In a formerly peaceful western valley, a sheriff and his friends battle a corrupt land speculator Pat, Sam, and Ezra came to Powder Valley together, to tame the West and find a place to settle down. Soon, Pat is the sheriff, and Sam is married, but big, powerful Ezra, with his craggy face and missing eye, remains a loner. This state of affairs usually doesn't get Ezra down, but tonight the big man is too gloomy to eat peach pie. When Ezra can't eat peach pie, something is wrong—and Pat is certain it has to do with Eustis Harlow. After six months in Powder Valley, Harlow has established himself as the most powerful rancher in the area. Before he came, the locals were content with what they had. Now, half of them are in his debt, and the others have been consumed by greed. With the sheriff and his friends gearing up to quash Harlow's dominance, the rancher sends for an army's worth of gunmen. Powder Valley is about to explode.

When an author finds his friend murdered, he calls on hardboiled cop Jerry Burke to track down the killer In a lonely canyon high above El Paso, a ruthless millionaire and a hardline socialist live side by side. Raymond Dwight makes money mercilessly and Leslie Young hates the rich with a passion, but the men have coexisted peacefully—so far. But when Western novelist Asa Baker escapes to Young's cabin for a weekend of writing, he can sense tension in the air. His friend has always muttered about tossing a few bombs at Dwight's estate, but his jokes have stopped being funny. Baker has seen enough bloodshed to know that there is murder on the horizon. When he finds Young dead on the floor, a strange mark on his cheek, Baker calls the only man who can help: Jerry Burke, the toughest cop in El Paso. In the shadowy corners of this Texas canyon lie secrets that someone will kill to protect—and Burke is the only man daring enough to uncover the...