The road tour starts May 9 from 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. at the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, a place where the history of frontier justice still lingers in the walls. I’ll be signing copies of Tilghman: The Legendary Lawman and the Woman Who Inspired Him. Bill Tilghman’s legacy is deeply tied to Fort Smith, once a gateway to Indian Territory and a stronghold of federal law enforcement during the most turbulent years of the West.

I’ll also be signing Sam Sixkiller: Cherokee Frontier Lawman. Sam Sixkiller helped bring order to the so-called last frontier, working alongside men like Tilghman to establish law where it was often in short supply.

From there, it’s on to the Gangster Museum of America in Hot Springs for a 1 P.M. event on May 10, where I’ll be presenting Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne, along with a discussion of Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother. From frontier lawmen to Prohibition-era outlaws—the stories don’t get any quieter.

Next stop: Claremore and Tulsa. I’ll be presenting Daughters of Daring: Hollywood Cowgirl Stunt Women at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum on May 13, and then at the Pioneer Woman Museum in Ponca, Oklahoma, on May 16.

Then it’s north to Deadwood beginning May 19, with presentations running May 20–24 at various locations. I’ll be speaking on:

• The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn
• The Doctor Was a Woman: The First Female Physicians on the Frontier
• Frontier Teachers: Stories of Heroic Women of the Old West
• Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West
• An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos

If you’re anywhere along the route, I’d love to see you.

Visit www.chrisenss.com or deadwoodhistory.com for full event details—and head to www.chrisenss.com now to enter to win a copy of An Open Secret.

Different towns. Different stories. Same women who refused to behave.

It’s been a long ride across the prairie, but the dust is finally starting to settle.

Thunder Over the Prairie: The Story of a Murder and a Manhunt by the Greatest Posse of All Time is officially riding toward the screen, optioned as a four-part limited series written and directed by Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Walter Hill.

Already being described as “a cinematic Western event,” this adaptation brings to life one of the most compelling true stories ever to come out of the Old West.

Before they became legends, men like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, and Charlie Bassett were simply lawmen trying to impose order on a lawless frontier.

That changed the night beloved saloon singer Dora Hand was gunned down.

When the son of a powerful cattle baron fled town after the murder, these four men—each deadly with a gun and intimately familiar with the unforgiving terrain—formed a posse and rode out in pursuit. What followed was a relentless manhunt across a harsh, desolate landscape… a pursuit that would test their courage, shape their futures, and forever alter their understanding of justice.

This is more than a Western. It’s the origin story of legends.

It’s been a long time coming, but the wait is almost over.

To experience the true story behind the series, read Thunder Over the Prairie.

Enter now to enter to win a copy of the book.

It may look like a departure… but in many ways, it’s a return.

Long before I was writing history books about the women of the American West, I was a stand-up comedian and a comedy writer, drawn to sharp dialogue, impossible situations, and characters who find themselves in over their heads. That spirit never really left. It just took a different form.

Now, it’s coming full circle.

I’m putting the finishing touches on Jessica of the Jungle, a romantic comedy set to hopefully debut in 2027.

At the center is a washed-up morning radio host who fakes her way onto a National Geographic expedition in Africa, posing as a photographer she has absolutely no idea how to be. What follows is a full-blown fish-out-of-water disaster – complete with wild animals, professional deception, and a complicated love triangle involving a rugged game warden and a glamorous (and very married) photojournalist.

It’s funny, fast-paced, a little chaotic and very much about reinvention, identity, and what happens when the life you’re pretending to live starts demanding the truth.

More to come soon.