Publisher's Synopsis
New Mexico Territory, 1862 and with the Civil War moved back east the Territory has fallen to banditry and lawlessness, where peacemakers are forced to strike a balance between enforcing the will of wealthy landowners and curbing the activities of the roving gangs. In the town of Armageddon that duty falls to Sheriff Buck Randal and Deputy William Swaile, who are outmatched and outgunned by the violent Kinney Boys who have swept into the county like a plague. When Amanda McElhone is assaulted, humiliated, and robbed of everything that she holds dear, and the sheriff is seemingly powerless to investigate she falls into despair and hopelessness. Frightened, lost, and in fear for her son she decides to head west, to California, and as she makes her plans she forgets about a strange promise made at the grave of her husband to a man in a shadow.
