Trails Southwest

About the Book

TRAILS SOUTHWEST Tom Lacey was a young man who lost his family during a raid by rustlers in the 1870's. Left alone to fend for himself, he sells his father's farm and becomes a drifter and so called saddle tramp. In his desperate pursuit for survival he becomes involved with a band of desperados, learns a fast draw, gains a reputation and flees with Smokey, a cowboy and drifter he befriends. Seeking refuge at a cattle ranch, jobs are offered to them by the prominent rancher. Later he finds himself falling in love with a female who carried enough evidence against him to get him hanged. Buck was John O'Connor's ranch foreman. A tough disciplinarian who made the ranch hands tow the line. He took a dislike to the young new hire he thought was a no count farm boy. It was his job to straighten out the trouble maker and turn him into a worthy ranch hand.

About the Author

Diane M. Cece was born and raised in a small New Jersey town and was descended from a large Italian family that originated in San Potito Ultra, Avellino, Italy. Her ancestors were avid fishermen and farmers. After retiring from twenty-five years of federal service, her interests turned to her love for history and writing. She started a second career at small Waterloo Village in northern New Jersey and became a historical interpreter and continued on as a seamstress designing and manufacturing historically accurate eighteenth-century period clothing enhancing her love for sewing. Joining a Civil War reenactment group the 27th New Jersey Volunteers "Bailey's Boys", she moved on to living history interpretation. Her love for the Old West continued on throughout her life’s spectrum, loving the energy the Western movies and local rodeos offered her and living her own life around the unspoken Code of the West. She was a fan of country music her whole life and was an unpublished songwriter and member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, but that wasn’t enough because she did Texas round dancing for twenty years and, for a short time, taught the two-step, line and couples dances in her home state. She is a member of the National Rifle Association and two gun clubs in New Jersey, which satisfy her strong feelings for patriotism and American conservative values. Her other interests include archery, shooting sports, and game fishing, all of which she has done.