Duke Shot First

He killed a powerful man in broad daylight. Now every gun in the territory is hunting him.

Congressman Elias Lynch is delivering a speech in Fort Smith when Duke Winters steps from the crowd and puts a bullet through his chest.

Then he disappears.

Duke is a wanted outlaw, a deadly gunfighter, and a man with nothing left to lose. For five years, he's carried one purpose: revenge against the powerful men who destroyed his family. Now Thorne is dead—but Duke's war is only beginning.

Hot on his trail is Eldridge Sample, a hard-bitten U.S. Marshal known as the Undertaker. Sample has hunted killers across the frontier and has little patience for men who break the law.

But this time, Judge Isaac Parker gives him an unusual order:

Bring Duke Winters back alive.

The chase carries Sample deep into the dangerous heart of Indian Territory, through lawless settlements, remote ranches, mountain trails, ghost towns and deadly ambushes. Bounty hunters want the reward on Duke's head. Hired killers want him silenced. And powerful men want to make certain he never reaches a courtroom.

Duke is running out of bullets, allies and time.

Wounded and fighting a deadly infection, he finds an unexpected refuge with the woman he once loved—and a painful reminder of the life he lost. Meanwhile, Sample begins to realize that the outlaw he's hunting may not be the real criminal.

Because behind Thorne's murder lies something far more dangerous.

A web of corruption.

A trail of betrayal.

And powerful men who believe they are above the law.

As hunter and hunted are forced together, Sample and Duke discover they may have more in common than either man wants to admit. One believes in the law. The other has learned that the law can be bought.

Both men have lost everything.

Both men have blood on their hands.

And both are about to discover that justice on the frontier comes at a very high price.

DUKE SHOT FIRST is a fast-paced Western thriller packed with outlaw action, U.S. Marshals, gunfights, bounty hunters, frontier justice, revenge, betrayal, corruption, Indian Territory adventure and a relentless manhunt across the American West.

If you like hard-edged Western adventures, deadly gunfighters, lawmen chasing outlaws, frontier justice and action-packed historical thrillers, Duke Shot First delivers a dangerous ride from the first gunshot to the final showdown.