Rawlins, Last Ride to Montana

by Rick DeStefanis

In this final book of the Rawlins Trilogy, Virgil and Sarah Rawlins, along with their children, depart Paradise Valley in the Montana Territory to travel back East. While his intent is to bid a final farewell at the graves of his family, hers is for a hopeful reconciliation with family in Tennessee. Their trip becomes an action-packed adventure by boat down the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers and by train from Council Bluffs to St. Louis.

Rawlins soon learns that his days riding with the Confederate cavalry and later working for the Union Pacific Railroad as a policeman have developed into legend. Once again, he wears his twin-rig revolvers and is forced to use them as he meets trouble head-on in his quest to protect family and others. Once again, he must become a man riding a narrow trail between self-preservation and the law.

247 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Rick DeStefanis is an award-winning American novelist whose work spans military historical fiction, Southern fiction, and Western historical fiction. A former paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division during the Vietnam era, DeStefanis brings uncommon authenticity, emotional depth, and lived experience to stories shaped by war, memory, loyalty, and the American South.

Born in Memphis and raised in the South, DeStefanis has worked a remarkable range of occupations throughout his life—including machinist, railroad conductor, construction worker, airline dispatcher, and business executive—experiences that lend his fiction a strong sense of realism and hard-earned humanity.

He is the author of multiple acclaimed novels, including the award-winning Vietnam War Series, whose titles include The Gomorrah Principle, Valley of the Purple Hearts, and The Birdhouse Man. His work has earned honors such as the Readers’ Favorite Award, the Kindle Gold Medal Award for Literary Fiction, and the Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal Award.

Beyond military fiction, DeStefanis is also known for his Western historical fiction series The Rawlins Saga and his Southern novel Tallahatchie. Across genres, his writing is recognized for its vivid atmosphere, deeply human characters, and exploration of the emotional costs of violence, redemption, and survival. Reviewers have compared the emotional realism of his Vietnam fiction to early war writers such as Tim O'Brien and James Webb.

An avid outdoorsman and wildlife photographer, Rick DeStefanis lives in rural Mississippi with his wife, Janet, where he continues to write stories rooted in history, place, and the complexities of the human spirit.

Reviews

[john hugill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Trilogy

For anyone with an interest in Old Westerens, this trilogy is well worth reading. Took me 3 days to read them, but worth it.

[Robert Enzenauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paratrooper and 82ndt Airborne veteran Rick DeStefanis has finished up his Rawlins Triology with an incredible story packed with action in the Old West. The hero of his trilogy is an incredible combat veteran of the American Civil War, who as a teenager fought in the Confederate calvary under General Forrest starting in 1864, driven my revenge after his family and best friend were murdered by Union cavalry. (Book #1) After he was injured and furloughed, he saved a beautiful recent widow Sarah McCaskey, whom he married and took via a wagon train with cattle herd to Paradise Valley in Western Montana to start a new life post-civil war with his new small family. (Book #2) Now in Book #3, Rawlins takes his wife and family on a travel adventure that was the Old West equivalent of “planes, trains, and automobiles.” He leads his family first via keelboat down the Yellowstone to the Missouri River, then by steamboat to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and then via the dangerous railroads to Saint Louis, Memphis, and Nashville. He ends up fighting renegade Indians, outlaws, and armed train robbers. Unknown to Rawlins, he had become quite a legend riding with Confederate calvary and working as a police officer with the Union Pacific Railroad. He is wearing the twin-rig Colt revolvers that were given him for his railroad police service. He is often mistaken for a dandy, and certainly not assumed to be an expert shot with pistol and rifle. He travels to his old childhood home in western Tennessee to deal with the ghosts of his murdered family and best friend, only to jump straight into a fight between former slaves who were maintaining his old farm, and more importantly maintain the graves of his murdered family, and the scallywags and Ku Kluxers who were trying to steal his farm for unpaid taxes. He travels to Saint Louis with his wife to her family of “Lost Cause” southerners living in the border state of Missouri, who also wrongly assume that he was not a veteran, but rather a shirker who took advantage of Sarah after she was widowed. Soft spoken Rawlins doesn’t say much, but it is his wife Sarah, coming to his defense, who announces to her family that he “rode with General Forrest” and was wounded, and saved her life. And finally, during his “Last Ride to Montana” Rawlins leads and his growing family and a herd of cattle, back to Paradise Valley, he continues to fight Indians and outlaws, while always remaining loyal to his family and his friends, including his Native American friends. I certainly hope that Rick DeStefanis has a bunch of western plots percolating around that airborne head of his

[Robert Kiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard To Put 'Em Down

3 of the best frontier novels I have ever read. As a firearms appraiser and historian, I am especially sensitive to improper or inauthentic use of firearms in a story line. Such as using a Colt Patterson in an 1880's story line. Or a Colt Walker, when in both instances far better guns were in common use. Great logical and very readable plots. Can't wait to read some more by this author.

[LUAYNE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

The third and sadly, the last book of this series, is full of outlaws, a cattle drive, separation, death of a good friend, and a legacy. Would have given a five if, Heath had lived.

[Daniel B. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good ending of series

Less action than previous 2 books, but as the end of the action and beginning of the end = less action. Wearied a bit of the reminders of past heroics but it was part of the final installment, also end of the Wild West!!

[amy wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply fantastic

Great book, wonderful story, last in the series. I am disappointed that there are no more books by Rick to read. Well I guess ill try to find something I like half as much.

[Sue Meek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and easy to read lots of good stories.

Just makes you want to remember all of the Wild West. Life was hard for those folk but they were tuff and worked hard. Very thankful for what they did.

[Rodney Blasingame · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely outstanding book. I highly recommend it if you really enjoy great western fiction books.

[Heidi Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super read!

another tested an is masterpiece!! Totally enjoyed the story and sub plots, especially noting only ONE typo. Great job!!! Looking forward to his next endeavor.