There was a new kid in town.Several new kids, plus the odd grizzled old-timer, not to mention a whole bunch of mean-eyed, mature hell-raisers. And the whores, painted-up and liquored-up. All come drifting into town to drink and brawl and gamble and cause great offense to the God-fearing, gun-fearing citizens of Providence, Calif.They'd come in a search for the truth. One of those deep philosophical questions was about to be answered out on the dusty, bloodied street:Just who was the fastest gun in the West?Though to Adam Steele, hired by reluctant townspeople to drive the whole kill-happy convention out of town, the more important question seemed to be 'Was there Life after Death' and was he about to find out the answer?

There was not a whole lot of talking going on ...On account the two up top—driver and guard of The Central Western Stage Line's Concord coach—were the strong silent type.On account the younger woman inside was in deep mourning for her late lamented husband, the young man was of the Eastern and inscrutable persuasion, and the older woman believed in keeping herself to herself. Even if that was kinda difficult with the bucking, jolting stage throwing them all together.And the six Ute braves, war painted and feathered, who ambushed them didn't have polite conversation in mind either. Just killing.Two others who'd never been great on idle chatter: Edge and Adam Steele. Who just happened to be riding within hearing distance of the gunshots and the screaming and knew that the time had come for some actions that spoke louder than words.

Adam Steele was doing the shopping. The girl, blonde and bright, checked off the rest of his list and started packing it all away in a gunny sack. The old man, her grandfather, looked proudly down at her as he rummaged around on a high shelf at the back of the little general store. Then brought out the special offer that might tempt the stranger who'd just ridden into the small town of Barclay, Texas.One 9mm Belgian Lefaucheux revolver, finely engraved ... His sales pitch was interrupted.Three new customers who burst in and weren't about to wait their turn to be served. Who weren't armed with shopping lists but with guns. Who wanted not provisions but money and didn't aim to pay but to kill.Three masked men who didn't know that Steele was not a man to interrupt when he was going about his domestic chores.

Holderville, Texas was a dying town. Shuttered storefronts, derelict homes, half the population already gone, their property abandoned. Behind the stockade, the garrison of Fort Holder was getting ready to pull out. Even the town drunk had gotten on his mule and headed unsteadily on south to where the whiskey was cheaper.So when the man called Edge rode into town it was pretty much of an unusual happening - and he was only meaning to pass through.Still he did stay around long enough to discover that for a dying town, the gunplay was lively enough and killing looked like being a growth industry.

The black-clad preacher had led his people a long way: from Pennsylvania, across the prairies to the mountains of Montana. Led them trusting absolutely in the Lord to take care of them, tell them where to settle. They would ask help from no-one but the Lord.And the renegade bunch of Paiute Indians who'd cornered them asked no help either, would help themselves to provisions, blankets, money and finally to the preacher's daughter. Took her, tied her stripped naked on the ground. Still the preacher forbade resistance for it was the Lord's will.That was when Adam Steele took a hand. Didn't know much about the Lord's will but he knew the time had come to break His commandment about killing.And broke it again and again.

It was a jagged rip in his memory. In jail for a killing he didn't commit, Edge is puzzled by the prisoner in the next cell. Where had they met before? Was it at Shiloh, or in the horror of Andersonville? This is the sequel to Killer's Breed, an earlier volume in this series. We revisit the bloody days of the Civil War and incredible scenes of cruelty and violence as our young nation splits wide open, blue armies versus gray armies, tainting the land with a river of blood. And Edge was there.