Sweet Cactus Wine, in which a benign saguaro cactus commits mayhem, was Muller’s first Western story. Each tale, including The Cyaniders written especially for this collection, is a miniature masterpiece of storytelling, realistic characters, and vivid settings. Even Sharon McCone makes her appearance in two of the stories, The Lost Coast and Knives at Midnight, the latter collected here for the first time.

Also included is her only collaboration with her husband, Bill Pronzini, on a Western story. Caves of Ice was inspired by a visit to an ice cave in Montana. Forbidden Things is an imperishable story of a woman who finds out who she really is when she returns to Camel Rock. There are elements of horror and imagination not only in Time of the Wolves but also in The Indian Witch.

Time of the Wolves is an extraordinary collection of Western stories by a truly outstanding author, stories that can and will be read and reread with sustaining enjoyment.