Max Brand, was the pen name of Frederick Schiller Faust. He was a prolific American author best known for his classic western novels. One sheriff and two deputies have already disappeared in the rough-and-tumble mining town of Slosson's Gulch. The same fate awaits any other man who crosses the cutthroats and thieves who thrive there. Pedro Melendez is a gambler and a drifter, trying his best to put his gunslinging days behind him. But he'll need all the sharp shooting he can muster to help a vulnerable young woman find her missing father - because there are plenty of miners eager to make sure Pedro's the next one to go missing.