The Rusted Sun — Michael Zimmer

Gil Ryan is nearly dead from starvation and hypothermia when he stumbles into the little mountain town of Larkspur just ahead of a blizzard. Owing his life to a kindly doctor and a widowed mother, Gil soon finds himself drawn into a bloody range war between the Ensillado Basin's largest rancher and the small homesteaders who have begun squeezing into the valley. Gil wants no part of the trouble about to descend upon the Basin, but he won't turn his back on his newfound friends. When the doctor is severely beaten for giving aid to one of the men who opposes the rough-shod cattleman, Gil is finally drawn into the fight, vowing to bring order to the Basin and put an end to the midnight hangings that plague the valley.