Former attorney-turned-herbalist China Bayles finds her busy life further complicated when her teenage son discovers the skeletal remains of the victim of a not-so-accidental death during a dig in a cave and a local gathering is interrupted by murder.

Lawrence Shaw is known as the fastest gun alive -- and it's no exaggeration. But after he guns down thieves and recovers a fortune in stolen gold at Fire River, being the fastest may not be enough. Garris 'the Cat" Cantro and his Border Dogs are more than thieves. They're an army -- remnants of the Confederacy who will fight, steal, and kill to the last man. And with so much gold to be had, they'll spill the blood of anyone who stands against them....