Winner of a 2009 Spur Award by the Western Writers of America.Ruffians rule and murder is tolerated in the Alder Gulch gold fields during the winter of 1863-1864. Daniel Stark, lawyer and radical abolitionist, fears he will not survive to take his gold home to New York and redeem his family from the disgrace of his father's embezzlement and suicide. When a friend is murdered, Dan prosecutes the suspect, whose five lawyers are Confederates. The trial reveals a widespread criminal conspiracy, and Dan joins Union and Confederate sympathizers in a Vigilance Committee to establish the law. As Vigilante prosecutor, Dan faces the horrible prospect of hanging both a friend and the husband of the woman he loves.