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. 

That was when all hell broke loose. There was an attempt to steal the cattle, and in the process Durant was accused of a cold-blooded killing and sentenced to hang. 

Loyal to the end, Ben Anderson fought tooth and nail to save him from the trumped-up charge…but that only led to even more problems, including a terrifying manhunt and, finally, an audacious plan to get even with the bad men who ruled Outcast County. 

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 f50ifty 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 P.I. 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.