A rancher and US marshal battles a corrupt cabal as a new railroad comes to Arizona, in this powerful Western by a Spur Award–winning author.
In the brutal, unforgiving wastes of the Arizona desert, Chet Byrnes built a cattle ranching empire with his bare hands, steel will, and a fast draw. As a US marshal, he risks his life to bring law to a lawless land.
When a new railroad route is planned to pass through Navajo territory, Chet fights to get the Indians a contract to supply the locomotives with coal. But the corrupt politicians in Tucson and D.C. have other ideas. The coal contract means millions, and the ruthless Tucson Ring will do anything to get it—even if it means killing a US marshal. Battling bandits, the railroad, and a corrupt gang of millionaires, Chet won’t back down until the desert is painted red with blood.
Circa l’autore
Author of over 85 novels, Dusty Richards is the only author to win two Spur awards in one year (2007), one for his novel The Horse Creek Incident and another for his short story “Comanche Moon.” He was a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the International Professional Rodeo Association, and served on the local PRCA rodeo board. Dusty was also an inducted in the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame. He was the winner of the 2010 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction for his novel Texas Blood Feud and honored by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2009.