Ralph Compton Never Bet Against the Bullet (The Sundown Riders Series)

In this thrilling new Ralph Compton Western, the fate of a small town rests in the hands of a gambler who’s ready to risk more than money.

The people of Meridian, Colorado, live and die by coal mining, and when the railroad bypasses them, their livelihood is in peril. However, they discover that for a hefty sum of money they can create a spur line and save the town. A hefty sum that the town does not have.

Their only hope is former gambler Asa Newcombe. The townspeople pool their money so Newcombe can enter the big poker game in Golden Junction, and as much as he wants to leave his past life behind, the whole town is counting on him. Winning the big pot will burnish his reputation, but his goal is simple: Get the money and get out alive. His opponents include wealthy ranchers, tinhorn gamblers, and men who are outright criminals—and many of them will stop at nothing to make their fortune, even if they have to cheat, drug, or kill to do so....

Ralph Compton stood six foot eight without his boots. He worked as a musician, a radio announcer, a songwriter, and a newspaper columnist. His first novel, The Goodnight Trail, was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer Award for best debut novel. He was the USA Today bestselling author of the Trail of the Gunfighter series, the Border Empire series, the Sundown Rider series, and the Trail Drive series, among others.

Jackson Lowry is the western pen name for Robert E. Vardeman, author of numerous novels. Vardeman received the 2017 Western Fictioneers Lifetime Achievement Award. His western titles include Sonora Noose, Great West Detective Agency, and the western trilogy, Punished. He was born in Texas and has lived in the wilds of New Mexico most of his life.