Shotgun Charlie (Ralph Compton Western Series)

Big for his age, young and impressionable drifter Charlie Chilton is taken in by the gruff leader of a gang of small-time crooks. While Grady Haskell sees something of himself in kindly, wayward Charlie, the ruffian pushes all feelings aside for a potentially big score.

When Haskell's bold daylight bank job in prosperous Bakersfield turns bloody, Charlie attempts to thwart the heist--and ends up the only gang member caught alive. Sentenced to swing, Charlie makes a daring escape, determined to track down Haskell and prove his innocence.

But with a mysterious marshal and a party of angry townsmen hot on his heels, Charlie must track the killer thieves through a vicious winter storm in the High Sierras--before the seething posse gets the chance to hang him high.