Mr. Sixgun — Brian Garfield

It was a hot, dusty summer in Spanish Flat, and Marshal Jeremy Six figured on the usual amount of trouble: liquored-up miners, brawls between farmers and cowhands, and a couple of scraps over girls or cards. Then Ben Sarasen rode into town.
Something ugly was brewing and the mood of the town reflected it. People were on edge: where Sarasen walked, so did trouble. And yet Jeremy couldn't help respecting the man, almost liking him. But he knew that Oakley Madden's bunch was ripe to start something, and, if so, Sarasen was pretty sure to be involved in it.
Then, Jeremy knew, there would have to be a showdown -- and either he or Sarasen wouldn't come out of it alive.

The author of more than seventy books, Brian Garfield is one of USA's most prolific writes of thrillers, westerns and other genre fiction. Raised in Arizona, Garfield found success at an early age, publishing his first novel when he was only eighteen â€" which, at the time, made him one of the youngest writers of Western novels in print.
A former ranch-hand, he is a student of Western and South-western history, an expert on guns, and a sports car enthusiast. After time in the Army, a few years touring with a jazz band, and a Master's Degree from the University of Arizona, he settled into writing full time.
Garfield is a past president of the Mystery Writers of America and the Western Writers of America, and the only author to have held both offices. Nineteen of his novels have been made into films, including Death Wish (1972), The Last Hard Men (1976) and Hopscotch (1975), for which he wrote the screenplay.
To date, his novels have sold over twenty million copies worldwide. He and his wife live in California.