Once a Marshal by Peter Brandvold

Once A Marshal is the first in the Sheriff Ben Stillman Series published by Wolfpack Publishing. 

An old friend of Stillman's, Bill Harmon, has been killed and Harmon's son contacts Stillman to find his killer. The son, Steve Harmon, is a half-breed and is in love with a Crystal Johnson, daughter of Warren Johnson, an alcoholic, widowed, old white man who does not approve of this relationship.

Stillman shows up and begins his search for the killer of Harmon and runs into Donovan Hobbs who is gradually taking over all the public  property where men and families have settled. Hobbs is a British citizen and he and his ranch manager, Weed Cole, and his ranch hands (read outlaws) are raiding and getting rid of the settlers to expand his Montana empire. Stillman also finds out his former girlfriend/lover is now married to Hobbs and can't understand why. Fay Beaumont wasn't the type of woman to marry somebody like that and she had enough money to take care of herself.

So, the plot thickens and Stillman is caught in the middle. It takes a lot of luck and brains to get through it. A lot of action and chasing and hiding and waiting and searching goes on, enough that I give it five stars. It's a well developed novel with lots of tricks and shooting  and twists. This series should be a barn burner.