Summary: The final story of the trilogy of stories:  Trial of Jessica Hardy, Buried Alive, and now, The Empty Casket.  The first two stories told of Adam’s disappearance after being taken as a hostage by a woman bank robber, and then his return after months spent drugged in a mental hospital. When Buried Alive ended, Adam had left Carson City following a frosty reunion with his family that had left him feeling that for everyone’s sake, he should have died as Jessica Hardy, AKA Leslie Richter, meant for him to do.  This story picks up in San Francisco, where he has gone, hoping to find something about himself that is worth saving.  He meets someone who just might understand what he’s feeling, and recognize what he’s planning to do. Can this other “man in black” save Adam from himself? 

Rating: K+

Word Count: 28,000

Summary: It’s been a year since Adam returned to the Ponderosa together with a 12-year old girl that he rescued on his journey. Life is good, but troubles don’t stay away for long. Not only does an old acquaintance cause trouble for Adam, but the presence of Clara’s father still lingers like a black cloud. This is the sequel to ‘The Protector’ but can be read as a stand-alone story.

Rated: K+  (64,572 words)

Summary:  Joe makes a serious mistake and Adam agrees to help him fix things only to find that he puts himself into a greater problem as others make too many mistakes as well.  Adam needs more help than Joe did, but that help is slow in arriving. 
Rating: T   Word count:  35,315

A violent storm, a frightened mare, and the matter of his homecoming.  My entry for the 2021 ‘Man in Black’ challenge.  
Rated: PG
Word count: 10,999

Summary: Adah Menken and John C. Regan return to Virginia City stirring up old emotions and creating new trouble for the Cartwrights.

Rated PG-13 for western brutality, violence and adult situations

Word count: 55, 282

Summary: A WHIB (what happened in  between) for the episode “A Matter of Circumstance”. Ben and Hoss worry and wait for word of Joe’s condition.

Rated: K+

Word Count: 975

Summary:  A NaNoWriMo entry, this story begins when Ben and Adam traveled west and built the Ponderosa and Hoss and Joe joined the family and Inger and Marie are there as well. Then as an adult, Adam traveled to help Hop Sing on a quest, and he finds adventure and love before returning. There is a surprise too in the last chapters that ties the story back to the prequel beginning of the story.
Rating:  T   Word Count:  102,898

Summary: It is 1847 and such a winter had never been seen!  Snowstorms and squalls.  Sleet and ice.  Winds so ferocious they built drifts high as a man.  Driven by a need to escape the memory of his late wife, Ben Cartwright ventures out into a frozen landscape and becomes lost.  As he seeks a way to survive, he has no way of knowing that another member of the family has become lost as well.  Will the killer snow claim two Cartwright lives?
Rated PG
Word count 20,990

Summary: “I’d never thought much about my own death, but on the rare occasions that I did, I’d always imagined I’d be surrounded by my family when my time came. Now, as I watched Hoss ride away, I knew I wouldn’t even be afforded that luxury.” An extended/AU scene from the episode “Second Chance” Joe’s POV.

Rated: T (for mild language)
Word Count: 920

Summary:  Joe and Adam have a series of altercations that have significant consequences for them and their families until they work out their differences and both make changes in their lives. 
Rating: T  WC:  30,906
This story is part of the Brenda Series, links to all stories included within.