What do you think?
Rate this book
The Legends of Ryland Creek: Book III of the Ryland Creek Saga
In the quiet town of Painted Post, the Ernsts have long been known for their coonhounds and knowledge of the forest.
Mead Ernst is a kind but firm man, struggling with the loss of his father and brother. With the help of his wife, Sarah, they raise their children—Lill, John, and Mattie—chasing behind coonhounds in their hometown’s forests.
Lill Ernst, beautiful but bullied, retreats into the forest. Beneath the trees, she seeks the comfort of being alone. With a rescued bluetick hound named Judge, Lill meets a mysterious woman in the forest who teaches her about life and her own potential.
Teenaged Andrew Renthro comes from a different world. He's the son of a long-dead father whose death he believes the Ernst are responsible for causing. Sent by his drug kingpin stepfather to prove his worthiness, Andrew goes to Painted Post to avenge a parent he can't remember.
However, the forests the Painted Post don't belong solely to the realm of man. Stories of guiding spirits, ghostly hounds, and hideous beasts abound in this mystical place of wooded hollows, streams, and pathways.
Many trails in Ryland Creek converge and diverge in these oak-strewn hills.
Some paths lead to redemption, while others end in certain doom.
But all have the potential to become legend.
Mead Ernst is a kind but firm man, struggling with the loss of his father and brother. With the help of his wife, Sarah, they raise their children—Lill, John, and Mattie—chasing behind coonhounds in their hometown’s forests.
Lill Ernst, beautiful but bullied, retreats into the forest. Beneath the trees, she seeks the comfort of being alone. With a rescued bluetick hound named Judge, Lill meets a mysterious woman in the forest who teaches her about life and her own potential.
Teenaged Andrew Renthro comes from a different world. He's the son of a long-dead father whose death he believes the Ernst are responsible for causing. Sent by his drug kingpin stepfather to prove his worthiness, Andrew goes to Painted Post to avenge a parent he can't remember.
However, the forests the Painted Post don't belong solely to the realm of man. Stories of guiding spirits, ghostly hounds, and hideous beasts abound in this mystical place of wooded hollows, streams, and pathways.
Many trails in Ryland Creek converge and diverge in these oak-strewn hills.
Some paths lead to redemption, while others end in certain doom.
But all have the potential to become legend.
279 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 3, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 8, 2026
A struggle between light and darkness, a hallowed place (the area around Painted Post) and those who would harm it, revenge and redemption.
The story revolves around the Ernst family, the ones who remain, and a city boy (Andrew) who starts out for Painted Post as an assassin--for revenge. But he meets Lill Ernst and, well, visions hard to explain of lost loved ones, and where the woods "determine if'n you make it back out."
We meet the rumored Gandalark, once human, now a wizard's understudy, that feasts on the wicked in the Black Oaks of Ryland Creek, as part of another hypnotic coonhunter yarn.
The story revolves around the Ernst family, the ones who remain, and a city boy (Andrew) who starts out for Painted Post as an assassin--for revenge. But he meets Lill Ernst and, well, visions hard to explain of lost loved ones, and where the woods "determine if'n you make it back out."
We meet the rumored Gandalark, once human, now a wizard's understudy, that feasts on the wicked in the Black Oaks of Ryland Creek, as part of another hypnotic coonhunter yarn.
November 2, 2025
Great series for old hunters
Brings back memories of days past, when hunters really knew the woods and hills, and really appreciated their time with there hounds!!
Brings back memories of days past, when hunters really knew the woods and hills, and really appreciated their time with there hounds!!
May 10, 2019
This is the thrilling continuation of a family saga that will win your heart. I loved it! It's a wonderful read full of humor, mystery, excitement and unforgettable characters set in a mythologized version of Painted Post. A small town in Upstate New York where, as the villains in this book soon learn, there is a wild heart of magic tucked into the apparently normal woods. The Legends of Ryland Creek brings together beloved characters from the earlier books and introduces several new ones, taking them and the reader along to a dark night in the woods, illuminated only by lightning, gun shots, and the headlamps of the coonhunters.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews