Editor’s Note: James D. Best is a prolific author, perhaps best known for his Steve Dancy Westerns, which have sold over 100,000 copies. Jim’s tagline for the seven novels (and one short story collection) is “Honest Westerns. Full of Dishonest Characters.” But like many successful popular fiction authors such as Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Lisa Gardner and John Sandford (to name a few of my favorites), Jim has written some excellent works beyond the Dancy series: Deluge, The Shut Mouth Society, and now The Templar Reprisals. I’m a big fan of his work, not only because he’s a darned good writer but he also writes excellent, intriguing stories. He lives up a hundred percent to my favorite aphorism, “A good story, well told.” Herewith, the first four chapters of “Templar.” If you like what you…

Continue reading →