Mayhem, murder and a maverick sheriff in what was surely the craziest and wildest plot Blade ever got mixed up in. Lawmen and outlaws want his hide as he moves in the shadow of the hangman's noose.JOE BLADE: an unwilling killer, hunted and betrayedLAFE OLAFSON: sheriff, Blade's boyhood friend. He hunted Blade as ruthlessly as he would a mad dog.EARL WANNAKER: multi-millionaire and girl-stealer. A man of no morals and less conscience.KID WANNAKER: his wild son. Crazy as his father. He thought Blade was too old and too slow.NELL: an outlaw's woman who stood between Blade and a cut throatLIAM SHANDY: mad Irish king of the Border smugglersHOLLY GOODCHILD: who always smiled and carried death wherever he went.A violent and fast-moving climax to Joe Blade's cyclonic career. Peter Christopher Watts was born in London, England in 1919 and died on Nov. 30, 1983. He was educated in art schools in England, then served with the British Amy in Burma from 1940 to 1946.Peter Watts, the author of more than 150 novels, is better known by his pen names of "Matt Chisholm" and "Cy James". He published his first western novel under the Matt Chisholm name in 1958 (Halfbreed). He began writing the "McAllister" series in 1963 with The Hard Men, and that series ran to 35 novels. He followed that up with the "Storm" series. And used the Cy James name for his "Spur" series.Under his own name, Peter Watts wrote Out of Yesterday, The Long Night Through, and Scream and Shout. He wrote both fiction and nonfiction books, including the very useful nonfiction reference work, A Dictionary of the Old West (Knopf, 1977). The adventures of JOE BLADE-tough, tender and temperamental. Slow to anger, fast with a gun and no slouch with women. A man tempered by the West, dangerous living and a perpetual gamble with death.From the author who has given us the Storm Family Cattlemen Saga, Sam Spur and McAllister.
