A Tucker Ashley Western Adventure Series

In the Dakota Territory of the 1870s, the line between outlaw and lawman is often blurred. Some of those sworn to protect the helpless might exploit them instead. And some of those deemed hard cases might yet redeem themselves. A lawman and an outlaw are plunged into a bloody battle that only one of them can survive―if the Indian raiders terrorizing the local homesteaders and cattlemen don't kill them first.   It's not very often that you get the perfect marriage of author and book, but that's what you get with Backed to the Wall. Having always been a fan of Curt Wendelboe's Spirit Road Mysteries, I'd often wondered how he'd do at a straight ahead shoot-'em-up Western and the jury is in: Backed to the Wall will have you backed up and demanding more." —Craig Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries

The Bucket of Blood Saloon is robbed, but the kind of hard cases that terrorize 1870s Dakota Territory don't stop there: the owner is murdered and one of his upstairs girls is abducted. Tucker Ashley is back in action. This time, he got himself talked into tracking for the posse—but only because the kidnapped girl is his best friend's fiancée. Tucker's own fiancée threatens to call off their impending wedding if he leaves town, but nonetheless, off he rides. Tucker leads the pathetic posse—made up of a couple of cattle rustlers, a gambler, and a blacksmith nearly too large to sit on a horse—in pursuit of outlaws so brutal that even the Army turned around rather than confront Justice Cauther and his gang. The posse will be no help either—when Tucker most desperately needs any help he can get after his horses are stolen, his men are shot, and his best friend is taken captive. Between the outlaws, the Indians, and the Army, Tucker is beaten, ambushed, and left for dead in the harsh Dakota winter. Finally, at the edge of his own reason, Tucker finds himself face-to-face with the ringleader of the gang that started it all—and one of them must end it here and now.