The Loner 3

A storm forced Blake Durant to seek shelter in a broken-down roadhouse. That was where he first met the mysterious gunman-gambler called Parrant. And it was also the moment Blake’s life turned upside-down … because Parrant turned out to be trouble all the way.

The next time they met, it was through a curtain of gunsmoke. Men died during that confrontation, and Blake found himself being hunted by a town marshal and a vicious prison guard, both of whom wanted to see him swing from a gallows. In order to prove his innocence, Blake had to make his way back to the roadhouse to find someone to vouch for him – but all he found when he got there were more bodies.

All at once he could feel that noose growing ever tighter around his throat …

Sheldon B. Cole was one of many pseudonyms used by prolific Australian writer Desmond Robert Dunn (6 November 1929-5 May 2003). In addition to four crime novels published under his own name, Des was a tireless western writer whose career spanned more than fifty years and well in excess of 400 oaters. These quick-moving, vivid and always compelling stories appeared under such pen-names as Shad Denver, Gunn Halliday, Adam Brady, Brett Iverson, Matt Cregan, Walt Renwick and Morgan Culp. He is also said to have written a number of the ever-popular Larry Kent P.I. novels, but at this late date author attribution is almost impossible. He married and divorced twice, and had three children. He died at the age of 73 in Brisbane, Queensland.