Wayne D Overholser

Transportation in central Oregon is still by stagecoach and freight wagon, but there's a movement afoot for a people's railroad. Now competing railroad barons James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman both set about building a line there. Their front men, Lee Dawes and Mike Quinn, have always competed for rights-of-way - and women. Attracted to Deborah Haig, Dawes is nettled to see her in an intimate meeting with Quinn. But there's something else about...

"Two Western stories about young men who return to their home towns and are faced with difficult decisions that will require them to use their guns"--

Angel's Landing grew up around a gold strike in the hills of Colorado. Mark Girard grew up during the boom period, and had witnessed it play out. Now he led a quiet life with a relatively easy job as sheriff. Then there was a new gold strike on Banjo Creek. Everyone realized that the boom days would return, and the question became could Mark handle them?

What is it that pushes a man, cold-bloodedly and with his eyes wide open, into a spot where he knows he's buying into trouble - bad trouble, even to the point of losing his life?