Winter Kill — James A. Janke

Young cowhand Matt Jenner has been persuaded by his much older cowboy partner Caleb Miller to sell their horses and head for Arizona by stagecoach before the harsh Wyoming winter sets in. And they are delighted to discover that also traveling - to Cheyenne at least - will be the very attractive Emily and Lucy Winner, widow and daughter.

Unfortunately they have to use their travel funds to pay for damages to a saloon after a brawl, and instead of riding in a stagecoach with the Winner women they are driving a wagon of what they are told is mining equipment to Cheyenne.

But they soon find out that they have been set up. The wagon is carrying a load of embezzled gold, and Matt and Caleb realize the bandits that soon stop them don't intend for the two cowhands to reach Cheyenne. Not only that but the stagecoach is robbed, the Winner women are hiding a dangerous secret, and some of the other passengers are themselves rather mysterious. Matt and Caleb fight off a crooked mine manager, the equally crooked city marshal, and their assorted hired guns as they try to save their reputations as well as their lives and the lives of the stagecoach passengers. A winter storm complicates things. And all the while Matt and Caleb aren't sure where the greatest threat will come from.