Boss Spearman knows that times are changing on the open range for free-grazing cattlemen who don't own land. But more and more settlers are staking claim to the land, and when a local rancher kills one of Boss's crew, he knows he must make a stand.

The trouble begins for Sheriff Claude Rainey when a mummified man and his horse is discovered in a desert canyon near Springville, Arizona, both shot in the head. What troubles Rainey is that near the body are five bloodstained packets of $100 bills. The only clue to the identity of the dead man is the shriveled up brand on the horse. It is Sheriff Rainey's hope that the town can keep the money and build a schoolhouse. But then two men arrive within...

This duo combines two book-length Western stories by the incomparable Lauran Paine, marked by his characteristic authenticity and strong characters. In "Outlaw's Hide-Out," drifter Hap Thompson has lived in a secluded valley since robbing a bank made him a wanted man. But his tranquil life is interrupted when he discovers a strange horse and tracks it back to an injured young woman. Wesley Potter is the "Sheriff of Hangtown," and friend to Dick Ruffin,...

"In two western stories, when a stranger arrives in town, his actions will force people to choose between revenge and justice"--