In a deserted western town, two drifters fight to stay alive
The place is called Hangtown, and it’s as dead as a man with a noose cinched ‘round his neck. Josh Banks and Wage Carson rode here in search of work, but they found the settlement dried up and blown away—the silver mine empty and the population gone with it. Josh wants to take what supplies they can and move on out into the desert, but Wage has a grander idea. The town has been abandoned, and that makes it theirs to own. He elects Josh mayor, appoints himself sheriff, and the town is alive again. Welcome to Hangtown—population: 2.
When a troop of painted ladies rides into their empty town, Wage’s plan starts to look pretty clever. But soldiers and gunmen follow close behind, and this two-man hamlet becomes the flashpoint for bloody conflict. Hangtown will be dead again soon, and if Wage and Josh don’t move quickly, it will take them with it.
Paul Lederer spent much of his childhood and young adult life in Texas. He worked for years in Asia and the Middle East for a military intelligence arm. Under his own name, he is best known for Tecumseh and the Indian Heritage Series, which focuses on American Indian life. He believes that the finest Westerns reflect ordinary people caught in unusual and dangerous circumstances, trying their best to act with honor.