becomes a widow after her husband is accused of theft and hanged by Montana vigilantes who then burn her Yellowstone Cabin as a warning to her and other people of her caliber to quit the territory. Without any money, the illiterate but fiercely independent Rose begins a two-year adventure to revisit the land where she spent as a child, an area where she once traveled with her father and discovers that the old ways of hunting and trapping are rapidly disappearing. The European investors are arriving with vast of cattle and building mansions on the fields which belonged to the hunters. With Albert, an aging roan geld as her best friend, Rose finds herself a heroine in an ageless battle, the face of the native people as she persistently fights against the invading aristocracy. Hanging over each single decision is her alcoholic father who hunts bison and selling his products to the Eastern tourist even when his daughter is making her stand against the destruction of the land she loves.

What you will love most about The Poachers Daughter is the characterization. The characters are detailed to give the readers a glimpse of their life, motivations a why they make some decision. The setting is also vividly described such that you can feel the heat of the saloons on your cheeks or the taste the dust of the plains in your mouth. The author’s language is authentic, and the pages of this brilliant novel are full of historical detail that will immerse you as the reader in the western world. Zimmer’s plotting skills are fantastic, creating a host of characters lives into an intricate fabric that turns, twists, surprises and most importantly keeps the pages turning.

This action packed western adventure is full of gun battle and written by a man who loves reading the history of the Old West and who has also participated in the reenactments of the period. Zimmer’s childhood on a horse ranch inspired him and motivated him to write well about how Rose makes travels on horseback on the trails used by trappers, hunters, and traders heading to Canada from Montana.

The Rusted Sun

Nearly dead and half frozen, Gil Ryan manages to ride back to the small town of Larkspr just before a late winter blizzard. He had lost everything that he owned apart from his clothes and mount when his horses fell on the Big Sand River. Affected by fever, an early stage pneumonia, and a gunshot wound, all that he wants in this small town is a little medicine and a warm place to stay. However what he doesn’t know is that the small town he seeks refuge is about to be engulfed in war, or that the same man who shot him, killed his brother is in the small town leading a gang of gunslingers to get rid of the Basins small ranchers and the homesteaders.

But before he is fully healed, Gil is mistaken to be one of the attackers. He is forced into a war that he does not want to take part in. However he assembles a ragtag army of local homesteaders and the reluctant townspeople and heads out to bring law and order to the people of Larkspur and the surrounding range lands. However, there is more at play in the small town of Ensillado than Gil once realized, and soon he finds himself in a deadly battle of his life. Will he finally avenge the death of his brother with an assumption that the whole town does not turn on him when the bullets start flying in?

City of Rocks

Joseph Roper was seventeen years of age when Ian McCandles and his gang rode into Coalville Idaho. Some few hours after their arrival part of town and Ropers childhood lie there in ruins. While the rest of the Coalville are filled with fear, Roper sets out alone and barely armed to bring back the town’s kidnapped prostitute and bring the local town sheriff killers to justice.

Decades later after the village was ambushed, we find Roper haunted by the memories of a legend that he never intended to start. So instead he makes use of a series of interviews with Work Progress Administration to set the record straight. What he maintains is that he was never a hero, but instead was a shy cowpuncher driven by his wild passion of youth.

City of Rocks is a fast paced and a compelling novel. Violent, gritty, and incredibly personal, the book takes the readers through a coming of age narrative that will leave even the casual bystanders the “non-changeable” changed in the end. The story is well woven featuring a courageous, smart and determined lead character, Joseph Roper. The characterization is brilliantly done, and each character in the book, either the protagonist or the villain is vividly described. Through this description, the readers get an insight of each character, their motivation and the reason as to why they make certain decisions. If you fancy Westerns, Historical Fiction or Historical novel, then you will find Michael Zimmer stories ideal for you.