A storm forces Blake Durant to seek shelter in a broken-down roadhouse, where he first meets the mysterious gunman-gambler called Parrant. And it's also the moment Blake’s life turns upside-down…because Parrant turns out to be trouble all the way. 

The next time they meet, it's through a curtain of gunsmoke. Men die during that confrontation, and Blake finds himself hunted by a town marshal and a vicious prison guard, both of whom want to see him swing from the gallows. To prove his innocence, Blake has to make his way back to the roadhouse to find someone to vouch for him – but all he finds when he gets there is more bodies. All at once he can feel that noose growing ever tighter around his throat.

Sheldon B. Cole was one of many pseudonyms used by prolific Australian writer Desmond Robert Dunn (1929-2003). 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.