Hellfire Pass (Bk. 1)

Johnstone country. Where a gun and three of a kind flat-out beat four aces.

Two warring families, consumed with hatred and greed. A young couple, meeting in secret. Their town a battlefield. Amongst them all stands a man who keeps the peace with as many bullets as he can fire . . .

At one time or another, every wanted outlaw throughout the West holed up in Hellfire Pass, Colorado. That was before U.S. Marshal Shadrach Nelson cleared it out, bringing killers and thieves to justice dead or alive. Since then it’s become a railroad route through the Rockies, passing goods and resources between East and West. And between two mining empires vying for control of the pass.

Winifred Gallagher is the Coal Queen of the Rockies. “Leadbottom” Morrissey deals in lead. The blood feud between their families goes back decades to an offense no one can rightly recall. When Gallaghers and Morrisseys clash, no one is safe. And if either clan discovered that the Coal Queen’s niece Bea and Leadbottom’s grandson Patrick were sweethearts, the entire Hellfire Pass would explode like a powder keg.

To keep their secret, Patrick and Bea prove they’re just as ruthless as their families, and murder the marshal’s son—lighting the fuse that will send Shad Nelson down upon every Gallagher and Morrissey like an avenging angel of death . . .