In the first, full-length novel of this gritty, fast-moving western duo, Once More with a Vengeance, Sheriff Ben Stillman finds himself in the unenviable position of having to arrest a young man for murder on suspicious evidence. But the cards are stacked against the young firebrand who calls himself Johnny Nevada. One, Johnny has gotten Judge Hoagland's daughter pregnant, shaming and enraging Hoagland himself.

Two, Johnny warned Dave Bliss he was going to kill him because Bliss ordered Johnny to stay away from Bliss's daughter, Sarah, whom the young Casanova was also sparking. Johnny made the warning public and two weeks later Bliss was dead. In the novella, Rattlesnake Convention, Ben finds himself on the trail of two young thieving killers with a hard winter storm bearing down.