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.

Sheldon B. Cole was one of many pseudonyms used by prolific Australian writer Desmond Robert Dunn (November 6, 1929-May 5, 2003). In addition to four crime novels published under his own name, Des was a tireless Western writer whose career spanned more than 50 years and well in excess of 400 oaters. These quick-moving, vivid, and always compelling stories appeared under such pen names as Shad Denver, Gunn Halliday, Adam Brady, Brett Iverson, Matt Cregan, Walt Renwick, and Morgan Culp. He is also said to have written a number of the ever-popular Larry Kent PI novels, but at this late date, author attribution is almost impossible. He married and divorced twice and had three children. He died at the age of 73 in Brisbane, Queensland.