Luke Short is the pen name of Frederick Dilley Glidden (1908-1975), the bestselling, award-winning author of over fifty classic western novels and hundreds of short stories. Renowned for their action-packed story lines, multidimensional characters, and vibrant dialogue, Glidden's novels sold over thirty million copies. Ten of his novels, including Blood on the Moon, Coroner Creek, and Ramrod, were adapted for the screen. Glidden was the winner of a special Western Heritage Trustees Award and the Levi Strauss Golden Saddleman Award from the Western Writers of America.

Born in Kewanee, Illinois, Glidden graduated in 1930 from the University of Missouri where he studied journalism. After working for several newspapers, he became a trapper in Canada and, later, an archaeologist's assistant in New Mexico. His first story, "Six-Gun Lawyer," was published in Cowboy Stories magazine in 1935 under the name F. D. Glidden. At the suggestion of his publisher, he used the pseudonym Luke Short, not realizing it was the name of a real gunman and gambler who was a friend of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. In addition to his prolific writing career, Glidden worked for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He moved to Aspen, Colorado, in 1946, and became an active member of the Aspen Town Council, where he initiated the zoning laws that helped preserve the town.

From an award-winning storyteller of the Old West: A successful prospector returns to his family's ranch and walks into the middle of a bloody cattle war.
When he learns of his parents' death in a train crash, Sam Dana makes his way home to the Bar D ranch-not to claim it, but to settle the estate and move on. He has no need for the hard life of a cattleman after finally striking it big as a prospector.

But what Sam finds is far from the home he remembers. The ranch has become an armed camp led by his cantankerous half-brother, Walt, who's been hiring men more skilled with a six-gun than a lasso. In Sam's absence, things have gone downhill in all ways possible. But worst of all is the rumor that Walt has been pilfering livestock and selling it as his own. Cattle thieves make a lot of enemies in the Old West, and Walt's enemies want his land, his stock, and his head.

Sam could cut and run. This problem wasn't his making. But the Bar D is still half his-and no man is going to take that away without a fight . . .

Luke Short helped transform the stories of the American West from dime-store pulp into a respected and immensely popular genre. Trouble Country is a classic western adventure rich in grit, authenticity, and intrigue.