Painting the Town Red

Welcome back to Dead Broke, Colorado. Where the latest discovery—a giant boulder of zinc—sparks an all-out frenzy of greed and gunfire that rocks the Rockies to their core. . . . Ever since the silver market crashed, the mining town of Dead Broke has been awfully quiet. The local marshal—legendary gunman Duncan “Mick” MacMicking—doesn’t have much to do besides outshoot the occasional greenhorn looking to challenge him. But all this peace and quiet is about to end. After getting trapped in a cave-in, Mayor Nugget unearths a mineral to rival his famous “Hope Diamond of Silver.” He calls it the “Liberty Bell of Zinc,” a massive boulder of pure zinc carbonate. But when word of his discovery gets out, the quiet little boomtown of Dead Broke goes boom—again—with a vengeance. . . . First, a scheming banker shows up to cash in on Nugget’s prize. Then, an outlaw gang arrives to rob the bank and steal the Liberty Bell. After a blood-soaked shootout, Marshal Duncan decides he’d better get that big rock out of town before more people die. Fortunately, the mayor has received an invitation to display his zinc boulder at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Chicago. There’s just one problem: getting it there without getting killed. Thanks to all the publicity, every greedy sidewinder in the West knows which train they’re taking. And once the shooting starts, this train will be dead on arrival. . . .

William W. Johnstone is the #1 bestselling Western writer in America and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of hundreds of books, with over 50 million copies sold. Born in southern Missouri, he was raised with strong moral and family values by his minister father, and tutored by his schoolteacher mother. He left school at fifteen to work in a carnival and then as a deputy sheriff before serving in the army. He went on to become known as "the Greatest Western writer of the 21st Century." Visit him online at WilliamJohnstone.net. J.A. Johnstone learned to write from the master himself, Uncle William W. Johnstone, who began tutoring J.A. at an early age. After-school hours were often spent retyping manuscripts or researching his massive American Western History library as well as the more modern wars and conflicts. J.A. worked hard and learned, later going on to become the co-author of William W. Johnstone’s many bestselling westerns and thrillers. J.A. Johnstone lives on a ranch in Tennessee and more information is at WilliamJohnstone.net.