Kevin Wolf - Comanche County - Teaser

Western Fiction

Date Published: 12-15-2026

Colorado Game Warden Birdie Hawkins is good at her job. Her monthly reports are always on time, her game counts are accurate, and none of the citations she has written have been thrown out of court.

It's life that she hasn't figured out.

Birdie lives by herself with a tomcat and piles of dirty laundry. The café owner in town leaves a dinner plate on her porch each evening; otherwise, Birdie lives off fast food, the sugary fruit pies she buys from the gas station, and diet soda. She doesn't own a dress, and all of her shoes lace up past her ankles. But every farmer in the county knows Birdie, and Birdie knows their wives, and each grandchild's name. She sells popcorn at the high school football games, and she's judged the pie-baking contest at the county fair for ten years. The county and everyone in it are Birdie's family.

The county bank foreclosed on Dice Silas's farm. His wife left him, and a string of low-paying jobs made him bitter. It's time for Dice and his group of followers to get even. They'll do it during the week of the Comanche County Fair.

It's up to Birdie to stop him.

Excerpt

Birdie found her binoculars in the Slim Jim and Cheetos wrappers on the passenger seat, rested her elbows on the steering wheel, and focused on the faraway truck. It was the blue, crew-cab Ford half-ton that Kansas Wildlife officers drove. The driver’s window was open, and through the field glasses, Birdie spotted Karen’s left hand playing in the whoosh of wind.

Maybe Birdie had read things wrong. Karen was just happy to get together and talk. Nothing more.

When Birdie took the binoculars from her eyes, Karen’s truck was maybe a mile from the state line. Coming from the south, a pair of farm trucks raised their dust clouds on a side road that crossed the two-lane highway Karen was on, and they were coming fast. If Birdie remembered right, there was a stop sign at that intersection.

Birdie lifted the binoculars again and, through the lenses, picked out the stop sign at the corner. She focused on Karen’s truck. Both of Karen’s hands were on the steering wheel, and the tips of her fiery red hair clung to her lips.

The first truck never braked at the stop sign. It caught Karen’s truck behind the driver’s door. Karen’s head snapped forward with the impact, but the woman fought to keep her hands on the steering wheel. The blue truck spun sideways. A front tire dropped into the ditch, a wave of dust lifted, and Karen’s pickup disappeared in the cloud.

Don’t let it roll.

The second truck skidded to a stop just feet behind the first. Its driver jumped out and ran toward Karen’s pickup. As the dust faded, Birdie watched him pull the door open. Karen slumped out of the opening, bright blood covered her forehead, but her mouth moved.

She’s alive. Hurt, but she’s alive.

Birdie snapped up the handset from her radio on the dashboard. Training took over, and she yelled into the microphone, “This is Colorado DWM Hawkins. Accident with injuries. Kansas line and . . .”

Then the driver stepped back. He dug into his waistband. In the next instant, there was a gun in his hand.

“No. No. No,” Birdie screamed. “Shots fired. Officer down. County road H and the Kansas line” - - training went away --.”He shot her. He shot her.” Birdie was screaming. “Send help. Now.”

Birdie turned the ignition key and jammed the accelerator into the floorboards. She pinned the handset to the steering wheel with her thumb. “Repeat, officer down. Shots fired.”

The man tucked the gun back into his belt. He turned to the first truck and helped its driver out of the cab. He draped the man’s arm over his shoulder and guided the driver into the passenger side of his truck. The shooter grabbed a five-gallon can from his pickup’s bed, and in two running steps, he was back at Karen’s pickup. He fumbled with the lid, upended the can, and spilled liquid in through the open door.

In the next second, the gunman was at the front of Karen’s ruined truck, pouring the contents of the can onto the hood.

Birdie screamed, “No.” She crossed the state line a mile from helping Karen.

The man fumbled with the gas cap on the side of Karen’s truck. He jammed a red rag into the opening, stepped away, and dug into the pocket of his jeans.

“Damn you all to hell,” Birdie screamed.

Yellow flames, taller than a windmill, licked the summer sky. The flames went from yellow to a ball of red. A wave of dust peppered the windshield before the sound of the explosion slapped the state-owned truck that Birdie drove every day.

300-word excerpt

Teaser - November 21st

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Author Share Link

Kevin Wolf is an award-winning author of contemporary westerns. THE HOMEPLACE won the 2015 Tony Hillerman Award. The novel was a finalist for the 2016 Strand Critics Award for Debut Mystery. Western Writers of America selected his short story, BELTHANGER was the 2021 Spur Award Winner for Best Short Fiction. THE BOOTHEEL was a 2023 finalist for the Peacemaker Award. The great-grandson of Colorado homesteaders, he enjoys fly fishing, old Winchesters, and 1950s Western movies. He lives in Estes Park, CO, with his wife. Visit his website: www.kevinwolfstoryteller.com.

Contact Links

Website: https://kevinwolfstoryteller.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kevinwolfstoryteller/

Blog: https://kevinwolfstoryteller.com/blog/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/70201899.Kevin_Wolf

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinwolfstoryteller/

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HPMJRP83/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&qid=1793567330&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/comanche-county-kevin-wolf/1151816642?ean=9798990040380

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/comanche-county/25e0079991e5d4d8?ean=9798990040380

Giveaway

$5 Amazon Gift Card + eBook Copy

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