A Loner Western

Ahead was a cold-blooded killer and an innocent woman who wanted to believe he was no such thing. Behind was a God-fearing tyrant by the name of Isaac Madie and Madie’s three sons, all of them with vengeance in mind.

Blake Durant wasn’t looking for trouble, but as usual, trouble found him anyway. It came in the shape of a crusty old miner named Pete Doubell, who was outnumbered and under attack by a bunch of gunmen when Blake ran across him. Ever the loner, Blake wanted no part of it, but somehow he got drawn into a complicated web of lies, death, and double-dealing. Along the way, he locked horns with gunfighter Vance Carter and vengeance-hungry Reke Bodie and his gun-hung crew. But when he looked into the eyes of Doubell’s niece, Christine, all the danger seemed a price worth paying.

A land-hungry cattle baron called Jay Lucien ruled the town with a fist of iron. Anyone who didn’t bow to his will was dealt with by gunfighter Rudy Dillen and his army of hardcases. Blake was just passing through when he witnessed the cold-blooded beating of a kid who had the nerve to ask Lucien to settle a debt. When he took the boy — or what was left of him — back home, he figured he’d done all he could. But there was no way he could ride on. His sense of justice just wouldn’t allow it. Someone had to bring Jay Lucien down.

It all started with the discovery of three dead men, each of whom had been shot from ambush. Blake Durant did the decent thing and buried them, and that should have been the end of it. But then he met up with Ben Adamson, discovered that the men had been working for him, and decided to help the old-timer drive his cattle into the next town down the trail.