A dying man at the river. A missing boy. A town that keeps its secrets buried beneath the crossing.Ryder only meant to pass through Mercy Crossing.
The ferry was down, the river was high, and the town had the look of a place that had learned to keep its mouth shut. Then Ryder found Tobias Holt bleeding out near the ferry chain, clutching at the last scraps of truth a powerful man wanted buried.
Tobias's son, Emmett, is missing.
His daughter, Tamsin, is alone.
And the men who run Mercy Crossing are already shaping the lie.
Deputy Rane wears a badge, but he serves something darker than the law. Gideon Strake owns the freight company, the ferry, and half the fear in town. Claims have vanished. Witnesses have gone quiet. Men have crossed the river after dark and never come back.
Now Ryder is caught between a frightened family and a town built on stolen land, false papers, and bodies the river never returned.
He is beaten.
He is thrown into the black water.
He is left for dead.
But Ryder has a habit of disappointing men who think the job is finished.
At Dead Man's Bend, where the old landing rots and the river runs deep, Tamsin must trade the only proof she has for her brother's life. Rane thinks the bargain is his. Strake thinks the town is still his. Pritch thinks a shotgun settles everything.
They are about to learn what kind of man comes back from the river.
Hell of a Time is a gritty, hard-riding Western packed with frontier justice, river-town corruption, desperate courage, and one silent drifter who does not know how to walk away when innocent blood is on the ground.
Perfect for fans of classic gunfighter Westerns, lone-rider justice, ruthless villains, and hard men who say little but finish what they start.
Ride with Ryder into Mercy Crossing today - and find out what the river leaves behind.
