Texas is burning—not from drought or Comanche raids, but from something quieter and more deliberate.
When a string of remote ranches and way stations are found reduced to ash, Timber is sent south under orders that don’t sit right: observe, report, do not interfere. The fires leave no survivors, no tracks, and no stolen goods—only bodies arranged with unsettling care. It’s not robbery. It’s a message.
Timber soon discovers the truth is older than the flames. The killings trace back to a forgotten Texas militia disbanded after the war—men who vanished instead of surrendering, carrying with them a private war and a ledger of names. Timber’s name is not in that book—but his father’s is.
As Timber rides deeper into scorched territory, he’s forced to confront the cost of unfinished justice and the lie that violence ends when wars do. Every step closer pulls him further from the law and nearer to a reckoning meant for a younger man who never lived long enough to answer for his sins.
By the time Timber learns who is lighting the fires—and why—they’ve already decided how his story ends.
The ashes are waiting.
And this time, they know his name.
Genre: Western
When a string of remote ranches and way stations are found reduced to ash, Timber is sent south under orders that don’t sit right: observe, report, do not interfere. The fires leave no survivors, no tracks, and no stolen goods—only bodies arranged with unsettling care. It’s not robbery. It’s a message.
Timber soon discovers the truth is older than the flames. The killings trace back to a forgotten Texas militia disbanded after the war—men who vanished instead of surrendering, carrying with them a private war and a ledger of names. Timber’s name is not in that book—but his father’s is.
As Timber rides deeper into scorched territory, he’s forced to confront the cost of unfinished justice and the lie that violence ends when wars do. Every step closer pulls him further from the law and nearer to a reckoning meant for a younger man who never lived long enough to answer for his sins.
By the time Timber learns who is lighting the fires—and why—they’ve already decided how his story ends.
The ashes are waiting.
And this time, they know his name.
Genre: Western
Used availability for Robert Hanlon's Old Sins Burn